Build Guide - Plex Media Server running on an Intel NUC using Ubuntu Server

sudo tune2fs -o discard /dev/sda3 [CHANGE TO SUIT YOUR PARTITION NUMBER]

• Update system

sudo nano /etc/fstab

//192.168.0.200/Media /mnt/Drobo-0    cifs   username=plex,password=xxxxxxxx   0     0

cd ~
wget http://downloads.plexapp.com/plex-media-server/0.9.9.7.429-f80a8d6/plexmediaserver_0.9.9.7.429-f80a8d6_amd64.deb
sudo dpkg -i plexmediaserver_0.9.9.7.429-f80a8d6_amd64.deb

• If you get errors about package dependencies try the following commands before rerunning the dpkg command shown above

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get -f install

sudo apt-get install checkinstall
sudo apt-get install git
sudo apt-get install automake
cd ~
git clone https://github.com/tiwilliam/istatd.git
cd istatd
sh autogen
./configure --sysconfdir=/etc
make
sudo make install
sudo useradd istat
sudo mkdir -p /var/{run,cache}/istat
sudo chown istat.istat /var/{run,cache}/istat
sudo nano /etc/istat.conf

sudo nano /etc/init/istat.conf

• Below is the contents of my /etc/init/istat.conf you can see that I have added a pre-start section to give my NAS drive time to mount properly, otherwise iStat server will not show it

# istat - service job file
description "istat"
# Start the iStat server after network and filesystem
start on runlevel [2345] and filesystem and net-device-up IFACE!=lo
# When to stop the service
stop on runlevel [016]
# Automatically restart process if crashed
respawn
respawn limit 10 30
# Check dependencies
pre-start script
  LOG_FILE=/tmp/istatd_upstart.log
  echo "Executing istat pre-start script" > $LOG_FILE
  # Check that istatd exists and is executable
  echo "Checking execute permisissions on istatd" >> $LOG_FILE
  test -x /usr/local/bin/istatd || { stop; exit 0; }
  # Check that istatd config file and runtime directories exist
  echo "Checking for config file" >> $LOG_FILE
  test -f /etc/istat.conf || { stop; exit 0; }
  echo "Checking for runtime directories" >> $LOG_FILE
  test -d /var/cache/istat || { stop; exit 0; }
  # Wait for Drobo-0 to mount
  echo "Checking that Drobo-0 is mounted" >> $LOG_FILE
  TIMEOUT=10 # 10 second timeout - each iteration sleeps for 1 second
  DIR="/mnt/Drobo-0"
  until [ $TIMEOUT -eq 0 ]; do
    if [ "$(ls -A $DIR)" ]; then
      echo "Detected Drobo-0 mounted successfully" >> $LOG_FILE
      exit 0;
    fi
    TIMEOUT=$((TIMEOUT-1))
    echo "Waiting for Drobo-0 to mount" >> $LOG_FILE
    sleep 1
  done
  echo "Timeout waiting for Drobo-0 to mount" >> $LOG_FILE
  exit 0;
end script
# What to execute
exec /usr/local/bin/istatd

sudo service istat start

• Test the iStat server now by running the iStat app on your iPhone or iPad

sudo apt-get install samba system-config-samba cifs-utils winbind
sudo mkdir /mnt/Update
sudo chown myuser:myuser /mnt/Update

sudo nano /etc/samba/smb.conf

• Here is my /etc/samba/smb.conf

[Update]
   path = /mnt/Update
   comment = Update Storage
   writeable = Yes
   browseable = Yes
   guest ok = Yes
   force user = myuser

STEP 8: Configure firewall

I wanted to have some basic level of security on the server, so I turned on the firewall and opened up the ports I needed (SSH:22, iStat:5109, PMS:32400)

sudo ufw reset
sudo ufw allow ssh
sudo ufw allow samba
sudo ufw allow 5109/tcp
... add Plex port numbers here - see link above ...
sudo ufw allow 32400/tcp
sudo ufw allow 32443/tcp
sudo ufw allow 32469/tcp
sudo ufw allow 1900/udp
sudo ufw allow 5353/udp
sudo ufw allow 32410/udp
sudo ufw allow 32412/udp
sudo ufw allow 32413/udp
sudo ufw allow 32414/udp
sudo ufw enable

sudo crontab -e


# Uncomment whatever option you prefer for weekly or monthly reboots
#
# Reboot at 04:00 on the 1st day of every month
# 0 4 1 * * /sbin/reboot
#
# Reboot at 04:00 every Sunday
# 0 4 * * 0 /sbin/reboot