Table of Contents
Ubuntu - Plex - Configure Plex Media Server
Create the directories that will store the Plex media files:
sudo mkdir -p /mnt/{tv,movies} sudo chown -R plex: /mnt
NOTE: The Plex Media Server runs as the user plex, which must have read and execute permissions to the media files and directories.
- The chown command sets this correct ownership.
Use Media on another system
To allow connecting to an Samba Share, install CIFS.
sudo apt install cifs-utils
Manually mount the remote content
NOTE: set the username and password as required.
NOTE: The problem with this manual mount option includes:
- The mount gets forgotten at boot.
- It would make sense to have the mounts automatically be enabled whenever the system is rebooted.
- The username and password are written to the log files. This is a security risk.
- It would be best to hide these.
To hide the Samba Password from being included directly into the mount command
Create a credentials file, .smbcredentials:
- .smbcredentials
username=peter password=some_strong_password #domain=optional_domain_or_workgroupname
NOTE: The credentials file starts with a dot, which makes it a hidden file.
- Set the username and password as required.
- Uncomment the domain part by removing the hash sign in front if this is needed.
Set the permissions on the Credentials file
chmod 0600 ~/.smbcredentials
NOTE: The 0600 makes this file only read accessible to the user.
- chmod 0600 (chmod a+rwx,u-x,g-rwx,o-rwx,ug-s,-t) sets permissions so that, (U)ser / owner can read, can write and cannot execute.
Have Plex Shares automatically load at boot
Add the following lines to /etc/fstab:
- /etc/fstab
#Plex //192.168.1.35/Movies /mnt/movies cifs credentials=/home/peter/.smbcredentials,uid=peter,gid=peter 0 0 //192.168.1.35/TV /mnt/tv cifs credentials=/home/peter/.smbcredentials,uid=peter,gid=peter 0 0
NOTE: This references the credentials file.
Test that this configuration works to mount the Samba shares
sudo mount -a
NOTE: This should automatically mount the shares shown in the /etc/fstab file.
Confirm this by looking at the share directories, in this case:
- /mnt/movies
- /mnt/tv
Configure the Plex GUI
Open a Web Browser, and type http://YOUR_SERVER_IP:32400/web, and you will be redirected to the plex website: