Two Instances of Plex Media Server on One Machine

Plex Media Server
1

Server Version#: v1.31.1.6716-ca0c45ff8
Player Version#: Web

I have been searching and searching and cannot find how to do this:

  • I have two network cards on my plex server machine (linux).
  • I would like to run two instances of the “Plex Media Server” on this machine.
  • One listening on: 192.168.1.101:32400
  • And one listening on: 192.168.1.102:32400
  • I know about Preferred Network Interface, but I can’t get a second server to start to even set this option.
  • Like is the Preferred Network Interface in the database somewhere? I can’t see it in Preferences.xml, so where is it stored?
    I try to start a second instance of Plex Server like this:
    PLEX_MEDIA_SERVER_APPLICATION_SUPPORT_DIR='/var/lib/plexmediaserver2/Library/Application Support' sudo -u plex '/usr/lib/plexmediaserver/Plex Media Server'
    I.e., I need it to have it’s own database, Preferences.xml, everything… (Note: plexmediaserver2)

But it says port 32400 is already in use, and I can’t find a way to tell the Plex Server which IP to bind to, 192.168.1.101:32400 or 192.168.1.102:32400.

According to this, linux should allow it:

I would expect that I could then access one or the other via:

http://192.168.1.101:32400
OR:
http://192.168.1.102:32400

Note: This is not for remote access. I need to access both server locally, and neither remotely.

The reason I need to do this and why I can’t do it with just one server is a long story.

Thanks, I am pretty much desperate… :slight_smile:

2

@markeric Maybe using something like Proxmox might help.

3

Because it’s not possible. You’ll need to use VMs or containers to run more than 1 instance on the same hardware.

4

What Bob said. Not possible and not supported even if one could get it to work.

Use virtualization if you must have multiple instances.

5

Bigger question is why you would want to. Often times using 2 libraries is a better solution

6

Thank you! At least now I can stop searching…

7

also not the best idea to run 2 nics in the same machine on the same subnet - lots of traffic is going to get very confused.