Media Server (PLEX) Installation ? Huh


bombz

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Hello, I am new to everything UnRAID 5 has to offer, and it seems it can offer PLEX MEDIA SERVER right on the UnRAID BOX which is nice.

 

Little history :

 

Hello, I have been running my media to my many computers in my home the old school way, by just accessing the share withing 'network' via windows, clicking the folder and the file of the show or movie I want to view. It seems these days there are a lot of nice GUI's that are used, poster art, episode synopsis, network, etc. Looks really nice on the eyes. I was curious to what would be the best to use with UnRAID.

 

I ran plex and XBMC long time ago, and it just was not cutting it for me, I always liked MPC:TH with my codecs I used on my computers around the house. However I think things have come a long way in regards to the GUI apps we can use today.

 

Plex I didn't seem to like and was really annoyed with it actually when I used it last. from screens I have been seeing it looks a lot better. Do you still need to have the server for the app on a windows system or is UnRAID able to be the host server for the media app you are running / plugin's etc ?

 

What I have been trying to find out is the step by step instructions to getting PMS setup on my unraid box.

Also what I need for it to run correctly

Do i HAVE to have a cache drive in my unraid box ? do I need any specific plugins other then PMS

If a cache drive is needed, what size would be recommended 1TB 2TB ?

 

I have been hunting for some step by step instructions of doing a FRESH install of plex. My unraid 5 USB is a FRESH install, no plugins or extras have ever been installed, but PLEX run right from UNRAID looks REALLY nice, and for the 3-4 computers around my house hooked up to TVs it looks very user friendly.

 

I would love the assistance on anything I have asked above, I am on the road right now so trying to gain some knowledge on this so when I get back from (for the short time I am there) I can tackle this matter and have it running nice for my family before I have to leave again

 

If anyone could spread some light on this matter I'd appreciate it.

 

Thanks :-)

 

I'd love to make a section myself for the step by step for everyone to access once I get it going... This is all I have found for installation instructions so far...

 

INSTALLATION

 

    copy PlexMediaServer-*-unRAID.txz to /boot/extra/ (this installs PMS on every reboot)

    install with installpkg /boot/extra/PlexMediaServer-*-unRAID.txz

 

2 steps ? Didn't really tell you if anything else was needed, cache drive etc. Trying to figure out how this works, how plex can just access tv and movies only from the unraid shares and not everything :-/

 

Still researching .....

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I've installed several Roku's (about 5) in the homes of relatives and it works just fine. Everything loads quickly, plus it helps to have plenty of bandwidth (15Mbps up in my case) to serve the content. I've had all the remote Roku's, my Roku and XBMC box, plus one iphone Plex app running at the same time and my server and network it didn't even blink. Be mindful to set Plex at a reasonable speed for remote hosts if needed.

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I switched from MediaPortal to Plex about 5-6 months ago and haven't regretted it at all. I have PMS on UnRaid and PHT/PMC on Windows 7 HTPCs and it works great. I also stream to iOS devices.

 

The only inconvenience I found was having to convert my ISO images to MKVs, which is only became a hassle as I like to keep and watch the bonus material.

 

TheWombat

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You don't need a cache drive for Plex AFAIK. I only use the cache drive to cache downloaded content.

 

Yup, though it's nice too have as it should improve performance.

 

Yes I think there's a performance increase using a cache drive, but I realized by my personal experiences with unRAID that using a cache drive to store long term data, which is basically unprotected data, is not something worth doing for me when all the Plex temp, metadata, plex cache, plugins, media, and applications files etc. stored there can be lost from a drive failure with no chance of "rebuilding" any of that data from parity. Then again the occasional backup of the cache drive might be a good solution for other people. Personal preference I suppose.

 

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The only inconvenience I found was having to convert my ISO images to MKVs, which is only became a hassle as I like to keep and watch the bonus material.

If you would need ISO-support only for PMC running on PC then this external player concept might help. I developed it for own use on my 300+ Blu-ray ISO library and polished a bit for public release. Works nicely with PowerDVD, Total Media Theatre and MPC-HC. Doesn't help on the IOS or other non-pc platforms. And unfortunately PHT does not yet support external players. I'm also slowly migrating towards MKVs.

 

I'd love to make a section myself for the step by step for everyone to access once I get it going... This is all I have found for installation instructions so far...

 

INSTALLATION

 

    copy PlexMediaServer-*-unRAID.txz to /boot/extra/ (this installs PMS on every reboot)

    install with installpkg /boot/extra/PlexMediaServer-*-unRAID.txz

 

2 steps ? Didn't really tell you if anything else was needed, cache drive etc. Trying to figure out how this works, how plex can just access tv and movies only from the unraid shares and not everything :-/

 

Still researching .....

All the steps are listed on this post on the already linked thread.

 

I've also posted basically the very same steps in this post on the massive Plex Media Server thread in the plugins section:

1. Enabled user shares in unRAID web gui (Settings / Share settings)

2. Created a cache-only share called apps (Shares / Add share)

3. Copied  PlexMediaServer-*-unRAID.txz into extra-folder on flash (downloaded from http://www.plexapp.com/getplex/)

4. Telnetted into unRAID using Putty and ran "installpkg /boot/extra/PlexMediaServer-*-unRAID.txz" (OR you could reboot unRAID through web gui)

5. Copied plexupdater to config/plugins folder on flash (downloaded from http://www.plexapp.com/getplex/)

6. Ran " installplg /boot/config/plugins/plexUpdater.plg" in the existing telnet session (OR you could reboot unRAID through web gui)

7. Created "/mnt/cache/apps/plex" and "mnt/cache/apps/plex/temp" folders using mkdir in telnet session (OR you can do this using Windows explorer). I think this step is not necessary and Plex will auto create the folders but better safe than sorry.

8. Changed the Plex library directory in unRAID web gui to "/mnt/cache/apps/plex"

9. Changed the Plex temp directory in unRAID web gui to "mnt/cache/apps/plex/temp"

 

If you install Plex on one of the data disks (disk1 etc.) then Plex will keep that disk and parity spinning (to my knowledge, haven't tried it personally). Performance wise it should not really matter, heavy disk utilisation occurs only when updating library sections. When watching a movie, the disk access is on the disk where the media is located not where Plex is located. Personally I prefer using a smallish SSD disc for cache and having all apps (Plex, MySQL etc.) there primarily to save some energy.

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henris:

If you install Plex on one of the data disks (disk1 etc.) then Plex will keep that disk and parity spinning (to my knowledge, haven't tried it personally). Performance wise it should not really matter, heavy disk utilisation occurs only when updating library sections. When watching a movie, the disk access is on the disk where the media is located not where Plex is located. Personally I prefer using a smallish SSD disc for cache and having all apps (Plex, MySQL etc.) there primarily to save some energy.

 

1. All disks not in use should spin down by setting up Plex Media Server to update periodically instead of when detecting changes:

 

Settings >> Show Advanced Settings >> Library >> (uncheck) Update my library automatically  >> Library update interval (set to desired update interval) >> (check) Update my library periodically

 

All my disks spin down.

 

2. Using an SSD drive as a cache drive seems like a good idea, and that would be true for all drives if SSD's were practical and feasible.

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Thanks everyone that does help me with deciding. I will have to mess with it when I get home. So essentially I don't need a cache drive, though I have some spare drives laying around the house if I do need one. It seems all you need to do is make a *new share* (folder) on a drive with space for PLEX Cache

 

I was getting confused with everyone's posts I read seeing /mnt/cache/apps/plex (thinking cache was their ACTUAL cache drive) when it was just a share they created for that purpose.

 

So for example I could make a new drive share on the root of lets say DISK 2 ... disk2/plex/ and tell plex to use that folder which is in my protected array... correct or any disk for that matter. So long as you pick a specific share for plex to use anywhere on your array?

 

Then basically you are good to go ?

 

I really appreciated all the responses, love the community. I might need to bounce off you in the future for any other questions. Thanks again :-)

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Thanks everyone that does help me with deciding. I will have to mess with it when I get home. So essentially I don't need a cache drive, though I have some spare drives laying around the house if I do need one. It seems all you need to do is make a *new share* (folder) on a drive with space for PLEX Cache

 

I was getting confused with everyone's posts I read seeing /mnt/cache/apps/plex (thinking cache was their ACTUAL cache drive) when it was just a share they created for that purpose.

 

So for example I could make a new drive share on the root of lets say DISK 2 ... disk2/plex/ and tell plex to use that folder which is in my protected array... correct or any disk for that matter. So long as you pick a specific share for plex to use anywhere on your array?

 

Then basically you are good to go ?

 

I really appreciated all the responses, love the community. I might need to bounce off you in the future for any other questions. Thanks again :-)

/mnt/cache is referring to the cache disk, in the very same manner that /mnt/disk1 refers to disk1. The user shares are located under /mnt/user. What might confuse you is that when you view the unRAID through windows explorer you see flash, cache, disk1-n and all the user shares at the same root level.

 

Regardless of this, you don't need to install Plex on cache disk. But you should install it on a disk share not user share spanning over multiple disks. So /mnt/disk1/plex is fine but /mnt/user/plex is not if the share is using multiple data disks (well you could do even that but it just doesn't make sense).

 

And to be absolutely correct, Plex installation is split in two places; Plex executables and related static files are installed to ram disk (/usr/local/plexmediaserver) through the Plex package on each server boot and only the user specific changing data needed to be persistent are located in the cache disk (or where ever you decide them to reside). If someone compares this to a Plex Media Server installation on Windows, the executables are located in c:\program files\... and the user specifics are in c:\Users\(username)\AppData\Local\Plex Media Server.

 

Hope I managed to clarify this instead of confusing even more ;) The main reason I recommend people to install Plex on cache disk is to avoid all this confusion about multiple options.

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Right on buddy, yah that helps. I will prob just make a new disk share for plex, I know there is a good deal of space on some disks. I will also be expanding my array from now to months down the road. I will note everything that was said once I get back home and can mess with it. Seems pretty straight forward, hope it scans all my media fine. The main concern is my movies, just how they are labeled hope plex is smart enough to know.

 

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Right on buddy, yah that helps. I will prob just make a new disk share for plex, I know there is a good deal of space on some disks. I will also be expanding my array from now to months down the road. I will note everything that was said once I get back home and can mess with it. Seems pretty straight forward, hope it scans all my media fine. The main concern is my movies, just how they are labeled hope plex is smart enough to know.

 

so if I have movies and tv on .... disk3/bluray -- disk3/hdtv -- disk8/bluray -- disk8/tv -- disk2/tv -- etc. Can I just tell plex to scan those folders to its library ignoring other all other disks / folders. I assume I can but might as well ask while I am thinking of it. No rush getting back

 

I would leverage the advantages of using the share mounts (those under /mnt/user).  One of the joys of unRAID is how you can dive into /mnt/user/ShareName and it does not matter what disk your content is on--unRAID maps to it seamlessly.  If you want/need to restrict data to discs, then you can configure that at the share level.  You can tell Plex the exact directories you want, but you will want to keep your content reasonable categorized (movies, TV shows, home videos, music, etc.).  That helps Plex use the right agents for the content.  You will not want to mix that content up in a single share for the sake of Plex.

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Right on buddy, yah that helps. I will prob just make a new disk share for plex, I know there is a good deal of space on some disks. I will also be expanding my array from now to months down the road. I will note everything that was said once I get back home and can mess with it. Seems pretty straight forward, hope it scans all my media fine. The main concern is my movies, just how they are labeled hope plex is smart enough to know.

 

so if I have movies and tv on .... disk3/bluray -- disk3/hdtv -- disk8/bluray -- disk8/tv -- disk2/tv -- etc. Can I just tell plex to scan those folders to its library ignoring other all other disks / folders. I assume I can but might as well ask while I am thinking of it. No rush getting back

 

I would leverage the advantages of using the share mounts (those under /mnt/user).  One of the joys of unRAID is how you can dive into /mnt/user/ShareName and it does not matter what disk your content is on--unRAID maps to it seamlessly.  If you want/need to restrict data to discs, then you can configure that at the share level.  You can tell Plex the exact directories you want, but you will want to keep your content reasonable categorized (movies, TV shows, home videos, music, etc.).  That helps Plex use the right agents for the content.  You will not want to mix that content up in a single share for the sake of Plex.

 

This is my thinking as well. Using the share mounts seems to keep things well organized and one does not have to worry if one app, content, or whatever is stored on disk1 disk2 disk3...disk20. Simply organizing your data into share mounts is less of a hassle and good practice imho. My Plex Media Server --> /mnt/user/apps/Plex and /mnt/user/apps/Plex/Temp. easy to find.

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hm alright cool, yah I have 2 users on my server, admin and guest... perhaps I should make a new user with just access to the disks/shares with media that I want plex to see or use? It will probably all make sense once I am actually setting it up and going though the steps, it can't be that hard, right now I am just thinking about how it works

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I concur with the others, one of the great things about unRAID for media server use is it's user shares. Personally I do all my writing through disk shares (eg. \\tower\disk12\movies) and then publish a read only user share (eg. \\tower\movies) spanning over all the disks for Plex (or any other client) to use. This protects the data from any unintended mistakes and I have total control where the data is written. I've been thinking about setting writable user shares but since I'm mostly just filling disks one by one and basically never removing anything it wouldn't ease my work that much.

 

I wouldn't bother setting up any additional users, you can easily add just the folders you want into the library settings in Plex.

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you guys rock ! thanks for all the feedback, I am thinking I am going to enjoy this! I want to get home and try it and see how the new eye candy works! having plex all over the house all served from my server is going to be awesome!

 

I wonder then if I will look into PlexPass lol

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  • 3 weeks later...

Quick question before I get into this. Does plex allow you to use mouse to function everything, or do you HAVE to to a keyboard or IR remote. Reason I ask I was just testing media portal, and mouse functionally was weak, I didn't like it really at all, It was a glorified windows explorer it seemed.

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If you install Plex on one of the data disks (disk1 etc.) then Plex will keep that disk and parity spinning (to my knowledge, haven't tried it personally). Performance wise it should not really matter, heavy disk utilisation occurs only when updating library sections. When watching a movie, the disk access is on the disk where the media is located not where Plex is located. Personally I prefer using a smallish SSD disc for cache and having all apps (Plex, MySQL etc.) there primarily to save some energy.

 

So because I am putting my library and temp dir's on disk11, disk 11 and parity will be running 24/7?

 

 

Library = /mnt/disk11/PLEX/library

Temp = /mnt/disk11/PLEX/temp

 

Cause if need be I will purchase an small SSD like you did for this sort of thing... currently trying PLEX for the first time on UnRaid, its just scanning all my media.

 

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The temp space for Plex can remain pretty busy.  If there are no updates to your library it's possible Plex will remain quiet and idle and not request anything from the temp space based on how you have things configured.  However, normally, you should expect the temp space of Plex to remain quite chatty to serve up requests and maintain the library including library updates.  All of those requests where there are any writes to disk will require an update of the parity disk.  Having your temp space in the cache means no parity updates.

 

Your media content should be under normal shares for the usual parity protection.  When streaming content from that space, it should not generate any parity activity.

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Quick question before I get into this. Does plex allow you to use mouse to function everything, or do you HAVE to to a keyboard or IR remote. Reason I ask I was just testing media portal, and mouse functionally was weak, I didn't like it really at all, It was a glorified windows explorer it seemed.

Plex Media Server is managed through Plex Web with mouse. On the client side it depends, Plex Media Center (PMC) and Plex Home Theater (PHT) are remote/keyboard controlled and Plex Web is mouse/keyboard controlled. You will get best AV-experience using PMC or PHT. And of course you can use any of the other client options like Samsung Smart TV / BR-player, Google TV, IOS/Android-tablets. You can also use tablets/phones as a touch screen remote for your players like PHT.

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