What is the plex database volume and folder? Why cant I select system volume?

  • What is the function of the database volume? Per default it is /var/lib/plexmediaserver which is on the system volume. It takes 61M on a fresh install.


    Plex is running even though I havent enabled it in the gui. But if I chose to enable the plex service, it I cant select the system disk as database volume. why is that?? ?(


    System disk is a SSD and the only selectable volume is a slow hdd.


    Picture to show what I mean https://imgur.com/a/BILcp

    • Offizieller Beitrag

    In OMV you cannot use the system drive for shared folders or other user data (like Plex database). I assume the main reason is to avoid that the system drive gets full which results in strange behaviour.


    You can use gparted running from a live distro to decrease the size of the system volume. On the space you gain you can create a new filesystem and mount it. Then you can put the plex-database on this filesystem. You can also create shared folders on it for other purposes.


    From the omv-extras/Kernel menue you can download gparted and configure the system to boot the next time to gparted instead of OMV.
    For this you need a display connected to the system.
    Or you follow this here

  • The Plex database volume stores among other things, all the metadata associated with your media files that Plex has downloaded from the internet movie, TV, and music databases.


    OMV separates user data from system data by design. That's why you can't have the Plex database directory on the system drive.


    In addition you should be careful where you do put the Plex database. It starts out fairly small but will grow quickly as you add media into your library. My Plex database directory has grown to over 220GB. My OMV system drive is a 16GB SSD that is only half full.


    You show only a single 1GB HDD as being available? Where are you going to store all your media that Plex will be playing?

    --
    Google is your friend and Bob's your uncle!


    OMV AMD64 7.x on headless Chenbro NR12000 1U 1x 8m Quad Core E3-1220 3.1GHz 32GB ECC RAM.

  • Thanks gderf


    Yes my media HDD is 500GB, not 1GB.


    I am running this on a ESXI server. So, anyways, I expanded the system disk from 4GB to 5GB.


    What is now the procedure to create a file system on the extra 1GB?
    If I scan the physical disks, I can see the capacity has increased. But how do I create a file system on it?


  • This confused me for a while as well. If you DON'T enable the plugin, the plex service still runs, and it does use the default file path on the system drive for the database location. So, you can leave the plugin "off," and still set up your Plex server and it will work fine. However, you lose the ability to run the built-in PlexPy module since it can only be enabled if the Plex plugin is also enabled.


    If you want to enable the plugin, then for some reason, it forces you to choose a new location for the database. I think this is a bug, rather than the suggestion that it's intentional to prevent you from installing the database on the system drive. See this thread I started about the same issue.

  • ........
    If you want to enable the plugin, then for some reason, it forces you to choose a new location for the database. I think this is a bug, rather than the suggestion that it's intentional to prevent you from installing the database on the system drive. See this thread I started about the same issue.


    It is not a bug, it is by design. Ask Volker what he thinks knows :)

    --
    Google is your friend and Bob's your uncle!


    OMV AMD64 7.x on headless Chenbro NR12000 1U 1x 8m Quad Core E3-1220 3.1GHz 32GB ECC RAM.

    • Offizieller Beitrag

    I think this is a bug,

    It isn't a bug. That is how I made the plugin. Unfortunately, even if you select a location, plex still puts way too much stuff on the system drive ignoring the overrides file.


    Ask Volker what he thinks knows

    Volker isn't the right one to ask about this plugin :)

    omv 7.0.4-2 sandworm | 64 bit | 6.5 proxmox kernel

    plugins :: omvextrasorg 7.0 | kvm 7.0.10 | compose 7.1.2 | k8s 7.0-6 | cputemp 7.0 | mergerfs 7.0.3


    omv-extras.org plugins source code and issue tracker - github


    Please try ctrl-shift-R and read this before posting a question.

    Please put your OMV system details in your signature.
    Please don't PM for support... Too many PMs!

    • Offizieller Beitrag

    I was just basing this off tekkb's reply in the thread I linked:


    That change was never made and really shouldn't have been made anyway. AllowNone is still set to false in the code.

    omv 7.0.4-2 sandworm | 64 bit | 6.5 proxmox kernel

    plugins :: omvextrasorg 7.0 | kvm 7.0.10 | compose 7.1.2 | k8s 7.0-6 | cputemp 7.0 | mergerfs 7.0.3


    omv-extras.org plugins source code and issue tracker - github


    Please try ctrl-shift-R and read this before posting a question.

    Please put your OMV system details in your signature.
    Please don't PM for support... Too many PMs!

  • I'm trying to assign one of my mounted/shared drives as the Database volume, but it keeps erroring out. Something about permissions. Thus, I cannot enable the Plex Server. Should i bother fixing this, or just bypass and enable through CLI? I can SSH in.


    If CLI is the better choice, how is that done? (sorry, noob here :) )

  • Can you post screenshots of where and how you are trying to set this and also the error message?

    --
    Google is your friend and Bob's your uncle!


    OMV AMD64 7.x on headless Chenbro NR12000 1U 1x 8m Quad Core E3-1220 3.1GHz 32GB ECC RAM.

  • I don't know what's causing the problem but it is failing during the chown process. Do you have another drive you can try it on?

    --
    Google is your friend and Bob's your uncle!


    OMV AMD64 7.x on headless Chenbro NR12000 1U 1x 8m Quad Core E3-1220 3.1GHz 32GB ECC RAM.

  • About all I can suggest now is to uninstall and reinstall the plex plugin.

    --
    Google is your friend and Bob's your uncle!


    OMV AMD64 7.x on headless Chenbro NR12000 1U 1x 8m Quad Core E3-1220 3.1GHz 32GB ECC RAM.

  • @gderf - thanks for your help. I un/reinstalled with no luck. Same behavior and error.


    FYI - HERE is the guide I used to set up the ext drives as NAS.
    One HD is a Lacie Quadra (ext powered) and the other is an iDrive One (bus powered). Both are plugged into an AmazonBasics 4 Port USB 3.0 Hub with 5V/2.5A power adapter which feeds into the Pi (to ensure they're not underpowered). I'm having no issues accessing the drives remotely via SMB.


    I bought the Pi specifically to get my Plex server off my laptop, so this is a huge bummer.
    If you (or anyone else) can think of anything, please advise!

  • OK so I was able to determine that the both HD's aren't allowing me to Write (cannot create new folders, copy files, etc).
    I've tried to grant Write permission in every place I can find (File System, SMB, User, Physical Disks, and even allowing open Guest access). Nothing seems to work in allowing write permissions (for myself or the root account on the Pi.


    Does this spark any diagnose/fix ideas?

  • I have no idea what the problem might be, but if the root user does not have write permissions on a drive, that's serious.


    Were these drives imported into your OMV or were they newly installed, and formatted within OMV?

    --
    Google is your friend and Bob's your uncle!


    OMV AMD64 7.x on headless Chenbro NR12000 1U 1x 8m Quad Core E3-1220 3.1GHz 32GB ECC RAM.

Jetzt mitmachen!

Sie haben noch kein Benutzerkonto auf unserer Seite? Registrieren Sie sich kostenlos und nehmen Sie an unserer Community teil!