Load balancing Plex Media Servers - Master and Backup

Plex Media Server
1

Hello,

This is to find out to which “SYNC” level is possible load balance 2 Plex Media Servers (PMS)..

My scenario:

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Network layer:

  • Site A is hosting primary PLEX Media Server
  • Site B is hosting backup PLEX Media Server
  • Site A is interconnected with Site B through private tunnel
    • Network speed of the tunnel is about 500mbps
  • Site A is hosting on extra server Reverse Proxy engine which will loadbalance to Master PMS unless its down, then it will at network level switch over to Backup PMS

System layer:

  • Both sites are running Debian 12
  • Docker environment
  • Backup PMS has 1:1 copy of all media files from Master PMS
    • Media files are synced daily from Master to Backup (never other way around)
  • From the container perspective the file system is looking the same. All media appear in the very same folder structure.

Desired scenario:

  • Master PMS is always serving if it is running
  • Backup PMS is server only in case Master PMS is down
  • Configuration changes like Users / Libraries / Server settings are done only on the Master PMS.
  • Backup PMS is never configured via settings manually. It will be always loading config from the database which will be taken from the Master PMS.
  • Data related to user content state like watch position, watch history, ratings, watchlist etc
    • ideally in sync between Master PMS and Backup PMS (every hour or so) - so in case Backup PMS is serving it will push its history data over to Master PMS and vice versa.
    • not ideally but “ok” if Backup PMS will use Master PMS data and don’t update Master PMS about changes in case Backup PMS is serving.

Findings:

Plex Media Server is storing all its configuration in multiple database files:

  • com.plexapp.plugins.library:
    • com.plexapp.plugins.library.db
    • com.plexapp.plugins.library.db-shm
    • com.plexapp.plugins.library.db-wal
    • com.plexapp.plugins.library.db.fix
  • com.plexapp.plugins.library.blobs:
    • com.plexapp.plugins.library.blobs.db
    • com.plexapp.plugins.library.blobs.db-shm
    • com.plexapp.plugins.library.blobs.db-wal
  • com.plexapp.dlna:
    • com.plexapp.dlna.db
    • com.plexapp.dlna.db-shm
    • com.plexapp.dlna.db-wal

My plan to achieve the desired scenario is to rsync correct database/s between Master PMS and Backup PMS. However I need to understand to which level this can be achieved and if there exists a better approach than using scheduled rsync.

Thank you!

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