PMS running on OS X vs. Windows vs. Linux -- I need recommendations...

General Discussions
1

Hi all. I'm new to Plex. Have only been using it a month and love it. A few months ago I decided to seriously over complicate my home network, mainly for a hobby and career advancement. My current Plex setup was just to check out the software and see if it's something I want to keep long term. Since that has been decided, I need to figure out a better long term setup.

 

My current Plex setup has PMS and Plex App running on a late 2012 Mac Mini that I'm using as an HTPC. Works well but I need a better way to run PMS. I'm the only one in the household that has any idea on how to make Plex work, so I'd like to set it up to be easier to use for the rest of the family. Where they can play media from Plex as easy as it is to use the Apple TV to find something on Netflix.

 

I have a mix of Dell and HP servers running VMware's ESX enterprise software, which I'm learning for my career. As I mentioned I have a Mac Mini as well has two Apple TVs (v3). Last week I was researching how to create OS X virtual machines in ESX and found out that the Mac Mini can run ESX. I've been contemplating retiring it as an HTPC and making it an ESX server so I could have a few OS X virtual machines for various things. I also have a Synology NAS that will hold all the media. I know I can run PMS from it but I would rather run it on a faster server for transcoding purposes.

 

Which brings me to my dilemma-- what OS should I run Plex Media Server on and why? With the VMware setup, I can create a server for PMS running Windows, OS X, or Linux. I'd really like to set it up so that whichever OS I decide to run it on, when it boots the share is automatically mapped, PMS starts automatically, and it's ready to go. No manual work involved unless is an issue with the server.

 

OS X-- I've had it stuck in my head that I should run it on OS X but I'm not sure why. I can't run it as a daemon in OS X, so I would manually have to make sure a user is logged in, PMS is running, and the media network share is mapped. Just seems like extra work than it's worth.

 

Windows-- Is it possible to run PMS without a user logged in? Can it run as a service? I could easily create a service account for Plex and start it that way. Whenever that server is booted, PMS is automatically brought up.

 

Linux-- Haven't used Linux much. I'm very comfortable with using the command line though. I've read that PMS can't run as a daemon in OS X, so since it is based on Linux, does the same thing apply? If this is a worthy solution I'll definitely need decent instructions to set it up.

 

Sorry for the long winded post. Thanks for reading! Any suggestions on how I should set things up would be very helpful!

 

TL;DR: What OS should I run PMS on that will startup automatically at boot and allow it to work flawlessly in the background without a user logged in?

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Also, with the ATVs, I've read that it's possible to watch movies using the Plex app on the iPad or iPhone. Haven't tried it yet. What if I loaded up a movie on it then streamed it out to an ATV? Will PMS transcode for the iPad or iPhone or does it somehow know it's being sent to another device and will transcode for it?

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I think you may be over-thinking/over-complicating this.  If you have PMS running on your mac mini you can do about anything you should need to do.

-If the mini is connected to a tv directly then just install plex media center also to watch movies and media on that tv.

-If you have several iOS devices then buy the Plex app from appstore it's awesome and then airplay audio and video from your library to any of your apple tvs.  The PMS handles all the transcoding and etc.  I'm currently using mine this way with apple tv 2, a roku and wd tv live and it's great.  

-make sure you adjust the video settings in the app and turn off quality adjustment for each connection type, local, remote.

I have a 2.5 yr old and 4 yr old and they use the plex app on ipads and iphones to watch movies and I never taught them how.  Also my wife says that out of all the tech changes and additions i've done that Plex is the best.

-Multiple HD streams should be no problem.  Just make sure you have gigabit switches and a good router.

Good luck with your project and I hope this helps.

4

One more thing.  You know the "Oh, I want to do this, so I need to buy this new media player..." and then it seems like there's always something the new hardware doesn't do so you have to buy something else.  Well Plex for me has been the solution and the price is unbeatable.  I would have to say that I am for the first time content with my media setup.

5

I think you may be over-thinking/over-complicating this.  If you have PMS running on your mac mini you can do about anything you should need to do.

-If the mini is connected to a tv directly then just install plex media center also to watch movies and media on that tv.

This is what I'm doing at the moment but the issue is that when the Mini is rebooted, PMS doesn't start until someone logs in and makes sure it starts and the network share maps.

I'm over complicating it because I can. It's a hobby and will advance my career.

Since I have a VMware homelab, that would be an excellent place to put a virtual machine that would run PMS. It would basically be up 24/7 and not require anyone to login to start PMS or make sure that it started properly.

My main concern at the moment is which operating system can provide automatic startup on boot without a user having to login to it first. I know you can set any OS to automatically login with a specific account but I don't like doing that even though it's in my own home.

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My main concern at the moment is which operating system can provide automatic startup on boot without a user having to login to it first. I know you can set any OS to automatically login with a specific account but I don't like doing that even though it's in my own home.

Linux

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I see. I was thinking your mini would be your 24/7 machine and wouldn’t need to be rebooted or logged out.

That would definately change things.

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I see. I was thinking your mini would be your 24/7 machine and wouldn't need to be rebooted or logged out.
That would definately change things.

We often have brown outs.

And my cats have figured out how to use the power button on the power strip that I have behind the entertainment center. So I often find the mini, receiver, and other things in that area powered off. I really need to change that strip. :)

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Linux

Any particular reason why? Any cons using Linux compared to the other OSs?

Any special install/setup instructions? I comfortable with command line stuff I just don't know Linux very well. Wonder how complex it is mapping a drive and having Plex run as a daemon or without a user logged in.

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Any particular reason why? Any cons using Linux compared to the other OSs?

Any special install/setup instructions? I comfortable with command line stuff I just don't know Linux very well. Wonder how complex it is mapping a drive and having Plex run as a daemon or without a user logged in.

Linux can't handle flash/webkit or silverlight video, which also happens to be the parts of the other versions which require an interactive user environment to work.

There are many "users" always running on a *nix box, they just don't require interactive shells.

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My main concern at the moment is which operating system can provide automatic startup on boot without a user having to login to it first. I know you can set any OS to automatically login with a specific account but I don't like doing that even though it's in my own home.

 

 

Linux


Hmm, this is important to know. I'm also rethinking my setup. I'm testing Plex at the moment and I love it.
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I'm in a similar predicament myself.  Since about 2009, I've been running Plex on a 2008-vintage Mac Mini (2.0 GHz, 2 GB RAM, 320 GB/7200 RPM HDD), starting with Leopard, now running Lion.  About a year ago, I jumped on the Roku bandwagon and use that as the "front end" to access content in the PMS on the Mini.  Since just before the holidays, it seems that at least once every 7-10 days, I've had to manually restart PMS or do a full hard reboot on the Mini.  Some of those times, there has been an error (which, of course, I never wrote down or got a screen grab of) indicating that "python unexpectedly quit".  So, I don't know if python is crashing and taking PMS with it, or if it's the other way 'round.

In any event, given the age of the Mini (and the fact that I have another purpose in mind for it), I'm looking to put something new (or slightly newer) together, strictly as a PMS server this time (rather than server & client on same box).  Hardware-wise, I've got a couple Atom 330 systems (great for low power consumption, not so great for transcoding) and a couple dual-core AMD setups (much more powerful, but more power hungry) at my disposal.  Software-wise, I'm equally familiar with Windows & OS X, a bit less-so with Linux.  My primary concern is stability (I once had to walk my wife through troubleshooting the setup over the phone from the other side of the country, an experience I never want to repeat).  

So, what would the collective here rate as the most stable OS/PMS combination?  

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So, what would the collective here rate as the most stable OS/PMS combination?  

I'm running a Linux server. At the moment i'm testing Plex. I must say PMS is really stable on my Linux server. I'm not sure which OS i'm going to use for PMS. I have a thread open in PMS Mac. I almost was convinced to buy a Mac Mini for server duty's but i'm not sure anymore. On Linux you can run PMS as a service. On Mac OS you have to login to use PMS. Sometimes choosing is difficult... :)  

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Linux can't handle flash/webkit or silverlight video, which also happens to be the parts of the other versions which require an interactive user environment to work.

There are many "users" always running on a *nix box, they just don't require interactive shells.

What does the flash/webkit and silverlight actually provide for Plex? What does not having them affect? Pros/cons?

I noticed you mention in your sig that your primary PMS is Ubuntu. I was thinking about doing the same but can't find a guide for it.

Also, why a separate PMS for channels? Do channels require flash/webkit/silverlight to work?

Thanks for your help!

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What does the flash/webkit and silverlight actually provide for Plex? What does not having them affect? Pros/cons?

Your not going to be able to play media with those codecs

I noticed you mention in your sig that your primary PMS is Ubuntu. I was thinking about doing the same but can't find a guide for it.

download the .deb from the download page

install the .deb

manage the server from http://ip:32400/web

Also, why a separate PMS for channels? Do channels require flash/webkit/silverlight to work?

some do yes.

16

I just installed Windows after a long stretch using Linux Mint.

So far it feels horrible and clunky, but I'm determined to learn more.... Plex works okay, but it isn't running if someone just powers up the computer (which I prefer not to turn off anyway, but Windows does love doing stupid stuff like rebooting, and taking an hour or so to shutdown because it can't update when it's running etc....)

Well I'd say you should stick Linux Mint on there, have a separate disk or partition (I have a 2T disk, and a 1T partition for 'Server Files' and 'Media'which I keep separate... so Plex in Linux as well as Windows use the same sources.

When I don't need to use Windows, I prefer to just turn on PC and not log in - it goes straight to Linux... but when I'm here I'll select Windows 7 and use that for a while.... but like I say, it feels bad. Just copying folders and files seems to take so much longer! For loading up a USB with files it's actually faster to reboot to Linux and copy!

If possible, I'd like to use ext4 filesystem for storing files. I can never live without Linux (even if it's just a small install and Live DVD) simply because of the possibility of using it to manage disks and stuff. 

17

I'm in a similar predicament myself.  Since about 2009, I've been running Plex on a 2008-vintage Mac Mini (2.0 GHz, 2 GB RAM, 320 GB/7200 RPM HDD), starting with Leopard, now running Lion.  About a year ago, I jumped on the Roku bandwagon and use that as the "front end" to access content in the PMS on the Mini.  Since just before the holidays, it seems that at least once every 7-10 days, I've had to manually restart PMS or do a full hard reboot on the Mini.  Some of those times, there has been an error (which, of course, I never wrote down or got a screen grab of) indicating that "python unexpectedly quit".  So, I don't know if python is crashing and taking PMS with it, or if it's the other way 'round.

In any event, given the age of the Mini (and the fact that I have another purpose in mind for it), I'm looking to put something new (or slightly newer) together, strictly as a PMS server this time (rather than server & client on same box).  Hardware-wise, I've got a couple Atom 330 systems (great for low power consumption, not so great for transcoding) and a couple dual-core AMD setups (much more powerful, but more power hungry) at my disposal.  Software-wise, I'm equally familiar with Windows & OS X, a bit less-so with Linux.  My primary concern is stability (I once had to walk my wife through troubleshooting the setup over the phone from the other side of the country, an experience I never want to repeat).  

So, what would the collective here rate as the most stable OS/PMS combination?  

I'm in the same boat too as you and @verbsanon , My main server is a Mac Mini and since it's a server i have no problem with the auto start up coz i have one user with auto login. My problem is the PMS stops broadcasting and needs a restart. I also checked the logs and didn't find much useful info there.

Did you solve this problem ? Should i schedule a restart of the Mac mini every Monday for example?

@verbsanon , I found a great way to mount the Synology volumes (or any other NAS) in OS X always and it's been very reliable. Let me know if you still have issues there.

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I'm in the same boat too as you and @verbsanon , My main server is a Mac Mini and since it's a server i have no problem with the auto start up coz i have one user with auto login. My problem is the PMS stops broadcasting and needs a restart. I also checked the logs and didn't find much useful info there.

Did you solve this problem ? Should i schedule a restart of the Mac mini every Monday for example?

@verbsanon , I found a great way to mount the Synology volumes (or any other NAS) in OS X always and it's been very reliable. Let me know if you still have issues there.

I would like to know how to auto mount the NAS drives on a mac as it is a pain especially when they disconnect without informing you.

19

I have my mac set on power schedule settings. No one runs Plex from 2am-8am in my home so the Mac turns off between those times. It is also set to return to it's previous state after a power failure

On boot I have the following set:

 - auto login user "x"

 - Plex, network share, system backup, TVShows app & transmission bittorrent added to "Login Items" for user "x"

This way my machine boots on it's own (and gets a little break each day to hopefully prolong it's life). It also auto downloads new shows I've subscribed to (TV Shows APP) and runs a full system and network drive off-site backup to CrashPlan.

Unless I need to get real work done or something goes terribly wrong I don't touch the machine. I've gone 2-3 months without needing to touch the mac as we usually do our web browsing and light work on Laptops and iPads around the house. It just happily sits there serving up media to us and our family and friends around the world (the 2 people outside of the country from us use the Sync feature of plex to get media downloaded when the server is actually on.)

20

I would like to know how to auto mount the NAS drives on a mac as it is a pain especially when they disconnect without informing you.

Go to System Preferences -> Users & Groups -> Login items.

Click the lock and drag your network drive to the list (check the "Hide" box if you don't want a finder window to pop up.) This will make sure the volume auto mounts each time you login.

If the drive disconnects for any reason (power failure/random error) you will need to manually reconnect, or if you have it set to power down and auto login each day it will just show up next time powers on.