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Installation guide for PMS under Proxmox 5.1 within an LXC Container

Contributed by: @Johnnyh1975

1. Create an LXC Container (standard approach, well documented in Proxmox)

Use the standard approach within Proxmox and create a privileged Container (incl. definition of hostname, root password)
Select the your target operating system template, e.g. ubuntu 16.04, ubuntu 17.04 or ubuntu 17.10. (you have to download it from the Proxmox server)
Define memory and cpu allocation for your Plex container: e.g. 8 cores, 20GB RAM,… as well as network parameters

2. Install on Intel Graphics acceleration drivers Proxmox Host

First install on the Proxmox host the intel graphics acceleration drivers. (e.g. via Shell JS in the Proxmox manager)
Proxmox host is running Debian stretch.

apt-get install i965-va-driver

  • Test if the driver is working. Install vainfo

    apt-get install vainfo

  • Running vainfo should give you an output comparable to

  error: can't connect to X server!
  libva info: VA-API version 0.39.4
  libva info: va_getDriverName() returns 0
  libva info: Trying to open /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/dri/i965_drv_video.so
  libva info: Found init function __vaDriverInit_0_39
  libva info: va_openDriver() returns 0
  vainfo: VA-API version: 0.39 (libva 1.7.3)
  vainfo: Driver version: Intel i965 driver for Intel(R) Kabylake - 1.7.3
  vainfo: Supported profile and entrypoints
      VAProfileMPEG2Simple            : VAEntrypointVLD
      VAProfileMPEG2Simple            : VAEntrypointEncSlice
      VAProfileMPEG2Main              : VAEntrypointVLD
      VAProfileMPEG2Main              : VAEntrypointEncSlice
      VAProfileH264ConstrainedBaseline: VAEntrypointVLD
      VAProfileH264ConstrainedBaseline: VAEntrypointEncSlice
      VAProfileH264Main               : VAEntrypointVLD
      VAProfileH264Main               : VAEntrypointEncSlice
      VAProfileH264High               : VAEntrypointVLD
      VAProfileH264High               : VAEntrypointEncSlice
      VAProfileH264MultiviewHigh      : VAEntrypointVLD
      VAProfileH264MultiviewHigh      : VAEntrypointEncSlice
      VAProfileH264StereoHigh         : VAEntrypointVLD
      VAProfileH264StereoHigh         : VAEntrypointEncSlice
      VAProfileVC1Simple              : VAEntrypointVLD
      VAProfileVC1Main                : VAEntrypointVLD
      VAProfileVC1Advanced            : VAEntrypointVLD
      VAProfileNone                   : VAEntrypointVideoProc
      VAProfileJPEGBaseline           : VAEntrypointVLD
      VAProfileJPEGBaseline           : VAEntrypointEncPicture
      VAProfileVP8Version0_3          : VAEntrypointVLD
      VAProfileVP8Version0_3          : VAEntrypointEncSlice
      VAProfileHEVCMain               : VAEntrypointVLD
      VAProfileHEVCMain               : VAEntrypointEncSlice
      VAProfileHEVCMain10             : VAEntrypointVLD
      VAProfileHEVCMain10             : VAEntrypointEncSlice
      VAProfileVP9Profile0            : VAEntrypointVLD
      VAProfileVP9Profile0            : VAEntrypointEncSlice
      VAProfileVP9Profile2            : VAEntrypointVLD

Well done your host is supporting the appropriate acceleration.

3. GPU passthrough configuration to Plex Container

  • Find out the right parameter of your graphics card

    ls -l /dev/dri

This should give you a comparable output to the following

crw-rw---- 1 root video 226,   0 Dec 29 14:06 card0
crw-rw---- 1 root video 226, 128 Dec 29 14:06 renderD128

  • Note the numbers behind video:

    • card0 has the id 226, 0**
    • renderD128 has the id 226,128**

  • Define the gpu passthrough by adding the following lines at the end of your 100.conf file (use the appropriate number 100, 101,… that you assigned before to the Plex container). Please adjust the following lines with the id numbers for your graphics system you have noted down just before. In the last line replace the 100 with the Plex container id of your system.

    nano /etc/pve/lxc/100.conf

lxc.cgroup.devices.allow = c 226:0 rwm
lxc.cgroup.devices.allow = c 226:128 rwm
lxc.cgroup.devices.allow = c 29:0 rwm
lxc.autodev: 1
lxc.hook.autodev:/var/lib/lxc/100/mount_hook.sh

  • When the container starts, the last line calls a shell script that you need to create to mount the devices appropriately…
    Let’s create it:

    nano /var/lib/lxc/100/mount_hook.sh

  • Add the following lines and adjust the id’s to your graphics system:

    mkdir -p ${LXC_ROOTFS_MOUNT}/dev/dri
    mknod -m 666 ${LXC_ROOTFS_MOUNT}/dev/dri/card0 c 226 0
    mknod -m 666 ${LXC_ROOTFS_MOUNT}/dev/dri/renderD128 c 226 128
    mknod -m 666 ${LXC_ROOTFS_MOUNT}/dev/fb0 c 29 0

  • Save the file and make it executable.
    chmod 755 /var/lib/lxc/100/mount_hook.sh

  • Your Plex LXC container is ready to boot up incl. GPU passthrough. Well done!

4. Boot-up your container and install Plex media server

Via Console JS of your container execute the following steps

  • Login with root and the assigned password in step 1

  • Make sure your system is up-to-date

    apt-get update && sudo apt-get upgrade

  • Head to the Plex Downloads page and download the current version of Plex Media Server

  • Use dpkg to install the Plex server:
    dpkg -i plexmediaserver*.deb

  • Enable Plex Media Server to start on reboot, and then start the server:

    systemctl enable plexmediaserver.service
    systemctl start plexmediaserver.service

  • The rest is than standard Plex configuration and media file management which is well documented. So I will not repeat it.

  • Last step to make sure your Plex server is using hardware acceleration. Within the Plex web interface, go on “settings>server>transcoder”. Make sure that advanced options are shown. And checkmark “use hardware acceleration when available”

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