I'm trying to decide if I should move from my current approach of using Plugins for my needs to moving to using Docker. Currently my unRAID is a NAS with only Plex and APCUPSD. I assume it’s best to not even consider running APCUPSD as a Docker?  I might add additional plugins / dockers later, but I have no plans to right now.

 

I have a few basic questions.

 

• Is there a performance hit to running something like Plex in a docker as opposed to running it from a plugin? Think Transcoding, Ethernet and Internet, and any other considerations I’m not thinking of…
   
  
• How does the internal program (Plex in this case) get updated within the docker container? Do I have to wait on the docker creator to update and then update the container, or is it updated internally, and if so how? Does Plex Pass have a different docker then Plex?
   
  
• Are there any security advantages or disadvantages to running something like Plex (with port forwarding) as a docker or a plugin?
   
  
• Is my CPU good enough to still perform well at Plex transcoding well while running Plex in a docker?
   
  

 

Any help or advice to point me in the right direction would be great... so far I've failed to really see or understand the advantages or disadvantages of these two different approaches.

 

Great questions.  I'm very interested in reading the answers!

• Is there a performance hit to running something like Plex in a docker as opposed to running it from a plugin? Think Transcoding, Ethernet and Internet, and any other considerations I’m not thinking of…

There is no real difference between the two, dockers run in essentially the same way as plugins, just with restricted access to file systems and such

 

• How does the internal program (Plex in this case) get updated within the docker container? Do I have to wait on the docker creator to update and then update the container, or is it updated internally, and if so how? Does Plex Pass have a different docker then Plex?

It depends on the build you go for, but needo's a VERSION= parameter which lets you manually enter the version you want, else it just grabs the latest by default.

 

 

• Are there any security advantages or disadvantages to running something like Plex (with port forwarding) as a docker or a plugin?

it has good security advantages as it runs essentially sandboxes. Docker runs without access to other parts of your file system, meaning if plex was manipulated for example to delete /mnt/user/, it wouldn't be able to as it literally doesn't exist to the dockers unless you give it access as a variable, it's own dependencies are independent too, so if another app corrupts your ffmpeg for example, plex will still work as it has its own version (and so will all your other dockers, if they require it)

 

• Is my CPU good enough to still perform well at Plex transcoding well while running Plex in a docker?

dockers run on your system still much the same way, so there should be no noticeable difference in performance

Thanks for the that swixxy, just to further comment on the update part.  I noticed in the docker tab that it said there was an update available for plex today.  So I clicked Update, and it seems to have updated plex for me right from that button. 

 

I went into the plex webUI and it confirmed everything was up-to-date so it seems updating plex after its installed is that easy.  The only thing I don't know is whether the repository had the update or if plex is scheduled to check itself.

 

 

 

Thanks for the responses Swixxy, your def pointing me in the direction of docker. The security advantages are what I think make this even better.

 

Has anyone that converted from Plex plugin to Plex docker have any tips or advice on how to do so while preserving your metadata?

 

 

here is a good writeup on going from the plugin to the docker  http://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=35531.0

This thread gets a mention of APCUPSD so i'm guessing that it's NOT ok to even think about docker for this?

 

Anyone got this running on V6 beta12 and would like to point me towards a bit of reading material?

Thanks for the responses. I am also looking at doing a similar upgrade (v5 to v6) with docker along with a dedicated application SSD and more memory.

 

My biggest hold is that 6 is still in beta and I am not sure how stable it is compared to 5.0.5.

 

It seems like there is a lot to gain from the upgrade though.

This thread gets a mention of APCUPSD so i'm guessing that it's NOT ok to even think about docker for this?

 

Anyone got this running on V6 beta12 and would like to point me towards a bit of reading material?

I have the APCUPSD plugin works fine on v6 - the appropriate download links can be found by searching the forum.

 

I see APCUPSD as being something that it is not really appropriate for a docker (although I could be wrong) as it needs to be able to trigger actions at the system level.  It is something I can see LimeTech deciding to include as standard (like some other the plugins incorporated into v6) when the appropriate work has been done.

 

I see APCUPSD as being something that it is not really appropriate for a docker (although I could be wrong) as it needs to be able to trigger actions at the system level.  It is something I can see LimeTech deciding to include as standard (like some other the plugins incorporated into v6) when the appropriate work has been done.

 

I had the exact same thoughts, because APCUPSD has to interact with and trigger at a system level to initiate safe shutdown it seems like it's best as a plugin.

here is a good writeup on going from the plugin to the docker  http://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=35531.0

 

I tried following this. I'm having issues though... not sure why... posted about it here...

 

Any help would be much appreciated.

 

Solved, had to change the owner to "unraid-plex" from nobody.