Building The Ultimate Plex Server Guide (Based On Reddit Discussion)

This guide talks about setting up a plex server based on reddit discussions. If you’re someone using Plex or thinking of using it for the first time, this guide would probably help you know the right way to do it.

Or you can straightforward the Reddit discussion from here.

This guide briefly annotates the discussion in four different parts. Each part of the discussion reveals and solves Plex server queries, such as;

Part 1: Getting Plex up and basic hardware layouts.

Part 2: Building a long-lasting media server.

Part 3: Automating the workload.

Part 4: Handling dynamic IPs.

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1. Starting Plex with the Basics

Getting started required hardware essentials, software essentials and little preliminary setup.

In regard to hardware and software, Windows 10 Operating System is recommended with good graphic and storage options. Having Plex Pass is also essential to utilize Plex’s services.

Install this software on your system. It is a Plex Media Server for Windows 10. Once the installation process is done. You may need to organize the categories such as Movies and TV shows.

Adding content

Plex community have written a well-informed content on naming and organizing your tv shows files. You can read and accumulate key things from there.

[Copy and paste to access the files]

TV: https://support.plex.tv/articles/naming-and-organizing-your-tv-show-files/

Movie: https://support.plex.tv/articles/naming-and-organizing-your-movie-media-files/

Connecting to the world

If you have a Plex Pass it will automatically be routing your dynamic IP to your local server, giving flexibility to access remotely.

Just one thing to remember is that you allow port 32400 to be forwarded. It is also called Port Range Forwarding that grants the router to take the internal IP assigned and allow connection to be made to it.

Dynamic host configuration protocol

DHCP helps around everything with network management along with its security and performance.

Here, its role here is to keep its internal IP and not need to change to different internal IP’s.

This also ensures that the network won’t get attacked by the spammer and simultaneously allow people outside your network the ability to connect to your server.

Signing up friends

Invite your friends to sign up for Plex TV to access content remotely. Once you add them as a friend using that email, they get a link and become connected to your server going forward.

Adding content

Almost done! Add content to the folder you created earlier. Plex automatically fetches the content in time or you can manually scan media to update the library.

2. Optimizing and Extending Plex

The second part talks about all the ways you can optimize Plex as well as load in a few of the community built modules for specific things.

Transcoding

Plex has done an exceptional job of transcoding that gives you the ability to run any media CODECs required by a media player such as Apple TV vs Roku vs Android TV with optimized bandwidth.

Hardware

Handling data requires sophisticated hardware as it is intensive operation. An NVMe RAID drives can offer much potential speed and safety in regard to read/write performance.

Plugins

Plugins are helpful but they can be tricky to set up. Additionally, they help optimize your Plex server efficiently.

Consider WebTools for user-generated content and unofficial Plex channels. You can also adhere to Tautulli which shares their library with others for a wide range of add-ons.

3. Creating Automated Downloads

Plex provides users with an option of automation that can be set up via Jackett and Sonarr, providing seamless automation flexibility regarding media downloads.

Jackett: It’s a globally popular API that calls out to all your various torrent sites, giving the possibility of sites which may specialize in different content and qualities.

Sonarr: It’s a kind of plugin that pulls different TV shows by newest episode, missing episodes, seasons, etc. It is protected and secured to use.

4. Setting Up Hosting With A Dynamic IP

For the use of hosting content outside the network, you may be required to set up dynamic IP with security that doesn’t compromise.

Because most of our ISPs will not give us a static IP. You need dynamic IP addresses that are automatically configured by a DHCP server. Also, Dynamic IP addresses are reusable, so different devices can use the same address.

To finalize the work you will need to update your DNS records as well to spot the new subdomains to take advantage of your reverse proxy.

So, yes you will need a new sub domain and reverse proxy strategy to distribute/share content accessible to your friend on Plex server.

In The End

You have done it almost. Configure SSL or pull in secure security SSL from providers available on the internet. Prevail from the trusted brands only.

Plex allows users to optimize their SSL on the server for security reasons. You can also perform additional router settings and bring addons to help monitor the media and services gradually.

FAQs Related to Plex Server

Plex Server not being detected on the network?

When such error occurs make sure your IP address, subnet mask, and gateway settings are well defined and are not wrong. Also ensure your firmware is updated to the latest version.

What to do when the plex server setup fails?

When the plex app server stops, you can try clearing the cache, cleaning the data, and uninstalling Plex and PMS. Additionally, download the previous working version of PMS. Install it on the Nvidia shield and make sure you install it on internal storage.

How to fix common Plex Media Server issues?

There are certain times when the plex media server stops due to unfortunate reasons. You can perform update checks for servers or access the logs for any missing resources.

What to do when error with authentication for plex?

After installing Plex and linking your plex TV account, you may see an error screen saying that you do not have access to this server. Ask the Plex support community for a solution.

Why did the plex server stop working?

The most common issues can include the media server being unknowingly turned off, Internet connection problems, problems with bad media files, and more.