[Plex](https://www.plex.tv/) is a media player system and software suite consisting of many player applications for [10-foot](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/10-foot_user_interface "wikipedia:10-foot user interface") user interfaces and an associated media server that organizes personal media stored on local devices. Integrated Plex Channels provide users with access to a growing number of online content providers such as YouTube, Vimeo, TEDTalks, and CNN among others. Plex also provides integration for cloud services including Dropbox, Box, Google Drive, or Copy. Plex for Linux is split into a closed-source server Plex Media Server, and an open-source client Plex Home Theater, a fork of the popular [Kodi](/index.php/Kodi "Kodi") project. ## Contents * [1 Plex Media Server (PMS)](#Plex_Media_Server_.28PMS.29) * [1.1 Installation](#Installation) * [1.2 Setup](#Setup) * [1.3 Plugins](#Plugins) * [1.4 Plex Live TV and DVR](#Plex_Live_TV_and_DVR) * [1.5 Security](#Security) * [1.6 Resource Management](#Resource_Management) * [1.7 Network](#Network) * [1.8 Library Updates](#Library_Updates) * [1.9 Troubleshooting](#Troubleshooting) * [2 Plex Home Theater (PHT)](#Plex_Home_Theater_.28PHT.29) * [2.1 Installation](#Installation_2) * [3 Plex Media Player (PMP)](#Plex_Media_Player_.28PMP.29) * [3.1 Installation](#Installation_3) * [4 Kodi and PleXBMC](#Kodi_and_PleXBMC) * [4.1 Installation](#Installation_4) ## Plex Media Server (PMS) ### Installation Install the [plex-media-server](https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/plex-media-server/) package, or the [plex-media-server-plexpass](https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/plex-media-server-plexpass/) package if you have a Plex Pass. ### Setup [Enable](/index.php/Enable "Enable") and start `plexmediaserver.service`. To begin configuring PMS, browse to `[http://localhost:32400/web/](http://localhost:32400/web/)`. To configure PMS remotely, you must first create an SSH tunnel (setup can only be done from `localhost`) `ssh ip.address.of.server -L 8888:localhost:32400` and then browse to `[http://localhost:8888/web/](http://localhost:8888/web/)`. ### Plugins PMS can be expanded with additional plugins. For example, PMS can be used as an IPTV client with the [IPTV plugin](https://github.com/Cigaras/IPTV.bundle). Plugins can be installed inside `/var/lib/plex/Plex Media Server/Plug-ins`. ### Plex Live TV and DVR Plex live TV requires a plexpass. To enable live TV viewing and DVR support with plex, you must have one of the supported tuners listed on the [support page](https://support.plex.tv/hc/en-us/articles/225877427-Supported-DVR-Tuners-and-Antennas) and [plex-media-server-plexpass](https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/plex-media-server-plexpass/) installed. PMS will automatically recognize any connected tuners. The plex user needs to be part of the video group in order to access local tuners. This can be done by running `usermod -a -G video plex` ### Security It is recommended to store your media files outside of your home directory, as making it accessible to PMS would mean lowering its security. Having a separate `/media` or `/mnt/media` partition is a good setup for use with PMS. You can further increase security via systemd, by [editing](/index.php/Edit "Edit") `plexmediaserver.service` as follows: `/etc/systemd/system/plexmediaserver.service.d/restrict.conf` ``` [Service] ReadOnlyDirectories=/ ReadWriteDirectories=/var/lib/plex /tmp ``` **Note:** Those mechanisms are currently limited. For instance, `ReadOnlyDirectories` do not apply to any submount, you have to list them as well. ### Resource Management Originally, PMS used ulimit to limit its allocated resources, however this is not compatible with running as a regular user. Instead, you can now set a maximum amount of memory via, again, systemd. For example, you can add: ``` MemoryMax=4G ``` to the file mentioned above. ### Network **Note:** PMS supports both IPv4 and IPv6\. This section only assumes the use of IPv4. PMS and its DLNA server require several ports to be open: * Plex Media Server: TCP 32400 * Plex DLNA Server: TCP 32469, UDP 1900 * Network Discovery: UDP 32410, 32412, 32413, 32414 * Bonjour/Avahi Network Discovery (legacy): UDP 5353 A short example with iptables: ``` # iptables -A INPUT -p tcp -m multiport --dports 32400,32469 -j ACCEPT # iptables -A INPUT -p udp -m multiport --dports 1900,32410,32412,32413,32414 -j ACCEPT ``` In order to connect to Plex through on a standard http port, this command can be used (for port 8080): ``` #iptables -t nat -A PREROUTING -p tcp --dport 8080 -j REDIRECT --to-port 32400 ``` Then you can connect directly to [http://yourplexaddress:8080](http://yourplexaddress:8080) on this port ### Library Updates Plex Media Server has a setting "Update my library automatically" which can detect new media files as they're downloaded to your library. But as your library grows, these updates might stop working reliably. To fix, you need to increase the number of files non-root users are allowed to subscribe to via inotify. Create the file `/etc/sysctl.d/40-max-user-watches.conf` `/etc/sysctl.d/40-max-user-watches.conf` `fs.inotify.max_user_watches=524288` and run `sudo sysctl --system` to apply without rebooting. Now plex should see any new files. ### Troubleshooting Logs are located in: ``` /var/lib/plex/Plex Media Server/Logs ``` In case there are no logs or they are not helpful, you might want to launch PMS manually to get some terminal output: ``` sudo -u plex /usr/bin/bash source /etc/conf.d/plexmediaserver export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=/opt/plexmediaserver /opt/plexmediaserver/Plex\ Media\ Server ``` ## Plex Home Theater (PHT) Previously known as Plex Media Center, Plex Home Theater is the software component used for a long time as the front-end media player for Plex's back-end server component Plex Media Server. This component came from a fork of XBMC Media Center software on May 21, 2008. Official support for Plex Home Theater (from Plex, Inc.) has been discontinued in favour of Plex Media Player (based on MPV). However, Plex Home Theater has been forked and is still under active development by the Open Source community under the name [OpenPHT](https://github.com/RasPlex/OpenPHT) ### Installation [Install](/index.php/Install "Install") the [openpht](https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/openpht/) package. Plex Home Theater can be launched by running `plexhometheater.sh` from your terminal. ## Plex Media Player (PMP) Plex Media Player is the current release of Plex's media client. It has officially replaced [#Plex Home Theater (PHT)](#Plex_Home_Theater_.28PHT.29) (which is still receiving bug fixes) and builds upon previous functionality, such as using mpv. Plex has made PMP [available](https://www.plex.tv/blog/plex-media-player-now-ambidextrous-free-kodi-said/) to all users and it has also become compatible with Kodi. Keep in mind, PMP is not open-source (unlike PHT). ### Installation [Install](/index.php/Install "Install") the [plex-media-player](https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/plex-media-player/) package. ## Kodi and PleXBMC With the PleXBMC add-on, Kodi can be used as a replacement for PHT. ### Installation Install the [kodi](https://www.archlinux.org/packages/?name=kodi) package, then follow the instructions over [here](http://kodi.wiki/view/Add-on:PleXBMC).