All imported media showing as "Offline" despite it being available and can stream/play it as well

[LehighBri 19]

Hi there - I am a new user of MB3 and absolutely love it.  I have a NAS share that I import media from, and the initial import worked just fine in terms of finding metadata, streaming/playback, etc.

 

My NAS is always online, and for some reason, when I go to the web UI, I see all my imported media showing up as offline (despite my NAS being online and accessible by MB3).  I can still playback the files with no issues so I know MB3 can definitely access them, so something isn't right.

 

Additionally, I just moved some additional media into the import folder and forced a re-scan, but the new episodes are not showing within the web UI.

 

Thoughts on both of these issues? Note that I am on Windows 7, 64-bit, and using MB3 Version 3.0.5289.18702

[ebr 16184]

At some point, when a library scan runs, it cannot access the media.  Does the server machine sleep?  It may be that the network interface is not woken up in time when the server is.

[LehighBri 19]

At some point, when a library scan runs, it cannot access the media.  Does the server machine sleep?  It may be that the network interface is not woken up in time when the server is.

 

My server machine does not sleep.  It did turn off once during a power outage, but it normally is on 24x7 and my NAS is on 24x7 too.

[ebr 16184]

Okay, how about the drives in the NAS?  Most modern drives spin down after some period of inactivity.  That usually won't cause the "offline" issue but I suppose it could depending on the NAS setup.

 

Look through your server logs when you see this problem and see if you can find errors attempting to access your media.

[simono5 21]

I had a similar issue this week.  I've got a NAS drive housing my media and a Win 8 machine running the server.

 

I could access my NAS from one machine OK but not from the one running the server.  When I clicked on the NAS in Windows Explorer it said I didn't have permission to the drive.

 

After a bit of Googleing I fixed it by running some command line commands to flush the PC's DNS.  This fixed the issue.

 

I can send you the command lines when I get home later if you think they may help.

[LehighBri 19]

can you post a server log? thanks.

 

Sure.  Let me know if this doesn't get you what you need: http://pastebin.com/mvcN3ZLe

 

And as for the other posts, my NAS is always accessible from my server, never had any issues.  And no, the hard drives don't spin down ever due to idle activity.

[ebr 16184]

Perhaps you defined your library with a mapped drive that is no longer correct?

2014-07-08 10:02:10.0016 Error - LibraryMonitor: Error watching path: D:\Media\TV Shows
        The directory name D:\Media\TV Shows is invalid.
       
       

[LehighBri 19]

 

Perhaps you defined your library with a mapped drive that is no longer correct?

2014-07-08 10:02:10.0016 Error - LibraryMonitor: Error watching path: D:\Media\TV Shows
        The directory name D:\Media\TV Shows is invalid.
       
       

 

Nope, that mapped drive has been mapped for years and works fine.  I can access as we speak.

 

Rather than used mapped drives as an import location though, would you recommend just adding my NAS location as the import location instead of the mapped drive?  Not sure why I didn't do that in the first place, but could that help?  In my case, my media is located on \\nas\storage .

[ebr 16184]

Nope, that mapped drive has been mapped for years and works fine.  I can access as we speak.

 

Rather than used mapped drives as an import location though, would you recommend just adding my NAS location as the import location instead of the mapped drive?  Not sure why I didn't do that in the first place, but could that help?  In my case, my media is located on \\nas\storage .

 

Absolutely.  I always recommend using UNC paths over mapped drives because mapped drives are very unreliable.  Windows drops their connection after inactivity.

[LehighBri 19]

can you post a server startup log? thanks.

 

Here you go: http://pastebin.com/PrfVyLKv

Edited July 8, 2014 by LehighBri

[LehighBri 19]

The server can't access D:\Movies. So if you're sure that path is valid, its probably an issue of the account the service is running under.

 

I guess what I'm saying is, after the point I installed and setup MB3 using that mapped drive, it accessed the media just fine and imported the metadata, etc.  AND I can stream it back just fine TODAY despite the metadata saying the file is offline.  I guess the main issue is when I had a power outage, it hasn't updated anything since and is showing everything as offline.  So it should have nothing to do with the account.

[LehighBri 19]

So long story short, I'm going to switch my imported media to use the \\nas vs. the mapped drive, but in parallel, I think this should still be looked into since something isn't working correctly.

[Luke 42078]

can you post a server log? thanks.

[Luke 42078]

Sure.  Let me know if this doesn't get you what you need: http://pastebin.com/mvcN3ZLe

 

And as for the other posts, my NAS is always accessible from my server, never had any issues.  And no, the hard drives don't spin down ever due to idle activity.

 

can you post a server startup log? thanks.

[Luke 42078]

The server can't access D:\Movies. So if you're sure that path is valid, its probably an issue of the account the service is running under.

[ebr 16184]

So long story short, I'm going to switch my imported media to use the \\nas vs. the mapped drive, but in parallel, I think this should still be looked into since something isn't working correctly.

 

What isn't working correctly is at a lower level than our program.  The OS is reporting to us that it cannot access that media drive/folder.

[ebr 16184]

Are you running as a service?  If so, have you setup the service credentials as outlined here: Unable to access media when running server as a service

[LehighBri 19]

Are you running as a service?  If so, have you setup the service credentials as outlined here: Unable to access media when running server as a service

 

Yes, as a service, using whatever default settings are applied when MB3 is installed.  Like I said above, something doesn't seem right with the path you're heading down though.  I can stream a file just fine despite it saying OFFLINE... so clearly MB3 has access to the files....!!!!

[Luke 42078]

it depends on what client you're using though. some clients access the locations directly, which means it's the client accessing the file and not the server.

[LehighBri 19]

it depends on what client you're using though. some clients access the locations directly, which means it's the client accessing the file and not the server.

 

I'm using the Web UI to stream

[ebr 16184]

I think there are a number of things at play here but the bottom line is the OS is not allowing us access to that location at the time the server is attempting to determine if everything is there.

 

One thing to do is eliminate the mapped drives.  Those are definitely a source of this type of problem.  Mapping drives is a technique from back before PCs really understood networks.  Today you should always use network names.  Much more reliable.

 

The other thing to do is follow the instructions in that link because the service definitely needs proper credentials to access the locations and a service does not run under a user by default.

 

Once those two things are done, please report back whether or not the issue still exists.  Thanks.