Plex

Plex is a media server that allows you to manage and stream your media (music, movies, live TV, etc.) to any Plex client.

Before you install the Plex app:

• Set up a Plex account.

  After installing the Plex app and logging into Plex through the Web Portal button in TrueNAS, if you have not already configured your Plex account media server, Plex shows the configuration screens to set up the media server, add libraries, and customize your Plex account.

• Go to Datasets, and select the pool or dataset where you want to add the Plex datasets. For example, /tank/apps/plex or /tank/plex. You can use either an existing pool or create a new one

  Create the two datasets Plex uses for storage volumes:

  • data to use as the Plex data directory for database and metadata storage
  • config for Plex application configuration storage.

  You can create a dataset or use a temporary directory option for log data. Transcode data is not useful or meant for persistent storage, so using a temporary directory is a better option.

  When creating the above datasets, select the apps dataset preset.

  You can set up the permissions (ACLs) for these datasets after adding them using the Edit ACL screen, or wait and use the Install Plex wizard ACL settings to add permissions. You can also edit permissions after using either method.

This basic procedure covers the required Plex app settings. For optional settings, see Understanding App Installation Wizard Settings.

Go to Apps, click on Discover Apps, and locate the app widget by either scrolling down to it or begin typing the name into the search field. For example, to locate the MinIO app widget, begin typing minIO into the search field to show app widgets matching the search input.

If this is the first application installed, TrueNAS displays a dialog about configuring apps.

Configuring Apps Dialog

Click Confirm then Agree to close the dialog and open the application details screen.

If not the first time installing apps the dialog does not show, click on the widget to open the app information screen.

Click Install to open the app installation wizard.

Application configuration settings are grouped into several sections, each explained below in Understanding App Installation Wizard Settings. To find specific fields begin typing in the Search Input Fields search field to show the section or field, scroll down to a particular section, or click on the section heading in the list of sections on the upper-right of the wizard screen.

Next, enter the Plex Configuration settings. For a basic installation, you can accept the default values.

While logged into your Plex account, go to the Plex Claim Code web page to copy the Claim Code string provided by Plex, and then paste it into the TrueNAS Install Plex wizard Claim Token field. This authentication token provides TrueNAS access to your Plex account.

Next, either accept the default values shown or enter the IP addresses for local network connections (Ethernet or WiFi routers) you want in your Plex network. See Setting Up Local Network below for more information.

You can add devices and/or additional environment variables, but these are not necessary to deploy the app. For more information on adding these, see Adding Devices below.

Accept the default values in both User and Group Configuration and Network Configurations. (Optional) If you created a new user to administer apps, enter that user ID in the user and group fields. See User and Group Configuration and Network Configuration for more details.

Add your Storage Configuration settings.

Configuring Plex Storage

Set Host Path (Path that already exists on the system) in Type for Plex Data Storage. Select Enable ACL, and then either enter or browse to and select the data dataset to populate the Host Path field.

Select Add to the right of ACL Entries for each user or group entry you want to add. For example, add the 568 user and 0, and give each FULL_CONTROL Access.

Select Force Flag.

Repeat the storage steps above for the Plex Configuration and, when using a dataset for logs, for the Plex Logs storage volumes. Create a dataset for log storage to save and easily access log data. If not, set the storage volume type to either temporary or tmpfs for both Logs and Transcode storage.

Add any labels you want to use to organize your media files. For example, labeling video files as movies or sports, etc. Labels allow you to create custom groupings or classifications beyond the default metadata provided by Plex.

Accept the defaults in Resources Configuration and select the GPU option if you have a compatible GPU installed in the system and want to use it for hardware-accelerated transcoding.

Click Install. A progress dialog opens before switching to the Installed applications screen. The Installed screen shows the plex app in the Deploying state until fully installed and then the status changes to Running when ready to use.

Click Web Portal on the Application Info widget to open the Plex web portal sign-in screen.

After signing in, Plex guides you through several initial media server configuration screens if this is a new account or shows your default Plex media screen for your existing configured account.

The following section provides more detailed explanations of the settings in each section of the Install installation wizard.

Plex configuration settings include setting up the server timezone, authentication to the Plex account, location of the Plex container image, local network settings, and adding devices or additional environment variables to apply to the container.

TrueNAS authenticates to the Plex account using a Plex claim token. While signed into your Plex account, copy the token provided by Plex into the Claim Token field. The Plex app does not deploy if you do not include this token.

Accept the default value in Image to use the container image for the TrueNAS app.

TrueNAS shows the default IP addresses detected for your system. If these address fields are not shown in the wizard, your network is considered to be on the external network.

Either accept the default values or enter the IP addresses for local network connections (Ethernet or WiFi routers) you want in your Plex local network. These addresses define how Plex interacts with devices and services on your network and can optimize how your Plex media server communicates with devices in your home.

Specified addresses are considered to be on the local network when enforcing bandwidth restrictions. If left blank, only the subnet for the server is considered to be on your local network. When the host network is not enabled, the server subnet is the network for Docker. Therefore, all connections from other clients are considered to be on the external network. If set, all other IP addresses are considered to be external to your local network.

Plex account settings allow you to add and manage devices, such as a USB TV Tunner or other similar hardware, that connect to your media server, both on the local network you define and remotely from external network connections. Adding devices in the TrueNAS Plex app passes devices through to your Plex account. Click Add to the right of Devices in the Install Plex wizard for each device to add.

Enter the name of the device in the Host Device and in the Container Device fields. For example, device /dev/dvb.

Refer to Plex documentation for more information on environment variables they provide to customize your app deployment.

The run-as user information is found on the Plex app details screen in the Run-As Content widget.

The default web port for Plex is 32400.

TrueNAS provides options for data and configuration storage volumes: ixVolumes and host paths. Logs and transcode data can use these same storage options or you can create directories to hold log and/or transcode data. Both logs and transcode data are not intended for persistent data storage.

Logs and transcode data can be stored in the temporary directory option that creates a Docker volume in the hidden ix-apps dataset.

Transcode data chunks are streamed to a player and meant to be discarded after use, like notes on a scratchpad. This makes the tmpfs directory option a better choice as it creates a Linux temporary filesystem type in RAM.

Neither directory storage option provides easy access to stored data, so if you want to store and access log data, create a dataset called logs.

If opting to use datasets for all Plex storage volumes, create datasets to use with the host path option:

• data to use as the Plex data directory for database and metadata storage.
• config to use as the Plex app configuration storage volume.
• logs if you want to save and have easy access to log data.

If you group these datasets under a parent dataset named plex, configure the ACL permissions for this parent dataset and add an ACE entry for the run-as (root or 0) or assigned user (568).

You can create the ACL permission using the app installation wizard or using the Add Dataset and Edit ACL screens.

You can also create additional storage volumes inside the containers. Additional storage options include the same options and the option to set up an SMB share inside the container. See Mounting an SMB Share below for details.

Creating App Datasets

To create the Plex app datasets, go to Datasets, select the dataset you want to use as the parent dataset, then click Add Dataset to add a dataset. In this example, we create the Plex datasets under the parent dataset plex.

Enter plex in Name, and select Apps as the Dataset Preset. Click Advanced Options if you want to make any other setting changes. Click Save. When prompted, select Return to Pool List to configure permissions later after adding the other three datasets, or open the ACL editor to edit ACL permissions immediately after adding the dataset.

Next, select the plex dataset, and then click Add Dataset to add the first child dataset. Enter data in Name and select Apps as the Dataset Preset. Click Advanced Options if you want to make any other setting changes. Click Save.

Repeat this to add the config dataset, and if desired, also create datasets for logs if you want to have easy access to and recovery of log files. Use the option to add a temporary directory on disk or in RAM for transcode data (and logs if not creating a dataset) storage rather than adding datasets. When finished you should have the plex parent dataset with the child datasets under it. Our example paths are:

• */mnt/tank/plex/*data
• */mnt/tank/plex/*config
• */mnt/tank/plex/*logs

Select Enable ACL to show the ACL and ACE Entries options.

Configuring ACE Entries

Enter or browse to select the dataset and populate Host Path.

Next, click Add to the right of ACL Entries to show the permissions settings. Set ID Type to Entry is for a USER or Entry is for a GROUP. If you configured a group in TrueNAS that you want to give access to instead of a single user, set the ID to the group option and enter the GID for that group.

Enter the UID as one of the following:

• The default apps user, which are:
  • 568 for apps in all trains if the app can run as any non-root user.
  • 999 for all postgres storage volumes.
  • 0 if running as root.
  • 473 for MinIO app in the stable train.
• The run-as-user UID set as a default for the app. The run-as user shows on the details screen in the Run As Content widget, and on the Installed application screen after the app is deployed. You can also refer to the tutorial for the app, or look in the questions.yaml file in the GitHub repository for the application to find this UID/GID.
• The new user UID for a TrueNAS user created to serve as the app administrator.

If the app shows User and Group Configuration settings, the default UID shows on the screen. If not, choose the run-as UID.

All postgres storage volumes use the default user ID 999, not as the run-as user.

If you create a new user to serve as the app administration user, enter the UID for this user in addition to the run-as user ID. Always add the run-as user with full control permissions except for postgres storage volumes.

Select the ID type from the dropdown list, enter the UID (or GID if you select the group ID type) for the app administration user, and then set the Access permissions level to FULL CONTROL.

Select Force Flag to apply the ACL even if the path has existing data. This allows you to update the app when an update is available.

TrueNAS Additional Storage options include the ability to mount an SMB share inside the container pod.

Set Type an SMB/CIFS Share (Mounts a volume to a SMB share) to add an SMB share storage volume.

Select Read Only to make the storage volume read only.

Enter the path inside the container to mount the storage for the share volume in Mount Path.

Enter the server address for the SMB share in Server, the path to mount the SMB share in Path, and the share authentication user credentials in User and Password. (Optional) enter the share domain name in domain.

Permissions are currently limited to the permissions of the user that mounted the share.

Use the SMB option for data synchronization between a share and the app if the option shows on the screen. A present, only the Syncthing app includes this option.

Before editing Plex app settings, first stop the app, and then edit settings. After saving changes, restart the app.

Refer to the Plex support website and documentation for assistance with your Plex media server issues.

You must get a claim token from Plex and add it to the app or Plex does not deploy. If your app is not deploying, try obtaining a fresh claim token from Plex. Stop the Plex app, then edit the TrueNAS Plex app settings to paste the new token into the Claim Token field. Save the change. Restart the app.

If the app still does not start, try clearing your screen cache. This can sometimes prevent showing the app as fully deployed.

If Plex reports issues with drivers you might have to delete the app and recreate a fresh app container using the same datasets. Also, check Apps > Configuration > Settings to make sure the NVIDIA driver option is selected.

Search the TrueNAS forum for Plex discussion threads for other tips and suggestions.

Check the dataset permissions, and verify the user accessing these files has the correct permissions. You can edit dataset permissions by using the Edit button on the Permissions widget on the Datasets screen. Select the dataset, scroll down to the Permissions widget, and click Edit to open the Edit ACL screen. Check the ACL entries list for the user accessing the files. If not present, click Add ACL Entry, select User, and then locate the user name on the User dropdown list. Assign the level of permissions you want to assign, then save the ACL changes.

You can also add the user in the Plex app settings. Click on the Plex app row on the Installed application table. Stop the app, then click Edit. Scroll down to the storage volume for Data, click Add to the right of ACL Entries. Select Entry is for a USER as the ID Type, enter the user ID number, and then select the level of permission you want to allow. Save the changes, then restart the app.