Plex Server with a Linux Distribution - Which Distribution?


Recommended Posts

Hi guys,

 

I've got a Dell laptop with 2GB RAM and I'm looking to optimize it from using Lubuntu which seems to crash every 24 hours. I figure it comes from the OS rather than the files (although I appreciate it could be Plex,) so I'm looking for something that won't crap out every night.

 

Suggestions?

Do you know what is crashing from? I know you said it "could be plex", but do you know for sure?

 

I'm suprised that Lubuntu would do that. What version are you using?

I'll give Debian a whirl and see what the uptime is like.

 

To clarify, Lubuntu seems to forget that the hardware has a WiFi card every now and again, and it also rockets to 100% CPU and stays there even when you've finished a task. Rebooting resolves these situations, but I'm looking for stability.

 

A reinstallation of Lubuntu doesn't seem to change things. Maybe it is the hardware?

Lubuntu is quite a different spin from regular Ubuntu. Stuff that Ubuntu does, Lubuntu will be looking at ya like "huh?!" ...

 

Debian would probably be the way to go here. More hands-on, but once it's set, it's set.

Ubuntu Server 16.04 on both of mine, and again on a friends that I support (using a private reprepro to manage the plex server updates).

 

All three servers are really reliable. Uptime is usually never more than a month as I reboot them regularly for kernel updates. They never crash or fail on me though.

I'm having a bit of a headache getting Plex to see the files on the External HDD using Debian. I had this with Lubuntu and it ended up being a permissions issue. That was easy to fix with Lubuntu but with Debian it is proving more challenging insofar as regardless of what I try Plex still can't access the drive. It sees it but it can't see the subfolders.

 

Suggestions?

You'll have to chown (change owner) on that drive plus all subfolders to the user account in question. I forget the exact commandline usage but if you do a chown --help it'll tell you the switches and what they do. Then you might need do a 'usershare owner only = no' in samba.conf ...

 

Hope that fixes it. I've never had to do anything with plex so I dunno.

  On 18/12/2017 at 21:14, Unobscured Vision said:

You'll have to chown (change owner) on that drive plus all subfolders to the user account in question. I forget the exact commandline usage but if you do a chown --help it'll tell you the switches and what they do. Then you might need do a 'usershare owner only = no' in samba.conf ...

 

Hope that fixes it. I've never had to do anything with plex so I dunno.

Expand  

I've tried the first part (chown) and I'm still getting the same problem. I'll look in to changing the ownership of the drive.

 

What is gpasswd about? Group Password, changing the user to share the permissions of whoever you select?

gpasswd is used for network-enabled shares and group/user storage quotas, iirc. Same as usershare but looks at the group level for remote access. Might be handy for something else but on the system that the drive is physically located at it you shouldn't be running into a problem with this.

 

Sounds like the permissions on the drive are well and truly messed up. :no: 

  On 19/12/2017 at 00:53, Unobscured Vision said:

gpasswd is used for network-enabled shares and group/user storage quotas, iirc. Same as usershare but looks at the group level for remote access. Might be handy for something else but on the system that the drive is physically located at it you shouldn't be running into a problem with this.

 

Sounds like the permissions on the drive are well and truly messed up. :no: 

Expand  

Thanks for the information. (Y)

 

I'm still struggling. I'm able to mount the drive and I installed VLC to test if the system can read the files and it can play them without an issue, so I assume the problem is with the read abilities of Plex? I'm starting to think the easiest option would be to backup the data and format the drive to a Linux-friendly filesystem...that would take a while to do.

It shouldn't have made a difference. :( Ext4, NTFS, etc are all pretty much the same as far as a network mount are concerned.

 

This one is starting to bug me now lol ...

I'm getting fed up with this now. I've moved all the data off the drive, formatted it to Ext4 and am now transferring the data back on to the disk. It's going to take about 12 hours before all the data is back, but I've just done a test by opening Plex and trying to navigate to the drive and it still doesn't see any folders! :angry:

 

I'm going to wait until the transfer is complete to confirm, but now the only thing I can think of is that I need to modify Plex's permissions somehow (something I have already looked in to before wiping the drive). Let's wait and see.

  On 15/12/2017 at 01:43, Nick H. said:

Lubuntu seems to forget that the hardware has a WiFi card every now and again

Expand  

Your serving up your plex via wifi to your network?  Why?  Do you carry your plex server around with you..  Talk about crap performance.. If your clients are wifi ok sure watching a movie on your tablet, etc.  Are you clients wired?  wifi to wifi is horrible since you auto /2 the available bandwidth because wifi is shared and your devices talking are on the same wifi..

 

Are you running server on 2.4 band while clients are 5 band? So your clients and server not sharing the same limited bandwidth.

  On 21/12/2017 at 10:22, Nick H. said:

It's going to take about 12 hours before all the data is back

Expand  

How much data - are you moving over wifi?  ;)

  On 21/12/2017 at 10:58, BudMan said:

Your serving up your plex via wifi to your network?  Why?  Do you carry your plex server around with you..  Talk about crap performance.. If your clients are wifi ok sure watching a movie on your tablet, etc.  Are you clients wired?  wifi to wifi is horrible since you auto /2 the available bandwidth because wifi is shared and your devices talking are on the same wifi..

 

Are you running server on 2.4 band while clients are 5 band? So your clients and server not sharing the same limited bandwidth.

How much data - are you moving over wifi?  ;)

Expand  

Yeah, I realised my mistake with the wifi card - it's not needed. But I realised that after I had installed Debian. :pinch:

 

As for the transfer, I'm copying about 1.5TB of information via USB. Given the age of the laptop though it's only transferring at 23MB/s. Debian is telling me it should be done in about...9 hours now.

  • 3 weeks later...

So I decided to do a test: what happens if I use the Windows serial key and temporarily install Windows 7 and install Plex? Will it give me access to the files?

 

Yes. Yes it will. No issues.

 

I'm now fuming. This makes no sense! :angry:

 

To recap on the situation:

  • I have installed multiple distributions of Linux: Debian, Ubuntu, Lubuntu, Fedora, FreeNAS, RaspberryPi, Kali, Tails (because why not at this point?).
  • All distributions recognise the external HDD, but Plex cannot see the contents of the drive.
  • My user account (via any Linux distro) can access and run the media via other applications (i.e. VLC) without an issue.
  • I have run permissions commands to give Plex the same access as my user account.
  • I have removed the media from the drive, formatted the drive from NTFS to EXT4, put the media back and I get the same issue.

I may be missing a point or two at this stage; it's been a couple of months of trying various ideas on this task. But I just don't get it. Why the heck is Plex not seeing my files on my external HDD?!

 

I need to go to bed, but any helpful input would be appreciated. If I read another "tutorial" I might throw the machine in to the garden and leave it for the birds. :laugh:

 

NB: I'll happily use any Linux distribution that has a long-standing uptime and little overhead.

because plex doesn't like symlinks?  How are you mounting it?

 

And when you say plex doesn't see it - you mean you have it say mounted to /mnt/drive/ with a folder called movies in there  And your trying to add the library of movies?

 

Lets see your permissions?  all the way down the tree... Plex is running as plex and what permissions and owners are on the folder?

 

 

This topic is now closed to further replies.
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
  • Popular Now

  • Posts

    • Every product Apple is expected to unveil in the rest of 2025 by Hamid Ganji While we're in the middle of 2025, Apple fans still have exciting months ahead. Apple's foray into 2025 began with the new budget-friendly iPhone 16e, followed by the M4 MacBook Air and new iPad models with upgraded chips and Apple Intelligence. However, the iPhone maker has a slew of unannounced products for the rest of the year. Most of these products will be unveiled in September and October. Here's every product Apple will unveil in the rest of 2025. iPhone 17 Series Apple's September event will feature the iPhone 17 series as the torchbearer. The lineup includes iPhone 17, iPhone 17 Air, iPhone 17 Pro, and Pro Max. The new Air model will replace Plus models in the iPhone lineup, focusing on slim design and portability. Apple is expected to change the camera layout design in the iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max variants. New Apple Watch models for the year As is customary every year, Apple will roll out a new Watch device in 2025. In September, we'll get our hands on the Apple Watch Series 11. The wearable is expected to launch with a faster processor, 5G RedCap support, satellite connectivity, and blood pressure monitoring. At the September event, Apple will also reveal the next-gen Apple Watch Ultra 3 and a new, cheaper SE Watch with a plastic body. All new Apple Watch devices get the revamped WatchOS. M5 MacBook Pro Bloomberg's Mark Gurman already reported that Apple plans to release MacBook Pros with M5, M5 Pro, and M5 Max chips this fall. This model is expected to be released sometime in October. However, the biggest MacBook Pro refresh is planned for 2026, when it will get an OLED display and a makeover. Mac Pro with upgraded chip Apple Mac Pro got its latest update in 2023 with an Apple M2 Ultra chip. While there is no confirmation yet about a new Mac Pro in the works with an M4 Ultra chip for 2025, Mark Gurman said Apple could release Mac Studio and Mac Pro with an upgraded chip in mid-2025. 32-inch iMac Back in 2023, Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo said Apple plans to launch a 32-inch variant of the iMac in 2025 with a mini LED display. He also predicted a 24-inch iMac refresh in 2024, which happened to be true. So, if you're looking for a bigger iMac and can't afford the 32-inch Pro Display XDR, it'd be better to wait for the iMac refresh in 2025. iPad Pro with M5 chip In 2024, the iPad Pro received a slew of upgrades, including a new chip, OLED display, and slimmer design. According to Mark Gurman, Apple is also expected to release an M5-powered model in 2025, codenamed J817, J818, J820, and J821. Alongside these products, Apple might reveal several other devices in 2025, including Apple TV 4K, AirTag 2, HomePod mini, and AirPods Pro 3.
    • This should come as no surprise to anyone. From everything I've heard about Musk, people don't particularly like him on a personal level and when people feel that way about you, sitting at your PC and looking through other people's messages on the platform you bought is just another thing I can see him doing.
    • Thank you for sharing! Microsoft Edge is an excellent browser. I really like how the vertical tabs make everything easier to manage.
    • I use Firefox because I prefer to have native support for the uBlock Origin extension.  You can get it to work with Chrome-based browsers, but you have to jump through some hoops to make it work properly.  If you're not using uBlock Origin or your browser isn't allowing you to use it properly, you'd be shocked at how many extras it kills on basic web pages like Yahoo.    
    • Thanks for sharing! Vivaldi does have a nice interface. I've heard good things about how well it works across devices. I get what you mean about Chrome and Firefox's looks; everyone has their own style and preferences when it comes to browsers. What's your favorite Vivaldi feature?
  • Recent Achievements

    • Apprentice
      DarkShrunken went up a rank
      Apprentice
    • Dedicated
      CHUNWEI earned a badge
      Dedicated
    • Collaborator
      DarkShrunken earned a badge
      Collaborator
    • Rookie
      Pat-Garrett went up a rank
      Rookie
    • Week One Done
      Outdoor Saunaio earned a badge
      Week One Done
  • Popular Contributors

    1. 1
      +primortal
      318
    2. 2
      snowy owl
      164
    3. 3
      +FloatingFatMan
      155
    4. 4
      ATLien_0
      150
    5. 5
      Xenon
      125
  • Tell a friend

    Love Neowin? Tell a friend!