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Plex in Docker or Install on NAS Natively? and How to best use my M.2 Volume

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Just got a New DS1823xs+. 8x24TB RAID 6 Exos drives, and a Mirrored 2TB M.2 volume, 64GB RAM, 10GB Fiber interface. This is a Personal Network setup at home.

I installed the m.2 volume for apps. My intention was for apps that needed good performance. But I don't really have a feel for this yet.

I tried to install Plex today and the install basically failed because it did not install the plexserver user. I was installing it on the m.2 volume

here's a few questions I have after this first step on the NAS setup:

Advantages and disadvantages of Plex installed in the DSM vs Docker(Docker is new to me as is all of this NAS stuff)

What apps would be best installed on the m.2 mirror I have as opposed to the RAID 6 Volume
 
Welcome to the forum. Excellent setup there, may it serve you well!

Mirrored 2TB M.2 volume
How have you configured this "volume"? Are you using the official syno drives or 3rd party ones with a "script"?

I tried to install Plex today and the install basically failed because it did not install the plexserver user. I was installing it on the m.2 volume
That was the actual error, or the install was successful but you can't locate the user? What version of Plex did you use? The one from the Package Center or the one from Plex.tv web site (this is the one to use)? Also, what DSM version are you currently running?

What apps would be best installed on the m.2 mirror I have as opposed to the RAID 6 Volume
Well, in general m2 will give you better performance as opposed to the HDD array for sure, so any app that has a benefit of performance should have preference. On the other hand, you have to be mindful that some apps do install additional folders and use that folders for data, like Synology Photos for example. The reason I'm saying this is because you might run out of space depending on the app you are using if you overload it with content.

Advantages and disadvantages of Plex installed in the DSM vs Docker
As with any app running "bare metal" or sandboxed as a container there are many advantages ofc. To name a few it would be backup/restore, migration to a new docker host with effectively zero reconfiguration, same performance (this will depend a bit on the app itself) but in the case of Plex you will not notice any difference. Also, with Docker, you can run multiple versions of the same app on the same host. Each is in its container.

There are several Plex Docker images out there that are well-maintained, and up to date, so going down that route would be a reasonable choice. On the other hand, if you want to install a bare metal version, do not use the Plex that you can locate inside the Package Center. Use the plex.tv one, download it, and install it manually (as said before). The benefit of this route is that you do not have to know anything about Docker, the version for the Synology NAS is well up to date and supported by Plex, so for this particular app, regardless of what option you choose the experience will be the same.
 
Welcome to the forum. Excellent setup there, may it serve you well!


How have you configured this "volume"? Are you using the official syno drives or 3rd party ones with a "script"?


That was the actual error, or the install was successful but you can't locate the user? What version of Plex did you use? The one from the Package Center or the one from Plex.tv web site (this is the one to use)? Also, what DSM version are you currently running?


Well, in general m2 will give you better performance as opposed to the HDD array for sure, so any app that has a benefit of performance should have preference. On the other hand, you have to be mindful that some apps do install additional folders and use that folders for data, like Synology Photos for example. The reason I'm saying this is because you might run out of space depending on the app you are using if you overload it with content.


As with any app running "bare metal" or sandboxed as a container there are many advantages ofc. To name a few it would be backup/restore, migration to a new docker host with effectively zero reconfiguration, same performance (this will depend a bit on the app itself) but in the case of Plex you will not notice any difference. Also, with Docker, you can run multiple versions of the same app on the same host. Each is in its container.

There are several Plex Docker images out there that are well-maintained, and up to date, so going down that route would be a reasonable choice. On the other hand, if you want to install a bare metal version, do not use the Plex that you can locate inside the Package Center. Use the plex.tv one, download it, and install it manually (as said before). The benefit of this route is that you do not have to know anything about Docker, the version for the Synology NAS is well up to date and supported by Plex, so for this particular app, regardless of what option you choose the experience will be the same.
I'm running the script for the drives, et al.

That m.2 volume is just the two drives mirrored

DSM 7.2.2-72806 Update 2

The Plex install I did from the Package manager in Synology. It didn't error, but didn't create the plexserver user. So I uninstalled and tried to find something on Plex's site but haven't found it yet.
 
Last edited:
The linuxserver docker container seems to be a popular image. I've been using it for quite a while now.

To manage docker containers you can use Synology's Container Manager package (install it from the Package Center if you don't already have it installed), or you can have a look at Portainer as an alternative.

If you're more comfortable with using the CLI (command line interface), I'd suggest learning how to use docker-compose (it's called docker compose in the latest versions. You can easily make changes to your docker-compose.yml file if you need to & you can update the existing container with a simple docker compose -up -d command vs having to type out the whole docker run command.

I hope that's helpful.
 
I found the Plex package on their site. Docker is on my list of stuff to learn for sure.
 
Last time I tried installing Plex in a Docker-container (quite awhile ago so perhaps things have improved), I ran into a few problems.
  • Hardware transcoding wasn't straightforward to activate
  • Plex was thinking I was not on local LAN when playing so it transcoded everything even when it didn't need to. There were problems with some IP-address-stuff...
 

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