I’ve been considering a switch to Linux for my main rig, which also runs my Plex and associated services. Does anyone have any advice for me regarding distro, tool compatibility, similar tools to consider while switching, gotcha moments, losses in key functionality, etc. Any advice appreciated!
As @[email protected] said, make sure to set everything up using Docker containers going forward, it makes stuff like this completely painless.
As for your *aars, pretty sure all you have to do is create and export/download a backup in the web GUI, all your stuff including file history, settings, and stuff should follow. Check the documentation for each tool to verify before you do anything destructive though, it’s been a little while since I had to change hardware without everything being Dockerized.
For Plex, read them follow this guide step by step. It’s not generally that painful of a process. I’m assuming your pirated media is not saved locally on the Windows machine, and is on a NAS, in the cloud, or on external drives? If so there’s nothing destructive about copying files and standing up a new instance, so just follow the guide and don’t delete anything from the Windows PMS instance until you’re done setting up the new Dockerized PMS on Linux. That also goes for the *aar services.
Once everything’s Dockerized every time you update you’re effectively migrating servers, the Docker image is meant to be ephemeral. All the config folders, temp folders, media folders, log folders, etc., are mapped to permanent folders on the host that can just be attached to whatever new host you want to use.
One thing I will add is don’t map specific media library folders to your PMS Docker image, like
/movies,/tv,/music, etc. Instead, make an inclusive/mediafolder, nest the Library folders in there, then pass that inclusive/mediafolder to the PMS Docker image. This way you don’t have to edit your compose yaml file each time you want to add a new Library, you just create the new folder, add the content, and map the Library in the PMS GUI.Awesome write up, thanks for taking the time!
Definitely seems like docker is the way to go. I’ve currently got my NAS connected via ISCSI, but will I need to change that up when moving to docker?
No. As long as you can mount the share on your Linux machine, you then just pass that share to the Docker container the same way you’d pass a mounted SMB share or a locally mounted directory.
Sweet, I didn’t think so, but doesn’t hurt to check!
Whatever you do, make sure you setup the services in docker or similar so moving stuff around is much easier in the future.
If you’re not super familiar with docker/linux and have adequate system resources, I would stand up a vm for the stack and then use something like saltbox to deploy. It’s built primarily for remote hosting with cloud storage but there’s guides for local storage and the discord channel is great.
I’m familiar enough with Linux to cludge my way through most things, but this will be my first time with docker (honestly stoked to learn it).
So would you suggest I get things squared away in docker first, then move things over, or should I fresh build everything directly into docker? Are there any weird artifacts or config issues with importing a backup from an existing windows installation of the *darr apps or similar?
Depends on what your priorities are. If you have a spare box you could use as a temporary plex server, get that configured with docker etc. First, because you won’t cause a service disruption by taking down the main server (your pc).
After you get it configured the way you like, move over to Linux on your main and migrate the docker Configs. If you dont have a second machine or don’t care about a plex outage (my wife and kids would throw a fit lol), move over to Linux and then setup the dockers.
Some folks think it’s a crutch, but I recommend getting portainer for docker setup (simple one-liner deploy after docker is installed) and from the portainer webui deploying everything else. It’s a bit easier if you are new with docker.
Make sure you follow the os specific directions to install docker and docker-compose. Don’t bother with docker desktop, just docker engine (docker-ce)
I, too, praise the uptime, so your first suggestion sounds perfect!
Thanks again
I’ve ran Plex and other apps directly on Raspberry Pi’s for years but started playing with docker. I really prefer it and always try to go for docker images over regular app installs. When it came to upgrading my stuff from Pi3 to a Pi4, because I put all my docker stuff on an external drive I could just mount that drive on the new Pi and then run my docker-compose file to get everything up and running again. Containers are awesome!
I’m confident with Linux but by no means an expert. So if I can get it working then anyone else can. My advice though is to avoid using Portainer to create your containers. It may look easier cause it has a GUI but do ker-compose is not hard. Having that one file for all your apps makes life nice and easy
You could set it up in docker whilst still on windows, and then all you need to do is copy/paste your compose file onto your new Linux machine, that way you aren’t struggling to learn two things at the same time (alleviates the “I don’t know if the problem is with my docker config or my host OS”)
