Plex Server - Docker or VM and why....

[chip]

Ok so the question here is the following - based of a generalized setup.

8 core processor with 16g of ram.

 

Plex as a Docker or

Plex in a KVM with 4 cores and 4g of ram.

 

Which is the better setup for plex server and why?

 

 

 

[Leifgg]

I am running it in a Docker container located on my SSD cache drive and that works just fine. Probably a Linux VM shouldn’t be too much different as long as you have the VM on an SSD. The VM is probably a bit more work since you need to have a mapping in the VM to your array.

[chip]

Ok that part makes sense but I guess one of my questions is say the stream is transcoding -

 

With the VM you have 4 cores/4g dedicated for it.

 

What is the Docker using CPU/Memory wise?

[gundamguy]

Ok that part makes sense but I guess one of my questions is say the stream is transcoding -

 

With the VM you have 4 cores/4g dedicated for it.

 

What is the Docker using CPU/Memory wise?

 

I don't know what overhead Docker adds, but by most accounts it's pretty minimal.

 

Not the expert here, but wouldn't doing this with Docker give you access to a lot more of your 8 cores and 16g of ram, where doing it as a VM seems more limiting?

[chip]

That is what I am trying to figure out being new to Dockers. I have read a little but still trying to figure things out.

[Leifgg]

That is what I am trying to figure out being new to Dockers. I have read a little but still trying to figure things out.

By default the Docker container use all cores but you can limit that if you like.  Actually never checked memory usage but I don’t believe PMS is that hungry on memory. Could check later....

[itimpi]

That is what I am trying to figure out being new to Dockers. I have read a little but still trying to figure things out.

Using a docker has less overhead in both RAM and CPU terms as you are not installing a full OS, but merely a mapping layer between the docker and Linux.  Using a VM may give you some more versatility as you have a full OS installed in the VM.

[Leifgg]

That is what I am trying to figure out being new to Dockers. I have read a little but still trying to figure things out.

Just to give some numbers when using Plex in a Docker container:

 

Streaming a 1080p movie at 40 Mbit with transcoding used about 0.4 MByte of memory.

CPU was up to 90% when starting transcoding then dropped to an average around 20% with a Xeon 3.6 GHz (4 cores).

 

Plex has a number of processes running that is more or less idle unless it does its maintenance or when you add new media where it actually can use CPU a lot. It can make sense to assign less cores if you have other applications that needs high priority.

 

[chip]

Alright so sounds like Docker is the better route to go in regards to Plex server. Thanks

[DannyDonahue]

I'm considering using the windows VM and Plex media server instead of the docker. I use my GTX1070 for transcoding. When using the docker, I can't seem to find a way to control the fan speed and I would like to do that. My thought was to use the windows 10 VM so that I could transcode with the GPU and keep the care cool. Has anyone tried something similar?