I was under the impression that, since what I was asking for were more tools for administrators to use to admin the server I was making a single request with examples of the tools needed by the administrator to do a comprehensive job. That request was locked, and I was told to post each example as a separate request.
Who is watching my content?
We need a way to view who is (and was) using our servers. Not just "Now Watching" but something with historical information in it as well. Logs that can (and should) go back from install of server, if the admin so wishes. Not just a stream of starting and stopping, but REAL information like user x watched the whole of XYZ video, but only watched half of ABC. (How much was streamed/transcoding.) So I can change the format or resolution of the videos without affecting the user's place in the video.
As it stand now, the "Now Playing" or log diving are the only tools to see usage on the server. This is unacceptable for any long term server administration. Metrics of usage time frames, transcode session, bandwidth and is a session stuck are EXAMPLES of what is needed here. We also need this to curb the Plex Pirates from infiltrating our servers.
Not everyone is able to sit in front of their server 24/7 and look at the "Now Playing" to see who is watching what.
EDITED 3/31/2015:
I just found out today that a branch of plexWatch from drzoidberg33 located here:
There is PlexNotify and PlexWatch & Web that are available to use as needed to monitor and log usage history as well as notify you of events on the server.
There is PlexNotify and PlexWatch & Web that are available to use as needed to monitor and log usage history as well as notify you of events on the server.
Most of us understand that, but neither work perfectly, nor do they work on all platforms. Also, the front-end for Plex/Watch, Plex/Watch Web, is essentially a dead project, having not been updated in a year now. And for some neither of these options are easy to setup, or configure. Personally, I find is absurd that these functions are not yet part of PMS itself.
And, from reading the forums on PlexNotify, it sounds like it would do exactly what I think Plex should have built in already. And after literally DAYS of messing with PlexWatch, I wound up with such massive problems with the bundles on my server I had to do a complete rebuild.
As Pruit has already said, though, not everyone can run these add-on. (You got it, I'm one that can't run these add-ons...) :(
Not to mention that the Now Playing only works part of the time. I would like to see the same things the OP has mentioned so that I could see metrics on it all.
Two more days now of trying to get PlexWatch running on my NAS. During these 2 days I've had issues with almost every part of the installation process, other than putting the 2 files in a folder... (plexWatch.pl and config.pl)
Getting Perl running was fairly straightforward... FINDING it was an issue. (The directory it's installed in for Asustor's Linux distro is a bit screwy...)
None of the CPAN installs worked. Every one of them errored to one extent or another. None of them completed the install process.
WHY does this installation need such a convoluted process?
PlexWatch is distributed and maintained by a Plex Employee. (ljunkie) He has also worked on the Roku app and a few other things. So why hasn't he rolled this into the server itself? Has the fact that there are other add-on apps like PlexNotify stopped the further development of this integrated with the server itself? I hope not!
I would LOVE to have this functionality built into my Plex Server. I do enjoy the "Activity - What's Playing" monitor, but I would love to be able to see a history of it.
To take it further, I would like to be able to monitor the amount of data used by each user and also have the ability to limit their bandwidth (or total data usage).
This would be a HUGE reason for individuals to buy the Plex Pass...IMO.
Also, the front-end for Plex/Watch, Plex/Watch Web, is essentially a dead project, having not been updated in a year now.
...
Personally, I find is absurd that these functions are not yet part of PMS itself.
The ecleese dev version of plexwatch/web was just updated in November... In addition drzoidberg33 has forked a version and it was updated at the end of January. I do agree that additional server side logging/control needs to be built in to the actual plex 'server'.
I would LOVE to have this functionality built into my Plex Server. I do enjoy the "Activity - What's Playing" monitor, but I would love to be able to see a history of it.
To take it further, I would like to be able to monitor the amount of data used by each user and also have the ability to limit their bandwidth (or total data usage).
This would be a HUGE reason for individuals to buy the Plex Pass...IMO.
+1 on the limit bandwidth and also to the better log for viewing history. I'd love to be able to force the stream speed of external users.
Right now there isn't a way to get information on who has synced content off of your PMS. I guess there is some development going on in this avenue now, so plexWatch should have the functionality soon. If you are able to get plexWatch to work on your PMS, that is.
PlexNotify appears to be a dead project. This places more emphasis on the Plex Team itself to develop the tools, or give more active support to those who are doing the development.
the plex team really needs to incorporate features covered by Plexwatch and plexwatch web. Including Emails with new content such as what Plex Email provides. These features are clearly in demand as there are addins for them.
Trakt does this sort of thing, sorta. It doesn't give granular individual user data, at least that I can find.
Trakt gives info on what someone has watched. It means I would have to have each of my users make a Trakt account, then each would have to have access to the Trakt tool ON MY SERVER, and they would have to configure it to sync FROM MY SERVER. Then they would have to make me a friend of some sort on Trakt in order for me to see what they watched OFF MY SERVER. I already have the data ON MY SERVER of what, when and how they streamed MY CONTENT. As of yet no one has anything working on synced content, so that's still in the air.
Plex Media Server should already be providing me with that data. It's already written into the log files. This information is already available through 3rd party add-ons like plexWatch and plexWatchWeb, PlexNotify (dead now) and Plex Monitors 1 and 2. My sole issue with are that they are THIRD PARTY and not officially from Plex itself. For those that don't code, there is a huge trust issue that a third party app isn't somehow stealing my server information and selling it someplace. That my security is at risk by THIRD PARTY CODE somehow, to phone home with my details.
Enough soap box... I use the historical data from plexWatch/Web daily. The ONLY reason I worked as hard as I did to get this running is because ljunkie, one of the devs for plexWatch, is now on the Plex Dev team. It would be nice if this data were an option incorporated into the Plex Web App. The need for third party offerings for this functionality would be gone then and energies used there could be shifted somewhere else.
PS. I'm not saying any of the devs of any of the products listed ARE pirating anyone's data. I'm saying the potential exists.
