I’ve been running Plex happily on OSX since 2012. I’m about to build a new server and migrate my content and shared users (about 18 family and friends) to the new server. The rig i’m building is based on a Ryzen 9 3900X with 32GB of memory, 2TB NVME, NVidia GTX 1080 along with a Quadro P2000 for hardware transcoding.
I’d like to get the forum’s thoughts on whether i should run PMS on Linux or Windows. I’m a software engineer and live in both Linux and Win10 on a daily basis. Very comfortable at the terminal, shell scripting, python, java, c/c++, etc, so I’m not concerned about running PMS under Linux. What I’m really looking for is insight on pros/cons of running on either OS. I’ve already tested migrating from OSX to both Win10 and Linux Mint 19.2 and it was much easier moving to Mint. However, i was successful at moving to Win10 as well while keeping everything intact.
Thoughts? Opinions? Let’s keep it civil and I’m not looking for a war between die hard Windows and Linux enthusiasts. Just factual, honest insights. Thanks.
I browse the forums fairly often and my impression is that people running Linux servers have far more problems that anyone else. With Windows coming in second (or maybe people using the Shield…hard to tell). Again…this is just my impression based mostly on post titles. I’ve been running my server on an old, Early 2008 iMac for years and have had very few problems. I’d be curious why your switching?
I’ve gotten to a point where i have so many family and friends streaming that my iMac is constantly near 100% utilization due to the number of transcodes. The PC i’m building will have enough CPU cores (12) to handle any transcodes that the CPU handles but i’m adding in the P2000 to offload most of the transcodes to hardware.
My 2 cents is that it comes down to what you want out of the box, and what your proficiency level is in the OS. Win “does more for you”. Linux “gets more done”.
If you are proficient in both Win and Linux, I’ll put in a plug for Linux if you are looking at it primarily as a server and want to maximize how much you can get out of a hardware setup as a server. I have both Win and Linux computers and feel comfortable in either, but my available hardware when I built my first Plex server wasn’t high end, so “getting more done” was important to me. I’ve been stable and happy with my Linux Plex server. I’m planning a new Plex server for sometime in the next year, and something major would have to happen for me not to use Linux.
Of course, to have a good experience with Linux, you either need to have a good knowledge base, be willing to invest more time learning, or in some cases both are needed. Kudos to people who jump into Linux for the first time with their first Plex install, because there is definitely a learning curve.
Go with what you know.
If you don’t know Linux, then learn it first, in a vm somewhere. After you’re proficient, then you can try. The last you want is to attempt a new server on an OS you are not in absolute command of.
I run 2 Plex servers, one on a QNAP NAS, the other on Linux(Ubuntu Server). I really have no problems or complaints on the Linux build. For the QNAP every once in a while I would run into hiccups and have to restart the app. Otherwise like everyone else say, depends on your comfort level and which OS you feel the most capable with.
If you are proficient in both platforms, then my $0.02 would be to run a version of Linux. I personally run Ubuntu 18.04 LTS on my rig and have been very pleased with the performance. What is nice about Linux with no UI installed is it really uses the hardware well allowing for all sorts of use cases. I can easily record/stream 8 or more things at once with no issues. I don’t do that very often, but did run a field test to see what would happen. Also with cron is makes is easier to run scripts periodically vs Windows tasks (at least I think is easier). Also if you want to run tvheadend or other third party components, Linux is your best bet there too.
I personally prefer linux over windows. with windows you have to pay for licensing. windows has higher probability of being infected by malware. in my opinion linux makes for a better appliance. ive been running PMS on CentOS for many years as a headless appliance. I have never had problems with the OS performing.
I also ran PMS on FreeNAS for a few years. running the Plex server on the NAS directly caused all kinds of issues with upgrades. neither the NAS or the Plex was ever stable. I still run FreeNAS as my NAS and without PMS on it the NAS has run stable for many years.
