How to Install Plex Media Server for Linux on Ubuntu 16.04 | 18.04 LTS

Plex is a media server that allows you to organize all your personal media and access it anywhere over the network… It has two main components: Plex Media Server and a desktop application that runs on Windows, macOS and Linux..

Most Plex media server have some type of NAS devices to store and organize all types of media files…

This brief tutorial shows students and new users how to install Plex Media server on Ubuntu 16.04 | 18.04 LTS desktop or server… It shows you how to add Plex repository so that you always get the latest updates when they become available…

For more about Plex and how to use it, please visit its home page….

When you’re ready to install Plex Media Server, follow the steps below:

Step 1: Add Plex Repository to Ubuntu

Plex has a .DEB package that you can install on Debian based Linux systems, including Ubuntu… however, if you always want to install the latest version of Plex, then it’s important to add its PPA or repository to Ubuntu..

To do that, run the commands below to add the repository and its key to Ubuntu….

wget -q https://downloads.plex.tv/plex-keys/PlexSign.key -O - | sudo apt-key add -
sudo sh -c 'echo "deb https://downloads.plex.tv/repo/deb/ public main $(lsb_release -sc) contrib" >> /etc/apt/sources.list.d/plex.list'

Step 2: Install Plex Media Server

Now that Plex repository and key have been added to Ubuntu, run the commands below to update Ubuntu repositories and install Plex…

sudo apt update
sudo apt install plexmediaserver

After that Plex should be installed and ready to use… To check its status, run the commands below

sudo systemctl status plexmediaserver

You should see its status info as shown below:

● plexmediaserver.service - Plex Media Server for Linux
   Loaded: loaded (/lib/systemd/system/plexmediaserver.service; enabled; vendor preset: enabled)
   Active: active (running) since Wed 2018-09-19 11:07:23 CDT; 20s ago
  Process: 4810 ExecStartPre=/bin/sh -c /usr/bin/test -d "${PLEX_MEDIA_SERVER_APPLICATION_SUPPORT_DIR}" || /bin/mkdir -p "${PLEX_MEDIA_SERVER_APPLICATION_SUPPORT_DIR}" (code
 Main PID: 4813 (sh)
    Tasks: 128 (limit: 4663)
   CGroup: /system.slice/plexmediaserver.service
           ├─4813 /bin/sh -c LD_LIBRARY_PATH=/usr/lib/plexmediaserver "/usr/lib/plexmediaserver/Plex Media Server"
           ├─4816 /usr/lib/plexmediaserver/Plex Media Server
           ├─4891 Plex Plug-in [com.plexapp.system] /usr/lib/plexmediaserver/Resources/Plug-ins-21ab172de/Framework.bundle/Contents/Resources/Versions/2/Python/bootstrap.py 
           ├─4943 /usr/lib/plexmediaserver/Plex Tuner Service /usr/lib/plexmediaserver/Resources/Tuner/Private /usr/lib/plexmediaserver/Resources/Tuner/Shared 1.13.5.5332-21
           ├─4944 /usr/lib/plexmediaserver/Plex DLNA Server
           ├─4979 Plex Plug-in [com.plexapp.agents.htbackdrops] /usr/lib/plexmediaserver/Resources/Plug-ins-21ab172de/Framework.bundle/Contents/Resources/Versions/2/Python/b
           ├─4982 Plex Plug-in [com.plexapp.agents.themoviedb] /usr/lib/plexmediaserver/Resources/Plug-ins-21ab172de/Framework.bundle/Contents/Resources/Versions/2/Python/bo
           ├─4983 Plex Plug-in [com.plexapp.agents.opensubtitles] /usr/lib/plexmediaserver/Resources/Plug-ins-21ab172de/Framework.bundle/Contents/Resources/Versions/2/Python

Also, the commands below can be used to stop, start and enable Plex media server….

sudo systemctl stop plexmediaserver
sudo systemctl start plexmediaserver
sudo systemctl enable plexmediaserer

Step 3: Access Plex Web Portal

Now that Plex is installed, open your browser and browse to its portal page… You can use the portal to manage your media and other settings…

http://localhost:32400/web/index.html

That should open its portal page…

Note that the plex user need to have read and execute permission on the media directories that you want to use… You can use commands below to provide plex user access to your media directories..

sudo setfacl -R -m u:plex:rx /media/PlexMediaDirectory

Replace PlexMediaDirectory with current directory you wish to provide plex read and execute access…

That’s it!