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Hi,

I'm looking to find an OS for my NAS and saw this. I installed it to a VM so I can have a look at it. I have successfully installed Plex Media Server, however, I don't know how to put the movies to where Plex Media Server can scan.

Can anyone help me.

Thanks.
Sunday, February 19 2017, 12:15 PM
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  • Accepted Answer

    Thursday, April 02 2020, 10:38 AM - #Permalink
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    Transmission is not quite so easy as it sets its permissions according to parameters in /var/lib/transmission/.config/transmission-daemon/settings.json. I think it is the "umask" parameter that needs to be changed to allow everyone to access the files. I am running mine on "18" but I can't remember what it does. You should only change the parameter when transmission-daemon is stopped or your change will get overwritten when you stop transmission. Have a look at this link for some ideas.
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  • Accepted Answer

    Thursday, April 02 2020, 10:55 AM - #Permalink
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    Hmm. The setgid trick only works on the folders and not files. The files still have transmission:transmission but with umask = 2, have 0664 access rights.

    [edit]
    .... and umask = 18 gives 0644
    [/edit]
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  • Accepted Answer

    Sunday, February 19 2017, 02:17 PM - #Permalink
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    Go to the Plex Webconfig http://your_server_ip:32400 then configure or add your Libraries. Under the Libraries, hover over the library you want to edit then click on the pencil icon. In the Add Folders you can point to the folder on your server. I remember having permission problems with items in any subfolder of the folder you select to I change all the ownerships to root:allusers and permissions to 777 (a bit OTT). I have a mini script in my parent folder which has:
    chown root:allusers * -R
    chmod 777 * -R
    When I add more files I execute the script. You could also check out the setuid and setgid commands.
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  • Accepted Answer

    Monday, February 20 2017, 05:24 AM - #Permalink
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    Thanks but is there anyway to do this through the web gui?
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  • Accepted Answer

    Monday, February 20 2017, 10:37 AM - #Permalink
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    Configuring the Plex is through its Web GUI.

    I don't think you can add files that way. You may be able to use Flexshares or else use something like WinSCP to upload your files. I use WinSCP, but then I generally download the files using something like Transmission so I only need to move and rename the files in ClearOS.
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  • Accepted Answer

    Tuesday, February 21 2017, 01:51 AM - #Permalink
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    Nick Howitt wrote:

    Configuring the Plex is through its Web GUI.

    I don't think you can add files that way. You may be able to use Flexshares or else use something like WinSCP to upload your files. I use WinSCP, but then I generally download the files using something like Transmission so I only need to move and rename the files in ClearOS.


    Apologies for the confusion. What I actually meant was is there a way to set the permissions thru the web gui instead of doing it via console? Also, is there a way I can copy the files thru a network shared folder of some sort like in Windows?

    Thanks.
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  • Accepted Answer

    Tuesday, February 21 2017, 12:32 PM - #Permalink
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    Ank Escapade wrote:

    What I actually meant was is there a way to set the permissions thru the web gui instead of doing it via console?

    No. I am trying something with setgid but I don't often copy over files. It is still a console command but should be a one-off

    Also, is there a way I can copy the files thru a network shared folder of some sort like in Windows?

    Try it with a flexshare to start with. If it works it is the simplest solution. If not you may have to set up a samba share outside the flexshare system. I am concerned about the permissions aspect especially with flexshares, but unless someone tries we will never know. Your feedback would be appreciated.
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  • Accepted Answer

    Thursday, February 23 2017, 01:10 AM - #Permalink
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    Nick Howitt wrote:

    Ank Escapade wrote:

    What I actually meant was is there a way to set the permissions thru the web gui instead of doing it via console?

    No. I am trying something with setgid but I don't often copy over files. It is still a console command but should be a one-off

    Also, is there a way I can copy the files thru a network shared folder of some sort like in Windows?

    Try it with a flexshare to start with. If it works it is the simplest solution. If not you may have to set up a samba share outside the flexshare system. I am concerned about the permissions aspect especially with flexshares, but unless someone tries we will never know. Your feedback would be appreciated.


    Thanks. I will take a look at Flexshare and Samba. I'll post back here if I get it to work.
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  • Accepted Answer

    Thursday, February 23 2017, 12:13 PM - #Permalink
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    Ank Escapade wrote:
    Thanks. I will take a look at Flexshare and Samba. I'll post back here if I get it to work.
    Have a look at flexshares first. Under the hood they are just samba shares but ClearOS fixes their ownership automatically. It is relatively easy to just about clone a flexshare definition, tweak it slightly, then use it outside the flexshare system by changing the share location.
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  • Accepted Answer

    Saturday, June 17 2017, 11:53 PM - #Permalink
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    When I set up a plex share I set up a groups first called fs-movies, fs-extras, fs-videos, fs-photos, fs-music, and fs-audiobooks. Then I set up shares in flexshares with the corresponding groups: movies, extras, videos, photos, music, and audiobooks. On all of these shares I enable 'Third-party access' so that flexshare (a 3rd party app) can access the shares. I also share these out with the File Server permissions so that I can access them as a mapped network drive through CIFS. Then, in the flex web interface on my http://server.ip.address:32400 I manage may Plex server and browse for these folders under /var/flexshare/shares/*.

    Voila...all from UI.
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  • Accepted Answer

    Saturday, June 17 2017, 11:55 PM - #Permalink
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    The best UI I've found for viewing and setting file system permissions is WinSCP. No support yet in Webconfig :(

    https://winscp.net/eng/download.php
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  • Accepted Answer

    Wednesday, July 19 2017, 05:24 PM - #Permalink
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    wrote:If not you may need to set up a samba share outside the flexshare framework. I am worried about the authorizations angle particularly with flexshares, however unless somebody tries we will never know. Your input would be valued.
    Authorisation inside a flexshare or outside in a manual share is exactly the same - by user or group.
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  • Accepted Answer

    Rohn
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    Thursday, January 03 2019, 12:37 AM - #Permalink
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    Dave Loper wrote:

    When I set up a plex share I set up a groups first called fs-movies, fs-extras, fs-videos, fs-photos, fs-music, and fs-audiobooks. Then I set up shares in flexshares with the corresponding groups: movies, extras, videos, photos, music, and audiobooks. On all of these shares I enable 'Third-party access' so that flexshare (a 3rd party app) can access the shares. I also share these out with the File Server permissions so that I can access them as a mapped network drive through CIFS. Then, in the flex web interface on my http://server.ip.address:32400 I manage may Plex server and browse for these folders under /var/flexshare/shares/*.

    Voila...all from UI.

    ,
    I have a few flexshares setup already tvshows, photos, movies, I was planning on using them to share the media. I recently heard of & installed plex server. I created libraries TVShows & Photos, which are pointed at these flexshares, /var/flexshare/shares/tvshows, but no shows are imported. I downloaded the logs, & it appeaI'rs that the problem is a permissions issue. I have enabled 3rd party access on the flexshare, but that did not help. I assume that the folders are being scanned by the system user plex, do I need to give that user permisions on the folders? When you say you create a group for each flexshare, are these user defined groups created in the webconfig? Thanks
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  • Accepted Answer

    Thursday, January 03 2019, 10:05 AM - #Permalink
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    See my first post in this thread. The problem is that this will then get overwritten by the nightly cron job on flexshares, which you could disable. Also see Dave Loper's post, but I don't know if he disables the nightly cron job. If his works, follow it. The groups are normal ClearOS groups which you need to create yourself.

    Alternatively, can you add the plex user to the allusers group. It may not work as allusers is an ldap group and plex is not in ldap.

    [edit]
    What permissions and ownerships do the files and folders have in your flexshares? If you initially copied the files in with WinSCP these will all be wrong as they come in as root:root.
    [edit]
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  • Accepted Answer

    Wednesday, March 25 2020, 06:08 AM - #Permalink
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    *deleted as not relevant to the conversation*
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  • Accepted Answer

    Thursday, April 02 2020, 07:48 AM - #Permalink
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    Having the share set with 3rd party = RO, would only stop an app writing to the share if it was running as an unprivileged user. Many apps run as root. WHich app are you going to have writing to the shares?

    If you are cute, just pick up the GID and UID for plex ("id plex"). Then you can probably delete the user and group from the command line and add him as a regular LDAP user. Once added, you can then use the "find" command on the UID and GID to set all the folder and file ownerships correctly. There is no guarantee this would work, but it is how I used to run "transmission" before the app was created, with an LDAP user rather than a Unix user.
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  • Accepted Answer

    Wednesday, March 25 2020, 07:57 PM - #Permalink
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    Did you have Flexshares installed ?

    Setup a shared drive with Flexshared and link Plex to this location.
    You can access you share easy with a Windows PC, Mac or FTP
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  • Accepted Answer

    Thursday, April 02 2020, 05:58 AM - #Permalink
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    Dave Loper wrote:

    When I set up a plex share I set up a groups first called fs-movies, fs-extras, fs-videos, fs-photos, fs-music, and fs-audiobooks. Then I set up shares in flexshares with the corresponding groups: movies, extras, videos, photos, music, and audiobooks. On all of these shares I enable 'Third-party access' so that flexshare (a 3rd party app) can access the shares. I also share these out with the File Server permissions so that I can access them as a mapped network drive through CIFS. Then, in the flex web interface on my http://server.ip.address:32400 I manage may Plex server and browse for these folders under /var/flexshare/shares/*.

    Voila...all from UI.


    is it possible to add the application user 'plex' to a ClearOS create account group? Being able to do this would allow the application(s) to access their respective flexshares. I've tried below command without any luck. As Nick mentioned, the allusers must be an LDAP group and not a native server group.
    usermod -aG allusers plex


    Also, I've noticed the "Third Party App Access" option is either Disabled or Read Only. Is RO sufficient for an application to write too?
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  • Accepted Answer

    Thursday, April 02 2020, 10:05 AM - #Permalink
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    Nick Howitt wrote:

    Having the share set with 3rd party = RO, would only stop an app writing to the share if it was running as an unprivileged user. Many apps run as root. WHich app are you going to have writing to the shares?

    If you are cute, just pick up the GID and UID for plex ("id plex"). Then you can probably delete the user and group from the command line and add him as a regular LDAP user. Once added, you can then use the "find" command on the UID and GID to set all the folder and file ownerships correctly. There is no guarantee this would work, but it is how I used to run "transmission" before the app was created, with an LDAP user rather than a Unix user.


    Nick
    makes sense re apps running with root user that RO will work fine. I was actually going to test this using transmission as I've got an identical 'flexshare' permission problem with that app also.
    I'll test the deletion of the app created user then creating an identical username with LDAP and report back here soon
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  • Accepted Answer

    Piter Tom
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    Saturday, June 13 2020, 07:43 AM - #Permalink
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    Why are you using a virtual machine to watch movies?
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