# Group Multiple Plex Servers

**URL:** <https://forums.plex.tv/t/group-multiple-plex-servers/79043>\
**Category:** Feature Suggestions\
**Created:** [October 9, 2014, 12:19pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/group-multiple-plex-servers/79043 "2014-10-09T12:19:24Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 20\
**Page:** 4

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**Author:** ![kretherford0983](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/d78d45/32.png) [@kretherford0983](https://forums.plex.tv/u/kretherford0983)\
**Post date:** [September 7, 2017, 4:13pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/group-multiple-plex-servers/79043/61 "2017-09-07T16:13:24Z")

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This would be an amazing enhancement. As I am in an apartment in an area that regular indoor OTA antennas do not work well or at all, I have two servers, one local with the majority of my media and one remote at a family member’s where I could set up DVR off their tower antenna. It is a pain to have to jump back and forth between the two servers and would be nice to have a way to see all libraries on a single view and merge libraries and media with the same name together and have the client pull from the best source (the same movie with the same file name, a setting to give preference to local vs remote or preference to higher quality or preference to better network bandwidth). Ideally, it would be nice to see this a ranking system for the client to choose where to pull content from as some might prefer quality but then if the first is the same then pull local over the remote.

This was thread was originally posted years ago and there have been many others closed and referenced to this one. Is there any timeline on when we might see something like this?

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**Author:** ![beckfield](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/user_avatar/forums.plex.tv/beckfield/32/7227_2.png) [@beckfield](https://forums.plex.tv/u/beckfield)\
**Post date:** [September 7, 2017, 4:24pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/group-multiple-plex-servers/79043/62 "2017-09-07T16:24:59Z")

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> @sa2000 said:  
> This would need to be fully configurable option to allow for aggregation of library sections for owned servers.

Sad to see that Plex failed to follow your advice in PMP. This should have been configurable, so those who _don’t_ want to see mingled servers don’t have to.

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**Author:** ![sa2000](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/user_avatar/forums.plex.tv/sa2000/32/6922_2.png) [@sa2000](https://forums.plex.tv/u/sa2000)\
**Post date:** [September 7, 2017, 4:28pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/group-multiple-plex-servers/79043/63 "2017-09-07T16:28:10Z")

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> @beckfield said:
> 
> > @sa2000 said:  
> > This would need to be fully configurable option to allow for aggregation of library sections for owned servers.
> 
> Sad to see that Plex failed to follow your advice in PMP. This should have been configurable, so those who _don’t_ want to see mingled servers don’t have to.

There is always hope that such a dashboard for managing a cluster of distributed Plex Media Server Libraries may one day be considered.

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**Author:** ![armegeden](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/user_avatar/forums.plex.tv/armegeden/32/7966_2.png) [@armegeden](https://forums.plex.tv/u/armegeden)\
**Post date:** [September 7, 2017, 6:08pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/group-multiple-plex-servers/79043/64 "2017-09-07T18:08:17Z")

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After cutting the cord from my cable provider and relying on my Plex server and specifically my friends’ Plex servers, this feature request is becoming increasingly important.

I use an Nvidia Shield to launch Plex and I do not have a keyboard in my living room. Having to go through the Search function each time and specifying All Servers (or one) is cumbersome.

Plex Devs, please consider this feature request!

Respectfully

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**Author:** ![kordan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b5ac83/32.png) [@kordan](https://forums.plex.tv/u/kordan)\
**Post date:** [October 1, 2017, 8:37pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/group-multiple-plex-servers/79043/65 "2017-10-01T20:37:46Z")

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I would really love this feature too !

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**Author:** ![pish180](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/user_avatar/forums.plex.tv/pish180/32/89140_2.png) [@pish180](https://forums.plex.tv/u/pish180)\
**Post date:** [October 2, 2017, 2:18pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/group-multiple-plex-servers/79043/66 "2017-10-02T14:18:08Z")

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Yes please make this! I would love the extra transcoding power and server redundancy.

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**Author:** ![NiteFlame](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/7c8e57/32.png) [@NiteFlame](https://forums.plex.tv/u/NiteFlame)\
**Post date:** [November 15, 2017, 10:12am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/group-multiple-plex-servers/79043/67 "2017-11-15T10:12:32Z")

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+1

Since the number of PMS instances i have access to is still increasing, i’d definitely love to see this feature in an upcoming release.

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**Author:** ![marcoross](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8dc957/32.png) [@marcoross](https://forums.plex.tv/u/marcoross)\
**Post date:** [December 10, 2017, 5:35pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/group-multiple-plex-servers/79043/68 "2017-12-10T17:35:49Z")

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+1  
As is the case in openpht but I prefer to continue using PMP

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**Author:** ![francisalbar](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/user_avatar/forums.plex.tv/francisalbar/32/215375_2.png) [@francisalbar](https://forums.plex.tv/u/francisalbar)\
**Post date:** [January 22, 2018, 2:29am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/group-multiple-plex-servers/79043/69 "2018-01-22T02:29:40Z")

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+1

Separate machines for movie, tv, dvr, would like to see all of them in one library

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**Author:** ![mousman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f6c823/32.png) [@mousman](https://forums.plex.tv/u/mousman)\
**Post date:** [January 22, 2018, 6:39pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/group-multiple-plex-servers/79043/70 "2018-01-22T18:39:09Z")

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+1 for this as well. A homescreen that shows all my plex servers and my friends? Amazing!

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**Author:** ![Hermankamp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/d78d45/32.png) [@Hermankamp](https://forums.plex.tv/u/Hermankamp)\
**Post date:** [March 7, 2018, 2:01pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/group-multiple-plex-servers/79043/71 "2018-03-07T14:01:38Z")

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+1 Looking to do this as well and would be a welcome addition already have 2 servers operational but have to manage 2 databases of media

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**Author:** ![cayars](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/user_avatar/forums.plex.tv/cayars/32/6296_2.png) [@cayars](https://forums.plex.tv/u/cayars)\
**Post date:** [March 8, 2018, 12:16pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/group-multiple-plex-servers/79043/72 "2018-03-08T12:16:44Z")

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> @Hermankamp said:  
> +1 Looking to do this as well and would be a welcome addition already have 2 servers operational but have to manage 2 databases of media

You will still always have to manage the different servers independently. The client will just “combine” the different content from the servers into one “big” list.  
NAS:  
Photos  
Music  
Home Videos

Server1:  
TV Shows

Server2:  
Movies

Client Views (PMP2/Xbox)  
Photos  
Music  
Home Videos  
TV Shows  
Movies

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**Author:** ![Tifred](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/49beb7/32.png) [@Tifred](https://forums.plex.tv/u/Tifred)\
**Post date:** [March 15, 2018, 9:57am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/group-multiple-plex-servers/79043/73 "2018-03-15T09:57:45Z")

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+1 and like  
Yes please! This would solve my nr. 1 problem atm.

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**Author:** ![weitzel.bjoern](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/dfb087/32.png) [@weitzel.bjoern](https://forums.plex.tv/u/weitzel.bjoern)\
**Post date:** [April 14, 2018, 7:52pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/group-multiple-plex-servers/79043/74 "2018-04-14T19:52:46Z")

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+1 for merging plex servers into a common one

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**Author:** ![iforgot](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/user_avatar/forums.plex.tv/iforgot/32/8296_2.png) [@iforgot](https://forums.plex.tv/u/iforgot)\
**Post date:** [April 16, 2018, 5:08pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/group-multiple-plex-servers/79043/75 "2018-04-16T17:08:17Z")

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I would love this as i could use it as a way to basically double my bandwidth and add extra transcoding ability… I have two locations both with 12mb upload.Plex server currently only runs at one location, on an overclocked i7 4779k. I could split the media library across both locations and use the shield pro (have one at both locations) as a second server.

However swapping from server to server to find which has what content, is just too hard for my remote users.

Being able to make these appear as one movie and one tv library, and split the load (media location dependent) would be awesome.

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**Author:** ![drevilish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a88e4f/32.png) [@drevilish](https://forums.plex.tv/u/drevilish)\
**Post date:** [April 29, 2018, 9:07pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/group-multiple-plex-servers/79043/76 "2018-04-29T21:07:21Z")

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This would be a fantastic feature,

You’d be able to have the same Storage Backend with multiple Plex servers accessing it.  
Problem 1. Keeping the multiple servers Libraries in Sync.

Having Server A, with 100 Shows Server B, with 100 other shows. You could end up with lots of people watching a show on Server A but server B just sitting there idle, while Server A is at 100% CPU and transcoding failing.

If you’re spinning up multiple servers, they should be able to share the load between them.

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**Author:** ![acannon](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/user_avatar/forums.plex.tv/acannon/32/188749_2.png) [@acannon](https://forums.plex.tv/u/acannon)\
**Post date:** [May 16, 2018, 2:25am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/group-multiple-plex-servers/79043/77 "2018-05-16T02:25:05Z")

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+1 This is my biggest issue using Plex right now. I have a remote and local library. As they grow, it’s increasingly a pain to find media. I’d also love to be able to merge collections, etc.

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**Author:** ![mpc](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/user_avatar/forums.plex.tv/mpc/32/127326_2.png) [@mpc](https://forums.plex.tv/u/mpc)\
**Post date:** [May 19, 2018, 4:24pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/group-multiple-plex-servers/79043/78 "2018-05-19T16:24:35Z")

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I really would like a simple, “View all nearby servers” display option.

This is my biggest problem with Plex right now: we have our music, TV shows, and Live TV/DVR running on one server (NAS). And we have our movies on another server. So, family members need to switch between the two servers in settings to view specific types of content. This is really not user friendly for either family members or visitors.

In theory, I could run a single Plex server and create a network share on the first NAS to retrieve content served by the second NAS. But, as others have pointed out, (1) network shares are a potential point of failure, and (2) network shares create more latency and load (both network bandwidth and potentially transcoding).

I think a unified view of nearby (on LAN) servers would be simple for Plex to implement. To be clear, I am **not** asking for coordinated transcoding across servers, commingling of a library type (e.g. TV shows) across two servers into a single view, or including remote (WAN-based) servers, which might have too much latency. These are all valuable but are more complex than my ask.

UPDATE:  
This appears to be more than just a library switching issue in the UI. I believe that voice search (on Nvidia Shield TV) fails to find a video asset if the last selected server didn’t contain that type of content. In my case, if the last user was watching TV (stored on server 1), then a video search for movies (which are stored on server 2) using Google voice search will fail to find a specific movie on Plex until the user opens Plex and switches back to the other server containing movies. However, a family member or visitor shouldn’t be expected to know what content is stored on what server.

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**Author:** ![inuakio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/6f9a4e/32.png) [@inuakio](https://forums.plex.tv/u/inuakio)\
**Post date:** [May 25, 2018, 8:12pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/group-multiple-plex-servers/79043/79 "2018-05-25T20:12:30Z")

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This has been a feature request for so many years that it’s obvious plex doesn’t want or care about our opinions or concerns. I can’t believe that I may have to completely stop using plex because they won’t even message us back to say no. It’s like being completely ignored. Terrible company I guess. Can we at least get an update? Like come on. We have been asking for this for like 4 or 5 years.

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**Author:** ![cayars](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/user_avatar/forums.plex.tv/cayars/32/6296_2.png) [@cayars](https://forums.plex.tv/u/cayars)\
**Post date:** [May 28, 2018, 3:21pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/group-multiple-plex-servers/79043/80 "2018-05-28T15:21:48Z")

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Maybe you aren’t following what’s going on but Plex IS DOING EXACTLY THIS. Some of the newer clients do group the contents from multiple servers and these clients are content type based, not server based.

[Previous page](https://forums.plex.tv/t/group-multiple-plex-servers/79043.md?page=3)

[Next page](https://forums.plex.tv/t/group-multiple-plex-servers/79043.md?page=5)
