So I’m trying to figure out what’s the best way to use a nas with plex in a way that enables me to use the files in plex, but also share them via other means locally (basically nfs/smb shares). For instance, it might be that I have different services that add media to the shares that plex will pick up.
I’ve decided to use a low powered gemini lake box to be a dedicated plex server, so I’m going to have multiple machines handling different tasks.
I’m thinking that having plex be an nfs/smb client wont work so well, as it will not be able to use mechanisms (such as inotify) to be notified when files get added. Is this a correct assumption?
Assuming it is, it might seem that my best option is to use a bit of a redirection, where my nas stores the data, but my plex server itself serves as a the nfs/samba server. What I would do is use my nas to serve an iscsi block device to the plex server, so the plex server would use it with a standard linux file system, but other devices that need to access the storage will access it over nfs/smb that will be provided by the plex box.
does this seem reasonable? are there better ways of accomplishing what I want?
That’s correct. However, you can still update your libraries
manually
automatic periodically
via http access to the Plex server API (some 3rd-party software like Sonarr et al. already do this)
That’s a very viable way. You just need to keep in mind that this may involve more work when you want to migrate to a newer/more powerful CPU.
Because if the server is just acting as a client of a file server, all you need to do is to migrate the Plex data folder to the new machine and be done. The address of each media file doesn’t change, because it is still stored on the same file server.
If however the Plex server is also the file server, then the address of a media file may change much more likely and often, depending on how the storage is organized. (RAID, pooling, mergerFS etc.pp.)
Of course you can mitigate some of these issues through efficient use of containerization.
