Server Version#: Linux Distro
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I’ve been working my way through this guide “Moving ‘PMS’ Library” for a couple days now and I would like to suggest two edits for future users that are somewhat new to linux.
The guide suggests that PMS needs to be stopped, but that suggestion is not emphasized enough in my opinion. Therefore, under Section A - the first command should be added systemctl stop plexmediaserver. While this may seem unnecessary given the earlier statement, the guide does give the reminder command to start plexmediaserver at the end. I think it would be beneficial for new users to see both the stop and start commands.
The second suggestion is a little more geared towards that newer category of users.
Under Section A, under the text of the custom override file is this warning: Warning: Do not use /media as it is a reserved directory with Gnome. Select a target directory not used by any system applications.
I believe for new users, this edit may be difficult to overcome for those that use Ubuntu desktop. If a user puts a new SSD into their system, Ubuntu defaults to using the mount point of /media. I believe the existing warning in the guide should add something like the following: If using a secondary disk, Ubuntu users should ensure that the target directory has NOT been mounted at the /media mount point. The override commands and tar commands will fail if using the /media mountpoint.
I know this guide has been out there for a while, but having banged my head against issues the last two days, I though it might be a useful couple of suggestions!
Flagging me is precisely the best way in this case. Thank you.
I added the edit to Stop Plex Media Server in step A.
I increased bolding to not use /media.
I am a bit at odds on how to detail this further without writing a novella & teaching Linux (which is not the purpose nor within our scope). It has always been presumed a Linux user, who does load Linux on a fresh drive or overwriting their previous Windows or MacOS installation, is doing so voluntarily and, as such, has grasp of the technical skills required and implications of these actions. (i.e. Don’t jump in the deep end unless you can at least doggy paddle )
I think the tweaks look ok and I understand and acknowledge your points. Since you asked though, I’d argue for two last edits just to reinforce you existing changes.
Fair enough. Just to be clear about how I got into this though, I setup my system as pure transcoding box and (rightly or wrongly), put the OS on a spare 64GB ssd and then wanted to have the Plex Library on a spare 500GB nvme drive so if the old ssd failed, I could continue to use the nvme.
Be careful – “Library” does not contain any media nor should it ever. It’s a holdover from the very first MacOS -> Linux port. (I WISH I could change that). On a Mac, every user has ~/Library for their stuff. Further, MacOS stores application specific data under ~/Library/Application Support/<Application Name>. On the NAS boxes, the migration away from that is almost complete. Synology DSM 7 is migrating away from it now.
If you mount the NVME drive as /nvme500 (or other clearly non-conflicting name) then your PLEX_MEDIA_SERVER_APPLICATION_SUPPORT_DIR isn’t pointing into /media, is it?
Plex is a service, we have to remember that. Systemd is in full control.
A valid argument can be made, which I’m slowly trying to convince folks, is to make /home/plex be the default on Linux.
By doing this, we avoid any possible issues with reserved directory names as well as, in all automatic partitioned cases, are placed on the largest file system of the boot volume.
If we move Plex’s $HOME , everything is much more easily administered at the linux level.
Yep - that all makes sense. I currently have the setup stable and working at this point. The main issue I was running into was that when I entered the location for PLEX_MEDIA_SERVER_APPLICATION_SUPPORT_DIR, I was just copy/pasting the mount point for the nvme drive. Since I knew that what I was trying do was certainly possible, I skipped over the /media warning. It wasn’t until my 8th or 9th re-read of the guide as the tar command didn’t work that I clued into the warning. Which is why I suggested that it be emphasized a bit more.
Also, this is just a transcoding box as suggested here. No media is actually housed on this one!
I agree that moving Plex’s $HOME is a great idea, but if you drop a second drive onto Ubuntu just to house the Library App Support Dir, the default mount point is still /media.
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