2 Plex servers on the same UnRAID server?

[JimPhreak]

Is it possible to setup 2 Plex servers on the same UnRAID server?  Wondering if anyone has tried this.

[mr-hexen]

I dont see why not so long as you manually specify the host ports to be different.

 

But why would you want to do this?

[JimPhreak]

I dont see why not so long as you manually specify the host ports to be different.

 

But why would you want to do this?

 

For test purposes.  I'd like to have 2 Plex servers both with access to the same media libraries.  That way I can upgrade the test one to the newest Plex Pass version and do some testing before I bring my "production" Plex server up to the latest version.  I've had issues with Plex upgrades breaking Sync and other features that are a pain in the a$$ to explain to my users and I'd rather save myself the headache.

[razmajazz]

I dont see why not so long as you manually specify the host ports to be different.

 

I wish it was that easy. Unfortunately, Plex uses a fixed port of 32400 internally no matter how you set the ports in Docker. In my experience each PMS instance requires a different IP address. There is a Pipework Docker which should be able to give a different IP address to another Docker, but I couldn't make it work with Plex. I ended up creating a VM for a second Plex server.

 

If anyone figures out how to create 2 simultaneous instances of Plex using Dockers, I would love to hear how they did it.

[Squid]

I dont see why not so long as you manually specify the host ports to be different.

 

I wish it was that easy. Unfortunately, Plex uses a fixed port of 32400 internally no matter how you set the ports in Docker. In my experience each PMS instance requires a different IP address. There is a Pipework Docker which should be able to give a different IP address to another Docker, but I couldn't make it work with Plex. I ended up creating a VM for a second Plex server.

 

If anyone figures out how to create 2 simultaneous instances of Plex using Dockers, I would love to hear how they did it.

Somewhere in this forum, somebody posted up the list of ports which plex actually uses (for the life of me I can't find it).  Once you know all of the ports which plex uses then you can run it in bridge mode instead of host and be able to run as many instances as you like.  Maybe check out the plex forums

 

[interwebtech]

FYI you can set a specific version in the Advanced View of the docker setup. I did this when they borked the "use RAM for transcoding" fiasco recently. No need to run another copy.

 

Just set VERSION = 123456 and restart the docker. Back in bidness in less than 5 minutes.

[JimPhreak]

FYI you can set a specific version in the Advanced View of the docker setup. I did this when they borked the "use RAM for transcoding" fiasco recently. No need to run another copy.

 

Just set VERSION = 123456 and restart the docker. Back in bidness in less than 5 minutes.

 

Yes I realize that and I've done that multiple times.  But the fact remains that I'd like to have a second Plex server accessing the same media that I can do testing with and take down as a I please without affecting my production server that often has 6-10 remote users streaming at a time.

[lionelhutz]

I thought Plex pretty much needed to use their defined ports for any clients to connect.

 

Does the server have a second network connections available? If yes, I think you could make a Plex docker use it. It requires some manual command line use to build the docker since the unRAID interface doesn't allow what I think you have to do.

 

If you can create another way to have another IP address like that Pipeworks mentioned in theory will do, then you could also run 2 instances attached to 2 different IP addresses.

 

Otherwise, here are the ports. If you use bridge mode in a second docker then you can put the ports on the container side and put different ports on the host side. Also set the correct protocol for each.

 

With a free ethernet IP address - stop your production docker and do the above using direct 1:1 port mapping to create the test one. "save" so it makes the image and then the docker run command creating the container will be given in the "command" window. You will see the port mapping like -p 32400:32400/tcp etc, 1 for each port. Copy the command and change it so every port map looks like this instead -p IP:32400:32400/tcp where IP is the spare IP address the server has. Delete the existing container only, not image you just created then run the modified command via the command line. Then, the docker will appear on the unRAID interface so you can stop and start it.

 

 

 

[JimPhreak]

I decided it would just be easiest to setup a Plex docker on my backup server that's on a completely different network.  However, upon setting up that docker and logging into the web app for the first time, it loaded all my libraries and settings from my main server instead and isn't letting me set up my new one.  It's like it thinks I'm connected to Plex Web from plex.tv instead of being connected locally to the new server.

 

Anyone have experience with this?

[mr-hexen]

You'll probably have to setup a different Plex.tv account for the 2nd server

[JimPhreak]

You'll probably have to setup a different Plex.tv account for the 2nd server

From what I've read you can have multiple Plex servers under the same username and manage them all from the same Plex Web account

[JimPhreak]

Looks like it was a browser cache issue.  I must have in the past logged into my main server from this computer even though it's on a completely different network.  Once I cleared the cache and then launched the web app on the new server it launched the first time setup and I'm good to go.

[casperse]

This is a very old post, and Unraid have developed allot!!! 🙂

I really want to run a second Plex server to play with XteVe and the Live TV.
 

Would it be easier to create a VM with a dedicated LAN passthrough?

Or is there an easier way to do this? - So far bridging haven't been possible running in two dockers
 

[casperse]

Solved by just creating a new Docker and selecting:

My only problem remaining is getting NGINX working it somehow dosen't like the fixed IP using br0? 

[Beryllium]

Anyone run into the issue:

Conversion failed. The transcoder exited due to an error.

 

If the second plex instance is doing something this error appears.