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Running Plex from a Docker Container on Ubuntu 16.04 LTS / 16.10

Updated 24/12/16 : Plex now have an official Docker container, this guide has been updated to use this.

Updated 28/03/17 : Automatic updates not working on your container when restarting? Make sure you specify the correct tag for the docker image. If you are a plexpass subscriber pull the “plexinc/pms-docker:plexpass” image, if not pull the “plexinc/pms-docker:public” image.

Updated 22/05/17: Issue with NFS volumes not being mounted when docker service started led to media being unavailable without container/ docker restart. Changing volumes passed-through to container to include “:shared” resolves this issue.

I’ve been looking at the merits of moving my Plex server workload from a dedicated KVM/QEMU virtual machine to a docker container on the host server itself. The reasons for doing this were as below:

  • Reducing the administrative overhead of updating an additional operating system
  • Reducing the compute overhead of running an additional operating system on top of the host O/S

An additional benefit of running Plex in this manner is that on restarting the container the latest version of Plex is automatically pulled and deployed, making updates in future very, very simple.

This guide assumes you have installed docker as outlined here: http://www.cb-net.co.uk/linux/installing-docker-on-ubuntu-16-04-lts-16-10/

Downloading / Deploying the Container

To download and deploy the container you will need:

  • A storage location for the Plex configuration directory – this is persistent, i.e. it will survive containers being deleted/ recreated. The size of this will vary based on how large your media library is. On libraries with several terabytes of media you looking at tens of gigabytes of storage.
  • One or multiple mount points/ folder locations that contains your media (in this example there are multiple “-v” definitions that represent paths to TV shows, movies etc. you can have as many of these as you want)

Note below, I have used the “plexinc/pms-docker:plexpass” docker image to ensure automatic updates on container restart work. If you are not a plexpass subscriber ensure you change this to “public.” If you do not specify a tag, automatic updates on the container will not work.

# Pull the linuxserver/plex docker image
sudo docker pull plexinc/pms-docker:plexpass

# Get a Plex Claim Token by going to this URL and replace <CLAIM> below
# https://www.plex.tv/claim/

# Create a new linuxserver/plex docker container
docker create \
--name plex \
--net=host \
-e TZ=Europe/London \
-e PUID=1000 -e PGID=1000 \
-e PLEX_CLAIM="<CLAIM>" \
-v <path to config>:/config \
-v <path to music>:/data/music:shared \
-v <path to tv series>:/data/tvshows:shared \
-v <path to movies>:/data/movies:shared \
-v <path to home videos>:/data/homevideos:shared \
plexinc/pms-docker:plexpass

# Configure docker container to always update
docker update --restart=always plex

# Start the plex container
docker start plex

You’ll notice I have defined volumes as “:shared” which enables NFS volumes passed-through to the container to be mounted after the container starts without issue.

You can now browse to http://<docker host IP>:32400 and login using you plex.tv account.

If you want to use the PlexPass version of Plex modify the server settings and restart the container using the command shown below.

Managing the Plex Container

# Start the plex container
sudo docker start plex
# Stop the plex container
sudo docker stop plex
# Hard-stop the plex container
sudo docker kill plex
# Restart (and auto-update) the plex container
sudo docker restart plex
# List all running containers
sudo docker ps
# List all running AND non-running containers
sudo docker ps -a
# Remove the plex container (note you can redploy and will not lose anything/ config wise)
sudo docker rm plex
# Remove the linuxserver/plex docker image
sudo docker rmi linuxserver/plex
# Review logs for plex container
sudo docker logs -f plex

4 replies on “Running Plex from a Docker Container on Ubuntu 16.04 LTS / 16.10”

Thanks Lars, although I use remote play (very often) without issue, so that’s odd it was not working for you.

So I followed your guide, and used -v ~/plex-data:/data/movies … Now I can’t seem to find the movies folder on the host machine. How am I supposed to add media to it?

created a few plex containers testing different settings and learning about linux/nfs in general. I believe your guide is the first to recommend PUID/GUID 1000, where as others recommend adding PUID/GUID’s for the accounts they’re associating with the install.

Maybe I’m reading too much into it, or just not fully understanding. Is there a reason you didn’t create an additional account?

Perhaps, by using 1001 I’m making it more difficult on myself. Either way, still learning. Thanks for the guide :)….I think it’s gonna help me get 1 step closer to storing all container data on NFS, even configs.

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