Seeking guidance: PLEX + RAID

[cheezburger]

Hi All,

Very new to Proxmox, but have it up and running now and have been hosting a Home Assistant container via an LXC container using a 1 line command install, which has been working wonderfully!

Now, I want to delve into the secondary purpose of my home server, but have no experience so would love some suggestions!

I have the following storage configured and have wiped all disks (except sde) with fdisk:
/dev/sda 3.64TiB /dev/sdb 3.64TiB /dev/sdc 3.64TiB /dev/sdd 3.64TiB /dev/sde 238.47GiB* This is where Proxmox and HA are hosted. /dev/sdf 2.73TiB

Here are my questions:

1. Do I need to move or re-order sde to be the sda in the list? Not sure if order matters, but it certainly irks me that it's presented this way...
2. The best way to install Plex to run a Home Server? I tried using this method, but have no idea where it installed as no container popped up. Should I remove it and re-install?
3. If I do re-install Plex as a proper container, how many resources should I assign it? How do I get it to access the sda-d drives?
4. Best way to manage the 4x 4TB storage (a-d)? Should I set up a RAID storage or ZFS? Happy to take advice (as well as pointers to guides would be great).
5. What I should use sdf for? No currently planned usage. Any tips would be welcome.

Any tips would be great, would love to set this up right the first time around by using advice from those farrrr more experienced than me!

 

[Dominic]

Hi!

1. Doesn't matter. You should actually use disk identifiers. You can see them for example if you run fdisk -l /dev/sde
2. Because there are no commands that create a container in that tutorial. You first have to create a container in Proxmox VE and the run those commands in it.
3. Your container gets a virtual disk. You can store your files on that virtual disk.
4. If you have enough RAM and a HBA then I'd recommend ZFS.
5. Backups wouldn't hurt.

 

[cheezburger]

Thanks for the help Dominic! Much appreciated

2. Because there are no commands that create a container in that tutorial. You first have to create a container in Proxmox VE and the run those commands in it.

Does this mean I should delete/remove it and run it in a container and if so how do I do that if I can't find it)? I wouldn't know how to remove it as I didn't specifiy a container so I assume it is running on the Node? Are there any downsides to just leaving it to wherever it currently is installed assuming it's the Node?)?

3.Your container gets a virtual disk. You can store your files on that virtual disk.

I want Plex to be able to access the ZFS RAID array that I set up. How do you get a container to access more than the assigned virtual disk?

EDIT: I was able to make a ZFS RAIDZ pool for the 4x4TB, now I need to know how to get it accessible via my Plex server running on Proxmox and I would also like to be able to access the drives via my Windows PC as a network location if this is possible?

# zfs list
NAME       USED  AVAIL     REFER  MOUNTPOINT
proxRAID   610K  10.2T      140K  /proxRAID

 

[Dominic]

Does this mean I should delete/remove it and run it in a container and if so how do I do that if I can't find it)?

I would do so.

I wouldn't know how to remove it as I didn't specifiy a container so I assume it is running on the Node?

Try running dpkg -l | grep plex on your Proxmox VE host to see if it's installed and to see its exact name if it really is.

Are there any downsides to just leaving it to wherever it currently is installed assuming it's the Node?)?

It should work perfectly on your Proxmox VE host. But then you're not really using the benefits of virtualization.

I want Plex to be able to access the ZFS RAID array that I set up. How do you get a container to access more than the assigned virtual disk?

You can use mount points for your containers. There is a lot of information about this in our documentation.

I would also like to be able to access the drives via my Windows PC as a network location if this is possible?

Generally you can create a LXC container that provides a network share. In this case it also depends on what you do with PLEX exactly.

 

[cheezburger]

I would do so.

Try running dpkg -l | grep plex on your Proxmox VE host to see if it's installed and to see its exact name if it really is.

It should work perfectly on your Proxmox VE host. But then you're not really using the benefits of virtualization.

You can use mount points for your containers. There is a lot of information about this in our documentation.

Generally you can create a LXC container that provides a network share. In this case it also depends on what you do with PLEX exactly.

Thanks! Your dpkg line taught me something new, and rather than ask how to remove it I used --help to find out that -P urge should work, and fairly certain it did.

I also tried dabbling in installing samba to get my ZFS storage accessible on my windows PC, but kept getting login errors and just giving up on the complexity of it all now. I'm completely fresh to ProxMox and even Linux.

I find it much easier to follow guides, and there isn't many to show me best how to set up a Plex Server in ProxMox and let it access my ZFS storage across the network.

As such, I might try creating a FreeNAS container in ProxMox and letting that handle it all (seems like it might work?).

 

[Dominic]

You can run dpkg again to check if purging/removing really worked:
https://linuxprograms.wordpress.com/2010/05/11/status-dpkg-list/

Unfortunately, there is no official "Install PLEX on Proxmox VE" guide. Still, instaling FreeNAS as guest should work.