Setup a shared Plex server with Debian 11

My goal was to set up a media server that would meet these criteria:

Plex server
Linux (free)
Secondary disk with all my media (movies, music, etc.)
Disk accessible in sharing with Windows and Linux

First, I built myself a machine with old parts (i3-2120) with an SSD for the OS and a big disk for the media files.

The installation of Debian 11 is rather standard and does not cause problems.

Installing Plex

After downloading Plex Media Server, just install it. Example:

sudo apt install ./plexmediaserver_1.31.1.6733-bc0674160_amd64.deb

Then start the Plex server:

sudo systemctl start plexmediaserver

Disk

For the secondary disk to be accessible at all times, it must be permanently mounted. Open the disk configuration tool in Linux:

In the options to mount the disc, choose a mount point in /media/<user>. In my case, with user “eric”, I specified the path /media/eric/mediadisk:

The disc will thus be easily accessible at all times.

Permissions

When installing Plex, a group and user named plex is created automatically. You must configure the access rights correctly so that plex has access to the disk.

Add yourself to plex group :

sudo adduser eric plex

Set plex as the folder owner:

sudo chgrp plex "/media/eric/"
sudo chmod g+rX "/media/eric/"
sudo chgrp plex "/media/eric/mediadisk/"
sudo chmod g+rX "/media/eric/mediadisk/"

Ensure ACL permissions:

sudo setfacl -m g:plex:rx /media/eric/

Samba

For the folder to be accessible on a network share, you must install and configure samba . Here are the steps:

sudo apt install samba smbclient cifs-utils

Configure a samba user:

sudo smbpasswd -a eric
sudo smbpasswd -e eric

Edit samba configuration file:

sudo nano /etc/samba/smb.conf

In the text file, in the [global] section, add or modify the following lines:

workgroup = WORKGROUP
server min protocol = NT1

The “WORKGROUP” workgroup is the default one in Windows. The NT1 protocol allows Linux clients to communicate with samba.

At the end of the file, add another section as follows:

[media]
   comment = Media Folder
   path = /media/eric/mediadisk
   writable = yes
   guest ok = no
   valid users = @plex
   force create mode = 770
   force directory mode = 770
   inherit permissions = yes

Restart samba:

sudo service smbd restart

Network discovery

In order to improve the discovery of the machine on the network, the installation of WSDD is suggested. Here’s how:

sudo su
wget -O- https://pkg.ltec.ch/public/conf/ltec-ag.gpg.key | gpg --dearmour > /usr/share/keyrings/wsdd.gpg
source /etc/os-release
echo "deb [signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/wsdd.gpg] https://pkg.ltec.ch/public/ ${UBUNTU_CODENAME:-${VERSION_CODENAME:-UNKNOWN}} main" > /etc/apt/sources.list.d/wsdd.list
apt update
apt install wsdd

For more info on this network discovery module:
https://github.com/christgau/wsdd/blob/master/README.md

At this stage, it is recommended to restart the machine.

Setting up Plex

In the Plex software, it will now be possible to add your media. When adding libraries, the disk will be accessible by Plex:

Access to sharing via Windows

If you are unable to access the share on a window station, you may need to add an additional module. In Windows, launch “Turn Windows features on or off ”, then activate SMB 1.0/CIFS Client. This will allow Windows to access the samba share: