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.
  • Posts

    • just in time for it to be replaced with something that makes everyone unhappy! - The Microsoft way
    • Is this written by AI? The article contradicts itself and doesn't even line up with the title.
    • Pale Moon 33.7.2 by Razvan Serea Pale Moon is an Open Source, Goanna-based web browser available for Microsoft Windows, Linux and Android, focusing on efficiency and ease of use. Make sure to get the most out of your browser! Pale Moon offers you a browsing experience in a browser completely built from its own, independently developed source that has been forked off from Firefox/Mozilla code, with carefully selected features and optimizations to improve the browsers speed, resource use, stability and user experience, while offering full customization and a growing collection of extensions and themes to make the browser truly your own. Features: Optimized for modern processors Based on proprietary optimized layout engine (Goanna) Safe: forked from mature Mozilla code and regularly updated Secure: Additional security features and security-aware development Supported by our user community, and fully non-profit Familiar, efficient, fully customizable interface Support for full themes: total freedom over any elements design Support for easily-created lightweight themes (skins) Smooth and speedy page drawing and script processing Increased stability: experience fewer browser crashes Support for many Firefox extensions Support for a growing number of Pale Moon exclusive extensions Extensive and growing support for HTML5 and CSS3 Many customization and configuration options Pale Moon 33.7.2 release notes: Addressed PWN2OWN-2025-1 (out of bounds read or write in promise) DiD Addressed PWN2OWN-2025-2 (out of bounds read or write when using the ExtractLinearSum optimization) DiD Fixed potential unexpected behavior in embedded protobuf code. DiD Fixed an issue with potentially uninitialized contrast values when enhanced device contrast values can not be read from the O.S. DiD Fixed potential sanitization issues with devtools' "Copy as curl" feature. It should be noted that we do not currently offer cross-platform "curl" features, so this is another DiD for this release. Download: Pale Moon (64-bit) | Portable 64-bit | ~40.0 MB (Freeware) Download: Pale Moon (32-bit) | Portable 32-bit Links: Pale Moon Homepage | Add-ons | Themes | Extensions | Screenshot Get alerted to all of our Software updates on Twitter at @NeowinSoftware
    • Another disappointing rumor: iPhone 17 won't get a ProMotion display by Hamid Ganji With the iPad Pro in 2017, Apple introduced a new type of display technology for its devices, dubbed ProMotion. The ProMotion feature enables a variable refresh rate, ranging from 24Hz to 120Hz, and it has a critical role in enhancing display sharpness and responsiveness. With the iPhone 13 Pro and iPhone 13 Pro Max in 2021, the ProMotion feature landed on iPhones, but it has stuck with the Pro variants since then, leaving the standard and Plus versions with a regular Super Retina display. While customers expected to get a ProMotion display on the vanilla iPhone 17, and even some rumors hinted at this possibility, the latest leaks suggest ProMotion remains with the Pro iPhone variants for another generation. According to Chinese leaker Fixed Focus Digital on Weibo, Apple has decided to keep the ProMotion feature exclusive to iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max, and the rest of the lineup would launch with a “normal 120hz screen”. This Chinese leaker has conflicting reports about Apple’s future products. For now, we should take this claim with a pinch of salt and wait for more confirmation from the Apple supply chain insiders. In September last year, analyst Ross Young said the entire 17 lineup would get the ProMotion feature and the Always-on display (via 9to5mac). Young is also a credible source for Apple-related news, but too many conflicting rumors around upcoming iPhones make us question every claim. The only thing that seems certain so far is that Apple will increase the screen refresh rate on the iPhone 17 and 17 Air to 120Hz, which is a significant increase from the current 60Hz on the iPhone 16 base and Plus variants. Also, by boosting the iPhone 17 and 17 Air refresh rate to 120Hz, Apple is more likely to retain the ProMotion feature for the Pro models in the lineup to differentiate devices better from a marketing standpoint.
    • The article clearly states multiple times that he will DONATE his wealth. There's no mention of any loan, but haters gonna hate. He doesn't need to do this, you know? He could just give all that money to his kids and call it a day.
  • Recent Achievements

    • Week One Done
      Jim Dugan earned a badge
      Week One Done
    • Week One Done
      Adam Todd earned a badge
      Week One Done
    • Contributor
      Ed B went up a rank
      Contributor
    • One Month Later
      moporcho earned a badge
      One Month Later
    • One Month Later
      Parotel earned a badge
      One Month Later
  • Popular Contributors

    1. 1
      +primortal
      211
    2. 2
      snowy owl
      156
    3. 3
      ATLien_0
      134
    4. 4
      Xenon
      119
    5. 5
      +FloatingFatMan
      113
  • Tell a friend

    Love Neowin? Tell a friend!