splitting plex off to seperate box

[loady]

I have pms running on my unraid server but the hardware is not up to the job of transcoding. I have a pc hardwired to the gb lan network that can handle and was wondering how one goes about using it to do the transcoding instead of relying on unraid.

[garycase]

I don't use Plex, so I can't comment on the specific configuration details ... but basically you simply install Plex on the faster PC, and only use UnRAID as the source for your material ... i.e. as a NAS.

 

One thing you need to be sure to do:  Configure Plex so any intermediate writes it does are to a local disk on the system you're running it on ... if it tries to do those on the UnRAID server, the relatively slow writes will likely cause performance issues.  [i'm not sure if Plex even does this, but if it does need a temp folder, be sure it's not on UnRAID]

 

... and of course you need to remove Plex from your UnRAID box.

 

[Chris Pollard]

I have pms running on my unraid server but the hardware is not up to the job of transcoding. I have a pc hardwired to the gb lan network that can handle and was wondering how one goes about using it to do the transcoding instead of relying on unraid.

 

You can just install it and point it to your media on unraid,  if you want to migrate all of your "watched" meta data then you can find how to do that in the Plex wiki.

 

That is how I used to use my system but I recently moved plex to my unRaid server and bumped the CPU for transcoding.

[36bitter]

More specifically, you need to  map a drive on the PC to your Unraid server, install Plex server on the faster PC, and then configure the Plex server to use the mapped drive. You will no longer need Plex server on the Unraid server you are just using the standard share features of Unraid.

 

To map a drive:

1) Go to Start -> Computer -> Map Network Drive

2) Select a drive letter, e.g. M:

3) Browse to your Unraid shared network drive(s),  e.g. \\tower\media

4) Check the box to reconnect at login

 

For the Plex server:

1) Do a standard default Plex server install

2) Under My Library add sections for your media subsets,

    e.g. add one named Movies, browse to shared drive to M:\Movies

          add one named TV Shows, browse shared drive to M:\TV Shows

 

 

 

 

[snowboardjoe]

I have pms running on my unraid server but the hardware is not up to the job of transcoding. I have a pc hardwired to the gb lan network that can handle and was wondering how one goes about using it to do the transcoding instead of relying on unraid.

 

You can just install it and point it to your media on unraid,  if you want to migrate all of your "watched" meta data then you can find how to do that in the Plex wiki.

 

That is how I used to use my system but I recently moved plex to my unRaid server and bumped the CPU for transcoding.

 

I'm planning on a move to Plex here.  Was planning on using an old MacMini that's been collecting dust and dedicating that, but would like to run the Plex server directly on unRAID eventually.  I have a simple CPU for now and assume that will need a bump in speed.  What do you believe are the minimum CPU and RAM requirements for this?  Is a cache drive needed for any Plex activity?

[loady]

Not sure of min requirements.  I only wanted to test the transcoding side of a faster cpu before I spend time and money upping the hardware on my unraid server.  I don't really want to uninstal pms on the unraid box. l 

[StevenD]

Not sure of min requirements.  I only wanted to test the transcoding side of a faster cpu before I spend time and money upping the hardware on my unraid server.  I don't really want to uninstal pms on the unraid box. l 

 

So, dont.  At one time, I had PMS installed on four different computers in my house testing out the performance on each.

[dirtysanchez]

What do you believe are the minimum CPU and RAM requirements for this?  Is a cache drive needed for any Plex activity?

 

Per the Plex website (or wiki, don't recall) the minimum CPU recommended for 720p transcoding is a 2.0GHz Core 2 Duo.  For 1080p it is a 2.4GHz Core 2 Duo. Basically any modern Core i-series CPU has plenty enough horsepower to do transcoding. My Core i3-3220T can transcode at least 3 simultaneous 720p streams (I haven't attempted more). I would use 4GB of RAM minimum.

 

A cache drive is strongly advised if you plan on running Plex on unRaid. Plex has a lot of drive activity, enough that whatever drive you place Plex's library and temp directories on will never spin down. A cache drive is preferred as you will only have a single drive spinning as opposed to two (data and parity) if you were to place it on an array drive. 

[garycase]

Didn't realize you could have multiple Plex servers without conflicts ... but that's good, as you don't have to "touch" your UnRAID box to test it on another PC.    Just install it and give it a try.

 

From your other thread r.e. upgrades to the server, I know you have two other systems with CPU's with PLENTY of "horsepower" to handle Plex      Just try it on either of those.

 

... or simply upgrade the server to your spare 2600k and you won't have any issues with performance !!

 

[loady]

Hmmm..this is good then and sounds easy enough to test out.

 

A cache drive is strongly advised if you plan on running Plex on unRaid. Plex has a lot of drive activity, enough that whatever drive you place Plex's library and temp directories on will never spin down. A cache drive is preferred as you will only have a single drive spinning as opposed to two (data and parity) if you were to place it on an array drive. 

 

Thats where PMS resides on my UNraid setup, the cache drive is an SSD 

 

So, dont.  At one time, I had PMS installed on four different computers in my house testing out the performance on each.

 

How do you differentiate between the servers when you require to transcode a film say on the road..im guessing it prompts you for the server or you manually select it ? I have only ever had PMS on unraid so not sure if or how different it is on a PC.

 

 

[dirtysanchez]

 

How do you differentiate between the servers when you require to transcode a film say on the road..im guessing it prompts you for the server or you manually select it ? I have only ever had PMS on unraid so not sure if or how different it is on a PC.

 

You'll have a list of your servers (give them different names obviously) in your Plex client app, just select the server you wish to do the transcoding.

[loady]

seems to be working ok..think the Intel g840 is up to the job, its stuttering a bit over 3g but i think that is because it is populating the movie section still

[StevenD]

 

How do you differentiate between the servers when you require to transcode a film say on the road..im guessing it prompts you for the server or you manually select it ? I have only ever had PMS on unraid so not sure if or how different it is on a PC.

 

 

If you use uPNP on your router, each server will configure a separate port to open up. They will all show up in your MyPlex account and you select the one you want.  I don't use uPNP, so I manually specified a unique port for each, then opened that port on my firewall.  I also have a domain pointed to one of my home IPs, so I can also access one directly with my domain name and port.