IMPORTANT UPDATE: the script had a bug, that was just fixed. If you already downloaded it (on the day when this post was originally released), please download it again.
Hi Hackers,
In the comment section a few people voiced the idea that the Plex Media Server should be updateable without re-flashing the whole firmware. That’s an excellent idea.
Since I’m still travelling I can’t build a full-blown firmware for this (I can’t do any testing without my loyal Linkstation LS-WVL) but I can share the “engine” that’s going to do the heavy-lifting.
If you know how to use SSH on your Linkstation, please try to run this script and report back with the result. If it works, I can try to implement it on the web interface and we could ship it to all users. (As soon as I can get to my device.)
Still no news on LS400/420 support. I know people would like it very much but I just can’t match my time, location and the location of an LS400 yet.
Here’s how you can run the script:
- Log in to your Linkstation through SSH
- Run the following commmand (as one line) to download the script:
-
wget --no-check-certificate https://raw.githubusercontent.com/GaryTomato/buffaloplex/master/resources/additions/test/usr/local/sbin/update-plex
-
- Run the script:
-
sh update-plex
-
Check the output. It should download and install the latest public Plex Media Server version onto the Linkstation, using the Synology package. It will ask you to restart the Plex Media Server service. You can do that from the command-line or from the web interface.
If it doesn’t seem to work, please do the following:
- Copy all output to a text file and send it to me. (In the comment section or e-mail. You can guess my address from “my name at my domain”.)
- Try to run the last command with a specific version of the Plex Media Server, like this: (as one line)
-
sh update-plex https://downloads.plex.tv/plex-media-server/0.9.12.19.1537-f38ac80/PlexMediaServer-0.9.12.19.1537-f38ac80-arm.spk
-
- If that didn’t work either, copy that output too and send it to me.
If it works on first try and you have a PlexPass, now you can upgrade your server to PlexPass versions too. You just need to go to the Plex archive (after logging in) and get the link for the Synology ARM package for the specific version you want to install.
Please send feedback regardless, for everyone’s benefit.
GaryT
login as: root
root@192.168.200.21‘s password:
root@LinkStation:~# wget –no-check-certificate https://raw.githubusercontent.>;
–2015-11-24 11:42:52– https://raw.githubusercontent.com/GaryTomato/buffaloplex/master/resources/additions/test/usr/local/sbin/update-plex
Resolving raw.githubusercontent.com… 23.235.40.133
Connecting to raw.githubusercontent.com|23.235.40.133|:443… connected.
WARNING: cannot verify raw.githubusercontent.com’s certificate, issued by `/C=US/O=DigiCert Inc/OU=www.digicert.com/CN=DigiCert SHA2 High Assurance Server CA’:
Unable to locally verify the issuer’s authority.
WARNING: certificate common name `www.github.com’ doesn’t match requested host name `raw.githubusercontent.com’.
HTTP request sent, awaiting response… 200 OK
Length: 2576 (2.5K) [text/plain]
Saving to: `update-plex.4′
100%[======================================>] 2,576 –.-K/s in 0s
2015-11-24 11:42:53 (143 MB/s) – `update-plex.4′ saved [2576/2576]
root@LinkStation:~# sh update-plex
This should only be run on Buffalo Linkstation devices with custom firmware. Visit http://tomatosoft.hu/gadgets for more.
Trying to find latest Plex Media Server.
–2015-11-24 11:43:00– https://plex.tv/downloads/1/archive
Resolving plex.tv… 184.169.150.53, 184.169.183.121, 184.72.57.72, …
Connecting to plex.tv|184.169.150.53|:443… connected.
ERROR: cannot verify plex.tv’s certificate, issued by `/C=US/O=DigiCert Inc/OU=www.digicert.com/CN=DigiCert SHA2 Extended Validation Server CA’:
Unable to locally verify the issuer’s authority.
To connect to plex.tv insecurely, use `–no-check-certificate’.
Unable to establish SSL connection.
Download of list of versions from plex.tv failed. Please add a link for manual download.
<0.9.12.19.1537-f38ac80/PlexMediaServer-0.9.12.19.1537-f38ac80-arm.spk
This should only be run on Buffalo Linkstation devices with custom firmware. Visit http://tomatosoft.hu/gadgets for more.
Predefined Plex file detected.
File to download: https://downloads.plex.tv/plex-media-server/0.9.12.19.1537-f38ac80/PlexMediaServer-0.9.12.19.1537-f38ac80-arm.spk
Filename: PlexMediaServer-0.9.12.19.1537-f38ac80-arm.spk
Temporary directory: /mnt/array1/tmpplexupdatetmp
Downloading PlexMediaServer-0.9.12.19.1537-f38ac80-arm.spk.
–2015-11-24 11:43:08– https://downloads.plex.tv/plex-media-server/0.9.12.19.1537-f38ac80/PlexMediaServer-0.9.12.19.1537-f38ac80-arm.spk
Resolving downloads.plex.tv… 104.20.6.9, 104.20.7.9, 2400:cb00:2048:1::6814:609, …
Connecting to downloads.plex.tv|104.20.6.9|:443… connected.
ERROR: cannot verify downloads.plex.tv's certificate, issued by `/C=US/O=DigiCert Inc/CN=DigiCert SHA2 Secure Server CA':
Unable to locally verify the issuer's authority.
To connect to downloads.plex.tv insecurely, use `–no-check-certificate'.
Unable to establish SSL connection.
Download of Plex Media Server (PlexMediaServer-0.9.12.19.1537-f38ac80-arm.spk) failed.
root@LinkStation:~# sh update-plex
This should only be run on Buffalo Linkstation devices with custom firmware. Visit http://tomatosoft.hu/gadgets for more.
Trying to find latest Plex Media Server.
–2015-11-24 11:43:10– https://plex.tv/downloads/1/archive
Resolving plex.tv… 184.169.150.53, 184.169.183.121, 184.72.57.72, …
Connecting to plex.tv|184.169.150.53|:443… connected.
ERROR: cannot verify plex.tv's certificate, issued by `/C=US/O=DigiCert Inc/OU=www.digicert.com/CN=DigiCert SHA2 Extended Validation Server CA':
Unable to locally verify the issuer's authority.
To connect to plex.tv insecurely, use `–no-check-certificate'.
Unable to establish SSL connection.
Download of list of versions from plex.tv failed. Please add a link for manual download.
root@LinkStation:~#
I did this 4 times don't think its working.
So I have no clue on SSH but I did some reading then I was like hmm all just put the update on the NAS and update and that worked.
sh update-plex http://192.168.200.21:8080/PlexMediaServer-0.9.12.19.1537-f38ac80-arm.spk
Take the s out of https and it works. But I can’t get the first code to work at all.
sh update-plex http://downloads.plex.tv/plex-media-server/0.9.12.19.1537-f38ac80/PlexMediaServer-0.9.12.19.1537-f38ac80-arm.spk
Cr*p, I forgot the –no-check-certificate in the script… (Buffalo should really implement proper certificate checking…)
Thanks R3dmvn, I’ll update the script ASAP.
To shed some light on the issue for you:
The script is trying to download a file through HTTPS but it fails because it tries to check the certificate validity which is not properly implemented in the Linkstation. (Hence we had the issue with the auto-updater a few months back.) When you downloaded the file and used HTTP instead, that works fine, so that was a good call.
Plex stores all new versions on HTTPS so I have to fix it. I’m booting up the virtual Linux as I type this to fix the script and upload it to GitHub again. I’ll have a new blog entry when I’m finished.
new update works
I got the script to work by uninstalling wget and installing wget-ssl. Just an idea for people if they want to get it working.
Thanks Brian. It should work without wget-ssl now. (I guess you ran the first version.) The final script will be a bit more polished.
Just ran this on a ProStation DUO (LS-WVL960) and it worked flawlessly.
Thanks Marc, good to hear it.
Hi Gary,
First of all, I wanted to thank you for your work.
Secondly, I have a LS-CHL and I don’t even know how to enable SSH on it, let alone use that to run the script. I really don’t want to brick my linkstation, so I was wondering if you had any kind of timetable for the updated firmware that contains the plex updater. If it’s a long way out, I may try and figure out how to do it, if not I will wait. Also, if it is a long way out, if anyone has and tips on what I’d need to do, I’d appreciate them.
Thanks,
Mike
Hi Mike,
Unfortunately for a graphical “Plex updater” button, you’ll have to wait until next year. (I have to get back to my device.) I’m planning to release a new version of the firmware this year with updated Plex. There were too many changes on the server side to ignore it…
Regards,
GaryT
Actually I see that your firmware enables SSH, (I rolled it back when Plex Server 9.12.13 didn’t work on the new appleTV), so I just need to figure out how to run the script without bricking the linkstation.
-Mike
Oh, great. Running the script can’t brick the Linkstation. It can brick Plex though if it’s stopped midway through. The good news is that if you restart the script it should fix Plex for you.
Hi Gary,
Quick question. I have opened Port 22 and Port 2222 on my router and macbook’s firewall and I am still getting a connection refused error on my SSH login.
Port 2222 was a user defined exception, so I wanted to check on the specific port settings. I did TCP port 2222, is it UDP?
Connection refused error with all of the following lines
MacBook-Pro:~ user$ ssh root@localIP -p 2222
MacBook-Pro:~ user$ ssh root@publicIP -p 2222
MacBook-Pro:~ user$ ssh root@localIP
MacBook-Pro:~ user$ ssh root@publicIP
Also refused when i try to connect via, my admin username with the intention of SUDOing to root user
Am I missing a setting on the Linkstation? I simply enabled the SSH functionality in the halloween firmware
Thanks,
Mike
Hi Mike,
I think you don’t need to change anything on your Mac to connect to your Linkstation through SSH. The TCP port 2222 needs to be open on the Linkstation device, which is open by default. (There’s no firewall on the Linkstation enabled.) Then on your local network, from your Mac you should be able to run:
ssh -p 2222 root@ipofthelinkstation
and log in with the password that you use on the web interface too. Certainly this only works if you enabled SSH for root on the web interface beforehand.
I advise not allowing SSH pass through on your router. The Linkstation device is still quite insecure after all the Buffalo patches, you don’t know what your letting into your network by allowing SSH through the Internet. Just use SSH on your local network.
– GaryT
Hi Gary,
Thanks for taking the time to respond. That is what I tried originally, this is what I get from the terminal
ssh -p 2222 root@192.168.1.xxx
=> ssh: connect to host 192.168.1.xxx port 2222: Connection refused
Any thoughts? If not I’ll just have to wait and install your firmware with the never version of plex server
Thanks,
Mike
Hi Gary,
Again I wanted to thank you for your work. As for the SSH server, I found the problem, but no solution. If I run nmap, it says that port 2222 isn’t open.
Macbook:~ user$ nmap 192.168.1.xxx
Starting Nmap 7.00 ( https://nmap.org ) at 2015-12-08 17:39 PST
Nmap scan report for LS-CHL822 (192.168.1.xxx)
Host is up (0.073s latency).
Not shown: 990 closed ports
PORT STATE SERVICE
80/tcp open http
139/tcp open netbios-ssn
443/tcp open https
445/tcp open microsoft-ds
515/tcp open printer
548/tcp open afp
873/tcp open rsync
3689/tcp open rendezvous
8873/tcp open dxspider
22939/tcp open unknown
Nmap done: 1 IP address (1 host up) scanned in 2.75 seconds
But, SSH says that it is enabled under network settings. Any thoughts?
Thanks again,
Mike
Hi Mike,
Thanks for the detailed troubleshooting, you gave me an idea and I double-checked (using the GitHub source since I still don’t have access to my NAS). Here’s the issue:
My SSH script is based on the original Buffalo code and in that code there’s a check if the hardware supports SFTP. (line 16 in my /etc/init.d/ssh.sh). As it turns out the LS-CHL does not support SFTP out of the box (in the /etc/nas_feature file), hence the check doesn’t enable SSH either. 🙁
I can remove this check in the next firmware but since my LS-WVL supports SFTP by default, there’s no way for me to properly test if this is going to work on your LS-CHL. When the next version comes out, please check the changelog, it should mention that this check was removed. Then install that firmware and check if SSH magically starts working for you. Since the files are all there, it should, but the LS-CHL has a very slow processor, so your experience may vary.
Regards,
GaryT
Hello Guys,
First of all I really appreciate all your efforts 🙂 Is it possible to post a step by step walkthrough for dummies (like me) who are not so familiar with SSH or hacking how to install the Plex update? Unfortunately Apple TV 4 cannot access the server without it. Or should we wait for an update to be released on your modified Buffalo firmware?
Thanks in advance!
I’d say wait for the new release. The script in itself is really for hackers. I should have something soon enough.
– GaryT
Cool, thanks for your feedback GaryT
Hi,
When I try to use wget with the parameter –no-check-certificate appears the following error:
wget: unrecognized option `–no-check-certificate’
Usage: wget [OPTION]… [URL]…
I run the following command but wget don’t have –no-check-certificate option:
root@NAS:/mnt/usbdisk1# wget –help | grep ‘cert’
root@NAS:/mnt/usbdisk1#
I try to update with ipkg but don’t work:
root@NAS:/mnt/usbdisk1# ipkg update
Downloading http://ipkg.nslu2-linux.org/feeds/optware/cs08q1armel/cross/stable//Packages
Updated list of available packages in /opt/lib/ipkg/lists/cs08q1
Downloading http://ipkg.nslu2-linux.org/feeds/optware/cs05q3armel/cross/stable/Packages.gz
Inflating http://ipkg.nslu2-linux.org/feeds/optware/cs05q3armel/cross/stable/Packages.gz
Updated list of available packages in /opt/lib/ipkg/lists/cross
Successfully terminated.
root@NAS:/mnt/usbdisk1# ipkg install wget
Package wget (1.12-2) installed in root is up to date.
Nothing to be done
Successfully terminated.
I’m using the firmware 1.71-3.66 HALLOWEEN on my LS-WVL NAS
How can I update the wget command?
thanks and Regards
I found the SSL version of wget with the name wget-ssl on the Halloween firmware on:
/usr/local/bin/wget-ssl
I have modified the script to use it and I can update the plex to “Version 0.9.14.6”
Regard
Awesome, thanks for the feedback. With the new release (coming soon) you won’t have to use the script.
Regards,
GaryT
I know most ppl can do this but i have redone the script i changed all wget to wget-ssl and it working for me
i would post it here but i can not 😛
Thanks Chris. The focus is integrating with the Linkstation better (which I’m working on), but if you want to share it, send it to me (it’s easy enough to figure out my e-mail address from my username and the domain of the site) and I can post it.
Still, I’d rather people wait for the next release and get an all-in-one solution. People with SSH skills have already figured out a solution and people without it should learn linux commands on a test system instead. 🙂
– GaryT