Plex Media Server is a proprietary media player suite that organizes video, audio, and photos from a user's media collection and online services. The user can access and stream the content from the server to any device where Plex is offered.
More information can be found here.
In this section, we will be detailing the initial configuration of your Plex Media Server. This assumes that you have stored your media in ~/media. Our Plex installation automatically creates your media folders inside ~/media as follows:
~/media/Movies~/media/TV Shows~/media/MusicNo further step needed, although if you would want to change your library paths in Plex, you can read a guide about it here.
super-embed:
<p class="callout warning">On your Ultra service, Plex Media Server requires the secure connection to be at least set to <b>Preferred</b> in Plex Media Server settings, or you will face the error "Can't connect securely".
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Like all applications, Plex Media Server can be installed from the UCP, this application, however, has one extra step. When you click on Install and are prompted with this screen, you will need to visit plex.tv/claim.
If you have not done so already, sign in to your Plex account and copy the claim code provided. Paste this into the prompt and then click Install.
Your Plex Media Server comes configured out of the box. Just connect to your Plex Media Server instance by following the link in the UCP - as is typical with all official applications.
Listed below are scripts that install some popular plugins into your Plex Media Server instance. To install a plugin, connect to your Ultra service via SSH and execute the provided command for the plugin you would want to install. Some post-installation notes are detailed for each plugin.
curl <https://scripts.ultra.cc/main/Plex/Plex-Plugins/hama-ass.sh> | bash
Post Installation:
curl <https://scripts.ultra.cc/main/Plex/Plex-Plugins/epms.sh> | bash
Post Installation:
curl <https://scripts.ultra.cc/main/Plex/Plex-Plugins/trakt.sh> | bash
Post Installation:
bash <(wget -qO- <https://scripts.ultra.cc/main/Plex/plex-ssl-url.sh>)
Plex can be upgraded from the Apps tab on your User Control Panel. Simply find Plex in the list and click the green Action button to reveal a context menu. In the menu, press the Upgrade & Repair button to start the upgrade.
Please note, once the upgrade process has finished, the initial launch of your Plex instance can take a while, especially for larger media libraries. In rare cases, it can take up to an hour. We therefore do not recommend restarting the instance, or retry upgrading again, as it will reset the process back to square one.
Plex can also be upgraded to a specific version, and this is done via SSH. Instructions on how to upgrade can be found here.
If your Plex server token has expired, you will need to reclaim it. This is often required when you cannot log in or Plex fails to recognize your server.
Once completed, your Plex server will be re-associated with your account.
Usual causes of this are Plex updates, or the server cannot read or write to the library, which is a common occurrence with Rclone mounts. In these cases, the RAM usage of Plex would go up, and the system will kill your Plex instance.
It is also worth noting that some of Plex's features, especially logins, server claiming API, and web apps, are centrally hosted by Plex and not locally attached to your Plex Media Server. Any outage announcements will be posted here: https://status.plex.tv.
ps aux | grep [p]lex
D state or <defunct>, something is holding the Plex process.
ps aux | grep [p]lex, and if it returns nothing, your Plex is running normally. If not, repeat the guide.D state, then another third-party application is holding the process. Stop any application that is affiliated with your Plex Media Server instance.grep returns normally, is not in a defunct state, but you cannot access Plex, your Plex database may be corrupted, and you may need to view the logs. You can either run the following command via SSH and look for any errors. You can also download the logs from the settings in the Plex webUI.cat .config/plex/Library/Application\\ Support/Plex\\ Media\\ Server/Logs/Plex\\ Media\\ Server.log
mv ~/.config/plex ~/.config/plex.bak
The Plex Transcoder exited error is a general error for not playing back the media using the video player or transcoder, and you may need to view the logs. You can either run the following command on SSH and look for any errors. You can also download the logs from the settings in the Plex webUI.
cat .config/plex/Library/Application\\ Support/Plex\\ Media\\ Server/Logs/Plex\\ Media\\ Server.log
If you encounter the following error message: ERROR - ERROR - An error occurred reading the file: /home/username/SOMEMOUNT/path/to/File.mp4 (5)
Something is wrong with your Rclone mount, and it will need to be investigated separately. In this case, it is usually Error 403: Rate Limit Exceeded, rateLimitExceeded, or a completely dropped mount endpoint.
app-plex upgrade --plex-version=<versionnumber-build>
app-plex upgrade --plex-version=1.20.3.3483-211702a9f
The Plex SQLite binary is accessible from your Ultra service, and can be useful for managing or repair a corrupted Plex database. To access the utility tool, follow the below instructions.
plex-sqlite --help