Plex Pro Week ‘23: The Great Docker Migration

Ready to go on a journey that starts on Windows and ends on Docker? It’s a journey where Plex’s engineering wiz Kevin tells us all about running his beloved Plex Media Server using Docker’s unique containerization technology—making it not just portable, scalable, and stable but also effortless to manage.

00:00 Introduction
02:04 Why Docker?
03:41 The Server Build
04:33 Starting With Unraid
05:28 Server Metadata
06:44 Backup and Prepare
08:50 Installing Unraid
11:50 Installing Plex Media Server
14:02 Transferring Metadata
15:19 Enable Hardware Transcoding

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[bensingh]

Plex is da bomb, had my lifetime since it came out. Got to give it a thumbs up.

[OmegaGamer]

DO NOT USE CHMOD 777. You literally give everything on the system access to the file/directory you use 777 on. Just do a bit of research before going mental with the chmod command. In the majority of cases 644 is more than enough for files as it gives the proper rights to the groups.
If you want to debug if it isn't a rights issue you use 777 temporary and you immediately revert it when you rule out a rights issue.

[Thunderga]

I did this exact transition a few months ago....Unraid and Plex in a docker/container work so well together, with zero issues. Wish I did it long ago.

[thesavful]

This video should be retitled to:
“A vague overview of how to migrate Plex from windows to Unraid for people already familiar with Unraid”

[JohnnnyMojo]

Great video. It's always in the back of my mind to make a migration over to docker and Unraid.

[alekgv]

This was incredibly helpful. Thank you!

[rfh]

Great hearing from a Plex Engineer what Intel QuickSync can handle.

[nlrz]

I did the same thing but with ubuntu server on a miniPC and a low consumption NAS. The most difficult thing is the complete lack of (up-to-date) tutorial and help, on the plex "help" forum, no one responds, fortunately the docker documentation is well done.

[dansan]

Does this also copy over the name of the server and keep access to those who I was sharing it with?

[xred]

Seems like you're advocating for zipping and moving the entire Plex Media Server folder, but the video shows only some folders being zipped. Even grabbing just those folders totals over 45GB for me. Is there a way to get a detailed manifest of EXACTLY which folders and files need to be moved across? I suspect in my many years of running / playing with Plex my install picked up a lot of bloat with features like Arcade being added then removed.... Thanks in advance.

[ThSmur]

I understand that Plex in docker can take advantage of the CPU for Hardware Transcoding?
What about GPU?

e.g. my plex server currently uses my QNAP's "CoffeeLake-S GT2 [UHD Graphics 630]" for Hardware transcoding... Will that still be the case if I switch from the native App to the Docker Image?

[kahilzinger]

This is awesome. I am seeing more services like this go to Docker. One question: Say you have a GPU installed on your server, can you map it to your docker container for transcoding?

[Jerel_with_a_J]

When did plex release an official docker image? I didn't think they had one.

[BigBoss-kksr]

Been using plex on unraid for years. The upgrade to a quadro card let me get way more 4k transcodes at once that my cpu just couldnt cope with, while also sipping power

[garykaltenmeier]

I imagine almost all the same steps can be taken for a Synology NAS using Container Manager. Where do you copy your metadata for migration in that scenario? Are the locations the same? Thanks!

[shockwavecity]

Docker and (especially) Unraid/freenas are way more complicated than 99.9% of people need for a plex server. I never got why it's pushed so hard for this purpose.

[playinginthepodcastroom]

1. This video's *English subtitles* keep displaying "Android" instead of "UnRAID".
2. This video's *title* should include "using UnRAID", as this is ~50% of the video. (And to distinguish it from other tutorials that use _TrueNAS_ or _Linux.)_
3. Does the *audio* 🔉 in this entire video seem fuzzy? (Was it recorded using a 💻 built-in 🎤? SHURE-ly the company can pony-up for a proper mic. 😅)
⭐4. Can you please, PLEASE push the *PlexHTPC* programmers to fix whatever bugs 🪲 (SDL?) broke ❌ the out-of-the-box wireless Xbox 🎮 (via USB receiver) support that _was_ working fine back when it was *PMP* (Plex Media Player)?

[JamieBathgate]

The subtitles are clearly by somebody who is unfamiliar with technology. Please have them proofread by somebody who is,

[kenheraty]

how can i move/migrate my plex account from windows 10 to mac os? need to upgrade hardware

[hillandrew]

Why isn't it possible for Plex Media Server for Windows to perform hardware transcoding without this added complexity of Unraid and Docker containers?