Plexmediaserver fails to startup after updating to version 1.9.2.4285 (following an OMV update to 3.0.89)

After updating OMV from version 30.0.88 to 3.0.89, I have been observing that the PlexMediaServer has been updated from version 1.8.1..4139 to 1.9.2.4285.

Once the update has been completed, I have rebooted the NAS box, however the PlexMadiaServer application does not startup

Checking the status of the PlexMediaServer daemons with the command "sudo systemctl status plexmediaserver", I'm getting the following output:

● plexmediaserver.service - Plex Media Server for Linux
Loaded: loaded (/lib/systemd/system/plexmediaserver.service; enabled)
Drop-In: /etc/systemd/system/plexmediaserver.service.d
└─override.conf
Active: failed (Result: start-limit) since Tue 2017-10-10 14:30:19 CEST; 13min ago
Oct 10 14:30:14 nasbox systemd[1]: Unit plexmediaserver.service entered failed state.
Oct 10 14:30:19 nasbox systemd[1]: plexmediaserver.service holdoff time over, scheduling restart.
Oct 10 14:30:19 nasbox systemd[1]: Stopping Plex Media Server for Linux...
Oct 10 14:30:19 nasbox systemd[1]: Starting Plex Media Server for Linux...
Oct 10 14:30:19 nasbox systemd[1]: plexmediaserver.service start request repeated too quickly, refusing to start.
Oct 10 14:30:19 nasbox systemd[1]: Failed to start Plex Media Server for Linux.
Oct 10 14:30:19 nasbox systemd[1]: Unit plexmediaserver.service entered failed state.

What can I do further to mitigate this situation?

Firing the command "sudo journalctl -xn", yields the following output:

-- Logs begin at Tue 2017-10-10 14:11:10 CEST, end at Tue 2017-10-10 14:57:22 CEST. --
Oct 10 14:57:16 nasbox systemd[1]: Unit plexmediaserver.service entered failed state.
Oct 10 14:57:22 nasbox systemd[1]: plexmediaserver.service holdoff time over, scheduling restart.
Oct 10 14:57:22 nasbox systemd[1]: Stopping Plex Media Server for Linux...
-- Subject: Unit plexmediaserver.service has begun shutting down
-- Defined-By: systemd
-- Support: http://lists.freedesktop.org/mailman/listinfo/systemd-devel
--
-- Unit plexmediaserver.service has begun shutting down.
Oct 10 14:57:22 nasbox systemd[1]: Starting Plex Media Server for Linux...
-- Subject: Unit plexmediaserver.service has begun with start-up
-- Defined-By: systemd
-- Support: http://lists.freedesktop.org/mailman/listinfo/systemd-devel
--
-- Unit plexmediaserver.service has begun starting up.
Oct 10 14:57:22 nasbox sh[1653]: /bin/mkdir: cannot create directory ‘/root’: Permission denied
Oct 10 14:57:22 nasbox systemd[1]: plexmediaserver.service: control process exited, code=exited status=1
Oct 10 14:57:22 nasbox systemd[1]: Failed to start Plex Media Server for Linux.
-- Subject: Unit plexmediaserver.service has failed
-- Defined-By: systemd
-- Support: http://lists.freedesktop.org/mailman/listinfo/systemd-devel
--
-- Unit plexmediaserver.service has failed.
--
-- The result is failed.
Oct 10 14:57:22 nasbox systemd[1]: Unit plexmediaserver.service entered failed state.

Quote from ryecoaaron

Your thread title is misleading. The plex update is causing the problem not the OMV update.

You may be right here with your comment, if OMV and PlexMediaServer updates are independent of each other. I just observed these symptoms when updating the NAS box, and saw the OMV package being updated... Will amend the thread title accordingly now.

Indeed, not sure what kind of process is trying to (re-)create the "/root" directory and fails to do so, sic!

After a long search on all potential configuration files supplied with PlexMediaServer installation &/or update, I've found the file "/etc/systemd/system/plexmediaserver.service.d/override.conf" with the following line:

Environment="PLEX_MEDIA_SERVER_APPLICATION_SUPPORT_DIR=/root/Library/Application Support"

I went ahead, and replaced the string "root" with the PlexMediaServer's home directory (as stored in the file "/etc/passwd").

It looks like that the "/etc/default/plexmediaserver" file got removed during the update of the PlexMediaServer application.

Instead, I've found the file "/etc/default/plexmediaserver.prev" from the previous installation. I checked the contents of the file, and it seems to be valid. Thus, I renamed it back.

And after careful consideration of my previous post, I simply deleted the file "/etc/systemd/system/plexmediaserver.service.d/override.conf", as not required.

I am now able to manually startup the PlexMediaServer application.

This seems to me to be indeed a regression introduced with this update.

Resolved the issue by removing the "root" pointer in the environment variable $PLEX_MEDIA_SERVER_APPLICATION_SUPPORT_DIR in the file "/lib/systemd/system/plexmediaserver.service", and then removed the "Codecs link loop" found after the installation.

It seems to be working for now, and right: never update a running platform.

Thank you for all the pointers and guidance above, much appreciated!