Backing up the Emby Server - How?

[cgcmgr 23]

Hi everyone,

 

I have asked this question in the past and I still cannot get this to work.  I understand I can use Emby Premiere to do this, but I was also told this can be done manually.  I'm using TrueNAS Core 13.  Here is what I'm doing.

I have an Emby Jail based on 13.1-RELEASE-p9.  The version of Emby installed in that Jail is 4.8.10.0.  I used WinSCP to access the db folder of the Jail (/mnt/ChrisNAS/iocage/Emby/root/var/db/) and I downloaded the emby-server folder to a location on my Windows computer

I then created a new Emby Jail based on 13.2-RELEASE-p4.  I used this command to create it, iocage fetch -P emby-server.json dhcp="on" ip6="inherit" allow_mlock="on" --branch master.  This is the same command I used the create the original Emby Jail a while back.  This created the 13.2-RELEASE-p4 Jail and installed Emby 4.8.10.0 on it.  I then renamed the Jail to ChrisEmby.

I then used WinSCP to access the db folder of the ChrisEmby Jail (/mnt/ChrisNAS/iocage/ChrisEmby/root/var/db/) and copied the backed up emby-server folder from earlier to this location.

I restart the Jail and try to access the Emby server by typing the assigned IP address of 192.168.2.235:8096.  All I get is the Emby splash screen.

I tried this a while back and actually got it to work once, but have not been able to duplicate what I did.  Does anyone know what I'm doing wrong or what I need to do to get it to work?  I would love to get it to work so that I can restore a backup in case something happens to the current Emby server or if I ever have to move the server to a different NAS.

 

Thanks,

Chris

 

 

[Luke 40106]

Hi, have you taken a look at this?

Configuration Backup

[cgcmgr 23]

Yes Luke.  I have been following that since the first time I tried to create a backup.  Not sure why it won't work for me.  I actually tried again, this time stopping the Emby server and then created another backup of it.  Then I stopped the ChrisEmby Jail and copied the backup over to it.  This copied on top of the previous  backup copy over.  I started the ChrisEmby Jail and tried to access Emby via the IP address.  It wouldn't even reach the server this time, not even the splash screen.  

 

I'm going to try once more.  I'll report back.

[cgcmgr 23]

So I got it to work. 

1. I stopped my Emby Jail and backed it up copying its emby-server folder to a location on my computer using WinSCP.

2. I then created a new Emby Jail and version 4.8.10.0 of Emby installed.  This is the same version in my backup.

3. I renamed the new Emby Jail

4. I assigned the Mount Points to the Jail in TrueNas

5. I copied the backup to the db folder of the new Emby Jail

6. I started the new Emby Jail

7. I accessed the new Emby server via the assigned IP address

8. I was presented with my two accounts (images there as well) and signed into my admin account.

9. Everything shows up.  All my libraries, all the images, everything.

 

I just have one issue.  Nothing plays.  I get the "No compatible streams are currently available" message.  I'm sure it is a permissions issue.  I hate messing with permissions as I don't want to mess anything up with the other Emby server on my system, but I guess there's no other choice.

 

It looks as if I finally have steps to follow in case I ever need to restore my Emby server.  Thanks!

 

Chris

 

[Luke 40106]

Thanks for following up !

[cgcmgr 23]

One more question regarding this restore process.  As I mentioned above, I getting the "No compatible streams are currently available" message when trying to play my movies.  Not for all of them, but for most.  All my TV Shows, Videos and Music play without issue.  It's just the movies.  Do you think it's a permissions issue?  I can't see it being a permissions issue as the permissions are set for my Media dataset.  My two other Emby servers are utilizing the same dataset and use the same permissions.  But what do I know.  Should I run run the permissions recursively on that Jail's Mount Points?

[cgcmgr 23]

Disregard, It was permissions.  I got it all working.  

 

Thanks.

[Luke 40106]

On 11/9/2024 at 1:02 PM, cgcmgr said:

Disregard, It was permissions.  I got it all working.  

 

Thanks.

Hi, thanks for following up. What was the solution?

[cgcmgr 23]

The backup I created was from a working Emby server on Emby 4.8.10.0.  The user assigned to it was emby and the UID, GID and groups were all 989.  I restored that backup on a new Emby Jail and everything played except for some of the movies.  I checked the UID, GID and groups of that new server and it too was emby and 989.  I didn't understand why some movies wouldn't play.

I have a user named chris and the UID for that user is 1000.  So I set the the user emby, in that Jail,  to have a UID, GID and group of 1000.  This resolved the issue.  I still find it odd that one server works fine with emby set as 989.

Attached are the permissions.  As you can see in one picture (see attachment Exiting server), I ran the command Id emby and it shows 989 associated to emby.  That server works without issue and that's the server I backed up and used that backup to restore.

I do have my original Emby server from when I first started using Emby and I have that one's emby associated to 1000.  I figured, let me try associating the new server to 1000 and that worked (see attachment New Server).

Below is a screen shot of my ACL.  This is the same ACL associated to all three of my Emby servers (I will be decommissioning the one based on 4.8.1.0 shortly, leaving me just 2 servers) and the ACL is associated to the mount point of each server that points to the same location.  So for one server 989 works, but for the other, 1000 works.

I'm still a little shaky on permissions, but at least I got it working.  Just can't understand why I had to make that change, especially when you can clearly see emby as a user in the ACL.  If you can offer an explanation, I'm all ears.

 

Thanks,

Chris

[Luke 40106]

@cgcmgrthanks for following up.

Quote

Just can't understand why I had to make that change,

Did you figure this out?

[cgcmgr 23]

Hey Luke,  

No, I haven't figured out why I had to do what I had to do to make it work, but it works.  I have this all written down for the next time.

Thanks,

Chris