Plex Server on a NUC

Plex Media Server NAS & Devices
1

hi everyone, and a merry new year.

I’m running my Plex Server (being a lifepass subscriber) on a Synology Ds918+.

Now I would probably create a new machine, Intel NUC Kit NUC8i3BEH, and I’d like to run on it the latest Ubuntu OS (in order to have Roon and Plex on the same device).

Is it possible to migrate my actual server from Synology to Ubuntu Nuc?
Could it be possible to run two Plex servers as a single subscriber?

Is this i3 Intel CPU enough?

Thanks :blush:

3

Here’s the link to a support article, describing how to move/migrate an existing server to a new machine.

There’s no restriction as for how many servers you can install.
The i3 itself is not super powerful but in combination with HW transcoding it should be sufficiently powerful to run and even transcode your media (if needed).

4

Depends.
It is good enough for transcoding 2 – 3 H.264 (1080p) video streams in software.
https://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu.php?cpu=Intel+Core+i3-8109U+%40+3.00GHz&id=3333

As a ‘Coffee Lake’ cpu, its Quicksync unit has support for transcoding HEVC 10 bit and even VP9. So with a Plex Pass and ‘hardware transcoding’ enabled, this should be a quite capable Plex Server, which easily surpasses the abilities of your NAS as a Plex server.

Don’t skimp on the amount of RAM or the embedded SSD drive!

5

Thanks to every one.

How many ram do you suggest? 16gb? And 250gb ssd for metadata?

I’m gonna use a 128gb sdd for Roon and a 2,5 ssd for Plex.

And, in your opinion, is it better to migrate or set a new server, on the Nuc? Pros and cons?

6

16GB should be plenty, but if you plan on using a RAM disk for transcoding you can never have enough – particularly if you plan on having more than one playback happening at once.

The size of the Plex data folder depends on how many media items you have (and if you are going to use the video preview thumbnails). 250 GB is a reasonable start, but with a larger media collection you could exhaust it eventually.

Migration is a good thing, if you can manage to do it right. But at least you could transplant a copy of the main plex database file. This will at least transfer the ‘watched’ status and the setup of the libraries (but not their pictures).

7

If I may add, It’s pretty easy to migrate from Synology to desktop Linux (both have the same data storage structure. The only thing which changes are:

  1. Location of the media files
  2. Ownership UID/GID (user Plex’s ID numbers are different on every system)

I will write it out if needed but starting with a ZIP of the “Library” from the Plex share is where it starts.

Please read through this How-To.

The key difference here is you’d be using ZIP/unzip instead of tar.

8

No more than one play at a time.

This should be my setup:

Intel Nuc Kit nuc8i3beh

Ram Crucial CT16G4SFD824A 16gb

Roon Server ssd Crucial 250 gb MX500CT250MX500SSD4

Plex dedicated disk (all the media are on the nas)
Kingston SSD A400, 480 GB

Will it work? Will Plex understand that the sdd is for metadata?

9

Not by itself. Depending on the used operating system, you need to employ different strategies to use it. For Linux, this is laid out here: Moving PMS 'Library'

10

So on the Linux Nuc should be better to start from scratch :grinning_face_with_smiling_eyes:

1 Like
11

Not sure how you reached that conclusion. You can just follow that guide, but instead of moving the plex data from the default location in step 1, you just restore your backed-up data from the NAS.

12

@supertopix

How familiar are you with Linux?
Knowing your mastery level will help us to help you better.

13

Less than zero :innocent:

14

In all candor and sincerity,

Use of Linux for Plex implies a certain minimal level of mastery. Linux isn’t “Point & Click” like you see on the Synology or on Windows.

There will be a lot of keyboard commands to make it all work. Are you ready for this?

If you think you are, I suggest:

  1. Go setup a Linux VM and start to work with it.
  2. Using the Linux tutorials on the internet, master as much as you can about Linux permissions and mounting directories from other systems
  3. Study the linux electronic manual and familiarize yourself with it (the electronic manual is the man command). Linux carries all of its documentation with it for everything you have installed.
  4. When you think you’re ready, then do a trial install of Plex in the VM and see how it goes.

I say this because, while we’re here to help you with Plex on Linux, we are not staffed to teach Linux. If you’re good searching the forums, you’ll be able to preen a huge amount of knowledge by simply reading through the command sequences.

Look at my Linux Tips and understand them. This will tell you a great deal of what you need to know in order to successfully use Plex on Linux.

https://forums.plex.tv/tags/server-linux-tips

Lastly: I have a NUC8-i7-HVK and it’s a screamer. It will transcode for every device in the house concurrently (I run out of players/clients). The only caveat: No Subtitles.

3 Likes
15

I currently run my plex server on a NUC5i7RYH, a few gens back from what @ChuckPa is running and mine does pretty well too. It does struggle on multiple streams when transcoding from my HomeRun but for the most part its never been much of an issue. All in all I think NUCs work well as long as your media library is not too large. One thing these things lack is general storage.

16

I cheated with the rest of the NUC. :slight_smile:
They are indeed strong little, underrated imho, machines.

Akitio T3-10G (Thunderbolt) was the missing piece for me.

Everything is remote (on a QNAP NAS) and PMS is none the wiser.
Only the metadata is local (network file locking for the database is unreliable)

1 Like
17

Thanks again;

One more thing: why “no subtitles”? I usually play english version of my tv shows or movies, with english subtitles. A NUC8i3 would not be able to transcode a single 1080p (or 4K) with subs? (1 client only)

18

If you are playing for one client only, it should be ok. HEVC UHD high bitrate (actual disk rips at full size) may be a problem but for one player, it will work ok if:

  1. SRT subtitles are used
  2. The Player is set to “Automatic” (do not force burning of subtitles)

Using SRT & Automatic (where the players can render SRT without burning), the i3 should be able to play 3-4 simultaneous streams.

20

Hi everyone (and @ChuckPa)
I finally succeeded to set up my brand new NUC, with Ubuntu Desktop 18.04.

Now it is running with ROON server (installed and configured).

I installed Plex, too. I can see the new server but (and here I really really really need your kind help) I’m not able to create and mount -on the NUC- the media folder I need.

They are on my Synology NAS.

I was hoping to be able to create the right connections in graphic mode, but I understand that probably it is not possible.

Is there anyone willing to help a “non tech guy” in this very difficult task? :blush: Please take note that I’m not a very good English speaker, too :blush:

I read a lot of guides, and I understand that I have to create some folder on the NUC (as root? As user?) and then write some commands to tell the Plex server to mount NAS folders there… but I had no success.

I need to set up Plex server in order to start as a service, no manual launch, and then have always the Synology folders connected.

Any other suggestions, security wise, would be welcome.

Thanks

21

Many How-To’s here: https://forums.plex.tv/tags/server-linux-tips

You’ll want:

22

Thanks Chuck. Yesterday, following this guide I was able to create 4 folders (and I see them under my NUC - COMPUTER/NAS). So I believe points A and B are ok.
I really can’t understand point C… can you please elaborate? My 4 folders are FILM, VIDEO, SERIE, PHOTO.
If I open the Terminal user’s default name is “faubuntu(etc)”.

Can you please help me with a single folder? Then I’ll probably be able to go on by myself :slight_smile: