these are dumb question I'm sure:

 

- how do I point Plex to the appropriate media folders on my server?

I tried to map the folders by UNC, SMB or IP in case it can't resolve the host name, but the library does not populate. Is there a specific way the folders have to be mapped or is this a permission issue? I don't have user shares enabled on the server. When using the "browse for folders" it only shows local folders of... the image Plex is running within the Docker container?

 

- I have a MariaDB hosting SQL library that XBMC clients are using, is there a way to share it with Plex?

 

If someone is aware of a Plex within Docker guide, I'd be more than happy to look at it. All I've found were just bits and pieces from when Docker wasn't integrated with the current gui.

 

thanks, sorry if these are stupid questions, I'm quite new to Linux

 

When you setup the plex template, you're going to add a couple of container volumes.

 

Something like:

 

/Movies and /Television

 

Next to them you're going to fill out the Host Path.  You'll use something like /mnt/user/Movies and /mnt/user/Television

 

Within the Plex GUI, you'll going to tell it to look for media in /Movies and /Television

 

Docker is then going to "translate" that into /mnt/user/Movies and /mnt/user/Television

 

** Just noticed that you're not using user shares

 

In case, you'll have something like /TV1, /TV2, etc corresponding with host paths of /mnt/disk1/TV and /mnt/disk2/TV

 

 

I had to create User Shares (combining all the default disk shares into a huge "/Movies" share) for Plex in a docker to be able to use them. UNC it wasn't finding anything. Oddly enough, the windows version worked fine with UNC paths pointing to unRaid disk shares (how I ran before). I wanted it all running on unRaid so I switched to User Shares.

User shares should not be needed, you just have to do the container volume mapping right, as Squid suggested.

 

The notion of having a docker use SMB, UNC, IP for accessing files on the host is definitely missing the point.

thanks for the replies, I'll try to re-create the container

 

I was wondering if someone could post a screenshot of their plex container configuration, perhaps it would be easier to follow.

 

 

the /tmp... host paths are where I'm mounting the shares on the other server.  You won't be using those lines.

 

So with this, I tell Plex to look for media in /Server_A_Movies, /Server_A_Television

 

The actual files are stored in /mnt/user/Movies/ and /mnt/user/Television/Old Seasons/

 

The /transcode refers to this posting: http://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=37553.0

On 2/3/2015 at 9:10 AM, trurl said:

User shares should not be needed, you just have to do the container volume mapping right, as Squid suggested.

 

The notion of having a docker use SMB, UNC, IP for accessing files on the host is definitely missing the point.

 

Sorry, I realize this is an old thread. I'm new to unraid, and enjoying the massive file structure conversion so far  ... it is definitely worthwhile in the end

 

This statement about "missing the point" by having a docker use UNC paths makes sense from a logical standpoint. That being said, peek behind the curtain at Plex and you'll find an annoyance that could easily be sidestepped if only the docker would allow for UNC paths like other versions of Plex

 

The annoyance is how Plex "serves" when choosing transcode/stream/play. If you have a client requesting a media file from the docker, and the docker has (at the endpoint after translation) assigned that path to something along the lines of /mnt/disk/movies/etc(year)/etc(year).ext  --> then your playback app (Plex) is going to take a stroll out to the network and say "I can't access /mnt" so please stream this file to me, oh mighty plex docker. That results in the file being cut-up by the docker and served out across the network. If you have a beefy server with plenty of disk io for the container or do something clever with where the docker chooses to "cut-up" the movie then there is never any resource issue. Note this is essentially the same thing as transcoding, but the difference is there is much less CPU overhead since it is only choosing to break up the file as opposed to encoding it on the fly. If you lower down the "allowed" bitrate on the client it will do the same thing, but request your CPU to encode small bits of the source file then begin serving them to the client. Higher bitrates and "original quality" settings on the client will not get around this issue if the playback client cannot directly access the file it is playing. The only way around this is to have a library with UNC paths that the brainless plex "clients" can see

 

Also, FWIW, pointing your plex libraries to a large user share would be a very streamlined way to setup plex