Web clients only show scrolling circle, files do not start playing

Plex Media Server Desktops & Laptops
1

Server Version#: Version 4.50.1
Player Version#: Chrome Version 87.0.4280.1, Firefox 78.6.1esr (64-bit), Amazon Firestick (Android), Mac OS 10.15.7

As to logs, I do not see a difference in selecting Debug: Enable versus Verbose and will provide if required.

I am running Ubuntu 20.04 on an intel desktop. The server has multiple NICs and interfaces for which I searched in various threads on forums showing past problems as not being able to bind to one nic or assign LAN and WAN interfaces. Since then settings have been added to the server.
When I start playing inside the LAN that server often does not start playing. Only a circle is spinning.
I see responses to the libvirt interface which should not receive responses.
The client is Mac OS 10.15.7 (Chrome or Firefox), using WLAN and creates these messages in plex:
We didn’t receive any data from 192.168.0.171:55133 in time, dropping connection

In order to determine if this is a server network setup I installed a 2nd plex server in a VM on a bridge accessing the same directories and disabled the virtual NIC to have only one NIC active. This PMS behaves fine and plays every file immediately.

For debug, I disabled libvirtd, other interfaces and docker etc. and pointed my fingers to the bridge setup but with no definite detail why this happens.
Any audio files play fine from that server, so I still have doubt that this is a pure network problem on the server.

If I play on an Amazon Firestick files also play fine.
If I play on the Mac via Plex application and not a web browser files also play.
Are there any network restrictions on Mac OS / WLAN and web browsers

So there are combinations of server and client that do not work together and I cannot pinpoint what the root causes are.

In Short:
All files are playable on servers on the same LAN over WLAN
Mac OS and Web clients cause problems but not the Plex App

2

First:

DEBUG logs vs VERBOSE = 1hr of info, compact and what we need -vs- 2 minutes of elapsed time at maximum and extremely difficult to read because it logs ever mouse movement and packet exchange – aka Mind Numbing Overload. The default is DEBUG ON, VERBOSE OFF. Please leave it that way unless requested to change them.

Second:

The difference you have between host and VM is Single vs Multiple adapters.

Therefore:

  1. Which adapter is the default gateway on the main host?
  2. Are all adapters on the same subnet or is proper subnetting configured?
  3. Which adapter (Settings - Server - Network) has been selected as the preferred adapter ? (this matters)
3

This is my first post here. I see my mistake regarding log levels. I only looked into the Debug tab and not the server settings.

Log from Mac OS 10.15.7 client using Google Chrome
Debug=1, Verbose=0
Server stopped, Logs cleared, Server started, Started play in Chrome, circle scrolling
I have obfuscated username, domain name, email public ip in the logs

network:
default via 192.168.0.1 dev nm-bridge proto dhcp metric 1
default via 192.168.0.1 dev enx00e04c6803d4 proto static metric 2
x.x.x.x/x via 192.168.0.6 dev nm-bridge
10.10.1.0/24 via 10.10.1.2 dev tun10
10.10.1.2 dev tun10 proto kernel scope link src 10.10.1.1
169.254.0.0/16 dev virbr0 scope link metric 1000
172.17.0.0/16 dev docker0 proto kernel scope link src 172.17.0.1 metric 428 linkdown
192.168.0.0/24 dev nm-bridge proto kernel scope link src 192.168.0.26 metric 1
192.168.0.0/24 dev enx00e04c6803d4 proto kernel scope link src 192.168.0.126 metric 2
192.168.122.0/24 dev virbr0 proto kernel scope link src 192.168.122.1 metric 427

Explanation:
192.168.0.26 default IP over bridged nic as nm-bridge
x.x.x.x. some VPN route via another VM
10.10.1.0/24 via 10.10.1.2 dev tun10 separate Ovpn server
192.168.0.126 backup IP on LAN via USB nic enx00e04c6803d4
192.168.122.0/24 libvirt qemu VM network

192.168.0.171 is the Mac OS client trying to play in Chrome

There is a 2nd Plex server running on 192.168.0.5 inside a VM. Does this create communication between the two servers as am wondering why there are requests from the libvirt in/out
Why does port 62401: Connection refused? I do not use that port at all, there is no service to connect to, it may be an old port forwarding I had used in the past. Is that still remembered at plex.tv as a server?

  1. Which adapter is the default gateway on the main host?
    nm-bridge is the default
  2. Are all adapters on the same subnet or is proper subnetting configured?
    only nm-bridge and enx00e04c6803d4 are on the same LAN subnet
  3. Which adapter (Settings - Server - Network) has been selected as the preferred adapter?
    nm-bridge 192.168.0.26 is selected

Plex Media Server Logs_2021-01-15_23-49-53.tar (48.0 KB)

I see the following lines in the log and wonder if the numbers after DEBUG mean priority of the interface
Jan 15, 2021 23:47:15.981 [0x7f31bb79b100] DEBUG - * 1 lo (127.0.0.1) (loopback: 1)
Jan 15, 2021 23:47:15.981 [0x7f31bb79b100] DEBUG - * 5 virbr0 (192.168.122.1) (loopback: 0)
Jan 15, 2021 23:47:15.981 [0x7f31bb79b100] DEBUG - * 26 docker0 (172.17.0.1) (loopback: 0)
Jan 15, 2021 23:47:15.981 [0x7f31bb79b100] DEBUG - * 93 nm-bridge (192.168.0.26) (loopback: 0)
Jan 15, 2021 23:47:15.981 [0x7f31bb79b100] DEBUG - * 174 enx00e04c6803d4 (192.168.0.126) (loopback: 0)

I think no, because this would not correspond with the metric set for each interface.

4

Today I noticed something else, possibly not pointing to the network on the server-side:
User 2 (a managed user) cannot access video media from this Plex server from a portable device inside the same 192.168.0.0/24 LAN
User 1 (admin) is able to play media from the same portable device inside the same LAN
Note: Playing audio has been working always.

5

Sorry for the delay getting back to you.

There is something in your logs which isn’t right.

Does the LAN IP 192.168.122.1 make sense to you?
It’s listed as your virtual bridge address (from a container / VM mechanism)

Are you actually accessing PMS over it?

Jan 15, 2021 23:47:26.952 [0x7f3191ffb700] INFO - NetworkService: Ignoring a packet from this uninteresting interface 192.168.122.1.
Jan 15, 2021 23:47:26.952 [0x7f3191ffb700] INFO - NetworkService: Ignoring a packet from this uninteresting interface 192.168.122.1.
Jan 15, 2021 23:47:26.952 [0x7f3191ffb700] INFO - NetworkService: Ignoring a packet from this uninteresting interface 192.168.122.1.
Jan 15, 2021 23:47:26.952 [0x7f3191ffb700] INFO - NetworkService: Ignoring a packet from this uninteresting interface 192.168.122.1.
Jan 15, 2021 23:47:26.952 [0x7f3191ffb700] INFO - NetworkService: Ignoring a packet from this uninteresting interface 192.168.122.1.

Your logs are full of this statement – repeated many times.

In Settings - Server - Network - Show Advanced, what is the Preferred Network Interface ?

6

The LAN IP 192.168.122.1 is the bare metal server itself and its virtual interface
ip r command on 192.168.0.26 shows:

192.168.122.0/24 dev virbr0 proto kernel scope link src 192.168.122.1 metric 50

And yes, I have another plexmediaserver instance running inside a VM which is not listening on this virbr0 and has another 192.68.0.5 IP bound via nm-bridge. This VM shows plex binding only to these ips/ports

sudo netstat -tulpn | grep -i plex
tcp        0      0 127.0.0.1:39271         0.0.0.0:*               LISTEN      9818/Plex Plug-in [
tcp        0      0 127.0.0.1:35025         0.0.0.0:*               LISTEN      9743/Plex Plug-in [
tcp        0      0 127.0.0.1:32401         0.0.0.0:*               LISTEN      8752/Plex Media Ser
tcp        0      0 127.0.0.1:44919         0.0.0.0:*               LISTEN      9751/Plex Plug-in [
tcp        0      0 127.0.0.1:32600         0.0.0.0:*               LISTEN      8842/Plex Tuner Ser
tcp        0      0 127.0.0.1:44667         0.0.0.0:*               LISTEN      8800/Plex Plug-in [
tcp6       0      0 :::32400                :::*                    LISTEN      8752/Plex Media Ser
udp        0      0 127.0.0.1:49050         0.0.0.0:*                           8752/Plex Media Ser
udp        0      0 192.168.0.5:57383       0.0.0.0:*                           8752/Plex Media Ser
udp        0      0 192.168.0.5:41225       0.0.0.0:*                           8752/Plex Media Ser
udp        0      0 0.0.0.0:42002           0.0.0.0:*                           8918/Plex EAE Servi
udp        0      0 0.0.0.0:1901            0.0.0.0:*                           8752/Plex Media Ser
udp        0      0 127.0.0.1:34928         0.0.0.0:*                           8752/Plex Media Ser
udp        0      0 192.168.0.5:59526       0.0.0.0:*                           8752/Plex Media Ser
udp        0      0 0.0.0.0:32410           0.0.0.0:*                           8752/Plex Media Ser
udp        0      0 0.0.0.0:32412           0.0.0.0:*                           8752/Plex Media Ser
udp        0      0 0.0.0.0:32413           0.0.0.0:*                           8752/Plex Media Ser
udp        0      0 0.0.0.0:32414           0.0.0.0:*                           8752/Plex Media Ser

while only the bridge interface is active

ip r
default via 192.168.0.1 dev enp6s0 proto static metric 1
192.168.0.0/24 dev enp6s0 proto kernel scope link src 192.168.0.5 metric 1

I am not accessing PMS over any virtual interface but the router at 192.168.0.1.
Is it possible that the PMS on 192.168.0.6 responds to itself at IP 192.168.122.1 on which there is no client?

7

Note:
When I disable the virtual bridge the message moves to the docker interface

INFO - NetworkService: Ignoring a packet from this uninteresting interface 172.17.0.1.
8

What happens when you set the Preferred Interface to be that of the main adapter?

I am using 20.04 for my desktop environment with multiple ethernet adapters listed as well as the 10 GbE brick PCIe thunderbolt port.

I’m not experiencing anything like this.

Does the host itself have a defined default gateway IP?

9

The preferred interface is set to the nm-bridge 192.168.0.26
Sometimes I see timeout errors, when the stream does not start and the client disconnects which could explain it. But that error does not show always when things stall. Example when it happens:

Jan 21, 2021 21:24:01.774 [0x7ff25979d700] DEBUG - Sending data was too slow, timed out.
Jan 21, 2021 21:24:01.774 [0x7ff25979d700] DEBUG - Completed after connection close: [192.168.0.237:45453] 200   (15 live) TLS 20488ms 0 bytes (pipelined: 4)

Default gateways are:

default via 192.168.0.1 dev nm-bridge proto static metric 10
default via 192.168.0.1 dev enx00e04c6803d4 proto static metric 30

When I start the stream from the other PMS inside the VM using the same media shares on this bare metal Ubuntu host playing starts right away. That is why I think the file itself is not the problem but I do not see differences in server setup: I made the settings identical between the baremetal and the VM instances of PMS.

Another experiment: I wired the portable device up and disconnected WLAN
When I hit play one sime items I see some loop in the PMS log

Jan 22, 2021 11:26:33.760 [0x7f07b27fc700] DEBUG - [Transcode] We're going to try to auto-select an audio stream for account 1.
Jan 22, 2021 11:26:33.760 [0x7f07b27fc700] DEBUG - [Transcode] Selecting best audio stream for part ID 511972 (autoselect: 1 language: en)
Jan 22, 2021 11:26:33.760 [0x7f07b27fc700] DEBUG - [Transcode] We're going to try to auto-select a subtitle.
Jan 22, 2021 11:26:33.760 [0x7f07b27fc700] DEBUG - [Transcode] Subtitles: Found a candidate subtitle language [eng] for a foreign film
Jan 22, 2021 11:26:33.760 [0x7f07b27fc700] DEBUG - [Transcode] Audio Stream: 666571, Subtitle Stream: 666572

repeated many times
This time I have received a browser pop up

An error occurred trying to play "Episode 8".

Error code: s1001 (Network)
10

On another note. When I use the Plex app on Mac OS and play from the same PMS the show will start. It does not on Google Chrome, Firefox or Safari browser.

Also, the local network (virbr0) which is classified in the server under LAN Networks as

192.168.0.0/24,192.168.122.0/24,10.10.1.0/24,172.17.0.0/16

shows in the logs as WAN instead of LAN

192.168.122.1:39816 (WAN) GET /:/metadata/flushMetadataCounterCache (21 live) GZIP Signed-in Token ...

I wonder if it makes sense to delete the entire PMS setup and start from scratch?

11

Yes, starting from scratch makes sense.

What also makes sense is getting your network such that you’re not dealing with a virtual network adapter. nm-bridge looks like a VM . VirtualBox ???

There is a peer network setting in VB which gives the host its open IP and avoids this

12

nm-bridge is a standard bridge interface create via network manager (a software switch) to have VMs on the same LAN instead of the virtual interface.

13

Which hypervisor?

I ask because I don’t see that in VirtualBox or VMWare workstation.

This is Ubuntu in VMWare Workstation:

Kernel IP routing table
Destination Gateway Genmask Flags MSS Window irtt Iface
0.0.0.0 192.168.0.1 0.0.0.0 UG 0 0 0 ens33
169.254.0.0 0.0.0.0 255.255.0.0 U 0 0 0 ens33
192.168.0.0 0.0.0.0 255.255.255.0 U 0 0 0 ens33
chuck@plexdev:~$

14

I have libvirt /qemu running on Ubuntu 20 providing

Kernel IP routing table
Destination     Gateway         Genmask         Flags   MSS Window  irtt Iface
default         basement.lan    0.0.0.0         UG        0 0          0 nm-bridge
10.10.1.0       10.10.1.2       255.255.255.0   UG        0 0          0 tun10
10.10.1.2       0.0.0.0         255.255.255.255 UH        0 0          0 tun10
172.17.0.0      0.0.0.0         255.255.0.0     U         0 0          0 docker0
192.168.0.0     0.0.0.0         255.255.255.0   U         0 0          0 nm-bridge
192.168.122.0   0.0.0.0         255.255.255.0   U         0 0          0 virbr0
15

I’m sorry. I can’t be of further help with that.
It’s been a long time since I’ve used libvirt/qemu.

I hope someone in the forum can help with this.

16

I have purged plex, and setup from scratch. The problem persists.
Mac OS does not play inside a browser from the baremetal PMS (sometimes Android and IOS do not play either from that instance)
Mac OS does play from the 2nd PMS instance inside a VM with just one LAN interface
And it does play using the Plex App native to Mac OS

17

Just to sum it up and end the post:
The entire slew of symptoms is strange to comprehend as this is primarily a network problem but ist behaves differently on some devices and apps being used on the same device.
I installed a docker PMS bridged to nm-bridge and its own IP in the default LAN 192.168.0.0/24
These problems all went away:

  1. Not being able to play videos
  2. Not downloading fanart for newly added entries
  3. Flood of messages regarding “uninteresting interface”
18

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