---
type: reference
title: Media Metadata View
description: "The SSD-backed overlay the two media servers read and write: shape, guards, commands, laws, rollback."
tags: [dankserver, media-server, jellyfin, plex, storage]
timestamp: 2026-10-30T00:00:00Z
---

# Media Metadata View

`/var/lib/media-meta/view` is an OverlayFS merge of the media library: the RAID6
array below, a directory on the NVMe above. It exists so [[Jellyfin]] can write
Kodi-format sidecars (`movie.nfo`, `tvshow.nfo`, `episode.nfo`, artwork) that
[[Plex]] can read. Sidecar metadata is only useful sitting next to the media
file, and the array is read-only and slow — so the media bytes stay there and the
*writes* land on SSD. One tree to both servers, one copy of the media.

The mount point is not a volume and holds nothing while unmounted. It sits inside
`/var/lib/media-meta` so that layers, kernel bookkeeping, the reap trash and the
merged door are one directory — and so the mount table grows no new `/mnt` entry
next to the array.

**Not deployed on Dankserver — verified 2026-10-31.** `scripts/media-view.sh
status` answers `view: /var/lib/media-meta/view NOT MOUNTED`,
`/var/lib/media-meta` does not exist, and the installed quadlets under
`~/.config/containers/systemd/` still carry the pre-view binds — `/mnt/entropy:/data:ro`
for [[Jellyfin]], `/mnt/entropy:/mnt/entropy:ro` for [[Plex]]. Everything below
is the shape git describes, not the shape the servers run. The cutover is an
ordinary deploy: `deploy.sh dankserver --service jellyfin|plex` runs
`ensure_media_view` (`install` then `verify`) before it restarts the container,
so it must not be fired through the middle of a library scan. Until that deploy
lands there is no upper layer, so no relayout can leave ghost metadata and
`reap` has nothing to do — `media-apply.py` prints that follow-up only when the
view really is a mountpoint.

## Shape

| Item | Value |
|---|---|
| Lower layer | `/mnt/entropy` — the RAID6 array, source of truth, never written |
| Upper layer | `/var/lib/media-meta/upper` — NVMe; every write lands here |
| Work dir | `/var/lib/media-meta/work` — overlayfs internals, same filesystem |
| Mount point | `/var/lib/media-meta/view` — the merged tree both servers bind |
| Unit (repo) | `dankserver/host/systemd/media-meta-view.mount` — the source of truth |
| Unit (host) | `var-lib-media\x2dmeta-view.mount` — systemd names a mount unit after its escaped path (`-` becomes `\x2d`); `media-view.sh install` writes the repo file under that name |
| Installer | `scripts/media-view.sh` — `plan` / `install` / `verify` / `status` / `reap` |
| Written by | Jellyfin only (Plex binds read-only); nothing else in the fleet touches it |

Both consumers guard the view with
`UnitConfigItem=ConditionPathIsMountPoint=/var/lib/media-meta/view`, and
`scripts/deploy.sh dankserver --service jellyfin|plex` calls `media-view.sh
install` + `verify` before it restarts either container.

| Consumer | Bind | Mode | Why that path |
|---|---|---|---|
| [[Jellyfin]] | `/var/lib/media-meta/view:/data` | rw | It is the metadata writer; its sidecars become SSD bytes |
| [[Plex]] | `/var/lib/media-meta/view:/mnt/entropy` | ro | Every path in the PMS database was recorded as `/mnt/entropy/...`; only the HOST side of the bind moved, so its database still resolves |

Putting the sidecars inside Plex's reach is not the same as making Plex use them:
a library parses `.nfo` only with its *Local media information* agent enabled, and
this change touches no library setting.

## Commands

```bash
scripts/media-view.sh plan              # print the resolved shape, touch nothing
sudo scripts/media-view.sh install      # create dirs, install the unit, mount, enable
scripts/media-view.sh verify            # is the view really the overlay? (deploy gate)
scripts/media-view.sh status            # mount options + upper-layer size/file count
scripts/media-view.sh reap              # list ghost metadata (media moved, sidecars left)
sudo scripts/media-view.sh reap --apply # move ghosts to the SSD trash, never delete
```

`--upper-base DIR` and `--lower DIR` relocate the layers for `plan` and `reap`;
the defaults are the host values above.

## Laws

- **The upper layer must sit on non-rotational storage.** `install` and `verify`
  refuse via `lsblk -dno ROTA` if the upper base lives on the array: an overlay
  whose upper is the spinners is the original problem with extra steps, and it
  silently turns every metadata write back into a seek.
- **Never mount the view over an unmounted lower.** `RequiresMountsFor=/mnt/entropy`
  plus the container `ConditionPathIsMountPoint` guards: an empty `lowerdir`
  presents an *empty library* as truth, and a media scan would then clear the
  database of everything. systemd does not create a mount point, so `install`
  creates `view` itself; without it the mount simply fails.
- **Never delete through the view.** A delete writes an overlayfs whiteout
  (`.wh.<name>`) in the upper layer, which hides the array's copy without
  removing it — the file reappears the moment the view is unmounted, and the
  upper layer now carries a landmine. Deletions belong on the raw path
  (`/mnt/entropy`), which the relayout tool already treats as the only writer.
  `reap` refuses to remove whiteouts and only warns about them.
- **A relayout must be followed by `reap`.** Renames happen on the raw path, so
  sidecars the view already wrote stay at the old coordinates: a ghost folder
  the servers browse and find nothing in. `reap` lists upper-layer directories
  with no counterpart below and moves them (with their subtree) into a dated
  `.AGENTTRASH/` under the SSD base. It is recursive and file-safe: a sidecar
  that exists only above is normal, so only *directories* are candidates.
- **File-watcher events do not cross the overlay.** Plex's NFO agent and
  Jellyfin's real-time monitor see inotify events for writes that land *in the
  upper layer*, not for changes on the array underneath. After any relayout or
  externally-written metadata, trigger a library refresh — see
  [[Media Relayout]] for the refresh procedure.

## Failure signatures

| Symptom | Meaning |
|---|---|
| `jellyfin.service` / `plex.service` show `ConditionPathIsMountPoint=... was not met` and stay inactive | The view is not mounted. Do not start them anyway: `scripts/media-view.sh install`, then `verify`. |
| Jellyfin log: `Read-only file system : '/data/Movies/…/movie.nfo'` | The container is binding the raw array, not the view — the quadlet drifted back or the view is gone. `media-view.sh status`. |
| A folder appears in a media server with artwork/`.nfo` but no video | Ghost metadata from a relayout. `media-view.sh reap`. |
| `verify` prints `refused: …/view is not a mountpoint` | A plain directory is sitting where the overlay belongs. That is the fail-closed guard working; `install` on the box. |
| `systemctl status` finds no such unit | Look under the escaped name, `var-lib-media\x2dmeta-view.mount`, not the repo file name. |

## Rollback

Revert the commit that pointed the two quadlets at the view and re-deploy both
services — they bind `/mnt/entropy` read-only again, which is the pre-view shape.
The NVMe upper layer can stay: nothing reads it once the binds are back, and it
holds no state either server needs. Unmounting alone
(`systemctl stop 'var-lib-media\x2dmeta-view.mount'`) is safe while no container
binds it, and the array is never modified by any of this.

## Links

- [[Jellyfin]] — the metadata writer; its data layout section.
- [[Plex]] — the read-only consumer; in-place bind-mount history.
- [[Media Relayout]] — the tool that moves media on the raw path and the reason `reap` exists.
- [[Entropy Volume]] — the array underneath.