17/3/2021 How to Install Plex Media Server on Ubuntu 20.

04 LTS Server/Desktop

How to Install Plex Media

Server on Ubuntu 20.04 LTS
Server/Desktop
 Last Updated: October 2nd, 2020  Xiao Guoan (Admin)  11
Comments  Ubuntu

This tutorial will be showing you how to install Plex media

server on Ubuntu 20.04 LTS server/desktop. Plex is a free
piece of software that allows you to organize your movies, TV
shows, music and photos in one beautiful interface and stream
those media files on your PC, tablet, phone, TV, Roku, etc on
the network or over the Internet. Plex can be installed on
Linux, FreeBSD, MacOS, Windows and various NAS systems.

Install Plex Media Server on Ubuntu

20.04

First, go to Plex server download page, (You will need to log

into your Plex account.) select Linux and choose Ubuntu
(16.04+) / Debian (8+) with 32-bit or 64-bit.

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If you are going to install Plex on a headless Ubuntu 20.04

server, then you can go to your browser’s download history,
then copy the Plex download link and use wget to download
Plex from command line like below.

wget https://downloads.plex.tv/plex-me
dia-server-new/1.19.3.2843-e3c1f7bcd/d
ebian/plexmediaserver_1.19.3.2843-e3c1
f7bcd_amd64.deb

Once the Plex deb package is downloaded, cd to the download

directory. For example, my Plex is downloaded to the
Downloads directory under Home, so I run the following
command. The tilde (~) represents home directory.

cd ~/Downloads

On Debian based Linux distros (Ubuntu, Linux Mint, etc),

dpkg is the standard command-line tool to install deb
packages. So run the following command to install the Plex
deb package.

sudo dpkg -i plexmediaserver_1.19.3.28

43-e3c1f7bcd_amd64.deb

The -i is short for --install . Note that when you type the
following

sudo dpkg -i plex

You can press the Tab key, which will autocomplete the
filename.

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Now Plex media server is installed. We can check its status

with:

systemctl status plexmediaserver

As you can see, it’s running on my Ubuntu 20.04 system.

(Press q key to take back control of terminal.)

If Plex media server isn’t running, you can start it with:

sudo systemctl start plexmediaserver

Enable Plex Repository

By enabling the official Plex repo, you can update Plex on

Ubuntu with apt package manager. The Plex deb package
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ships with a source list file. To see a list of files installed from
a package, run dpkg with -L flag.

dpkg -L plexmediaserver

Open this file with the following command.

sudo nano /etc/apt/sources.list.d/plex

mediaserver.list

By default, its content is commented out. Uncomment the last

line. (Remove the beginning # symbol).

Then save and close the file. To save a file in Nano text editor,
press Ctrl+O , the press Enter to confirm. To exit, press
Ctrl+X . After that, run the following command to import
Plex public key to apt package manager.

wget -q https://downloads.plex.tv/plex
-keys/PlexSign.key -O - | sudo apt-key
add -

Now update software repository index.

sudo apt update

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Plex Media Server Initial Setup

If you run the following commands:

sudo apt install net-tools

sudo netstat -lnpt | grep Plex

You can see that Plex media server is listening on

0.0.0.0:32400 and 127.0.0.1:32401 .

The web-based management interface is available at port

32400. The first time you configure Plex, you must visit Plex
via 127.0.0.1:32400/web or localhost:32400/web .
If you installed Plex on your Ubuntu 20.04 desktop, then you
can search Plex Media Manager in your application menu.
It will take you to Plex web interface, which in turn will take
you to https://app.plex.tv because you need to sign in
with a plex.tv account.

Note that if Plex is installed on a remote Ubuntu 20.04 server,

you need to set up a SSH tunnel by executing the following
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command on your local computer. Replace 12.34.56.78 with

the IP address of the remote Ubuntu server.

ssh 12.34.56.78 -L 8888:localhost:3240

0

Then you can access Plex web interface via the following
URL.

http://localhost:8888/web

This HTTP request will be redirected to

http://localhost:32400/web on the remote server
through SSH tunnel. This SSH tunnel is only needed for the
initial setup. After the initial setup, you can access Plex web
interface via server-ip-address:32400 . Replace
server-ip-address with your real server IP address.

Once signed in, you will be redirected to localhost:32400

to do the initial setup. If you don’t see the setup wizard, you
can enter localhost:32400/web/index.html#!/setup
in the address bar to launch it.

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On the next screen, enter a name for your Plex server. Make
sure Allow me to access my media outside my
home is checked. Then click Next .

Now you can add libraries. Click Add Library button.

Select a library type, then click browse for media

folder button to add your media folders.

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Note that the plex user needs to have read and execute
permission on your media directories. For example, my 2T
external hard drive is mounted under /media/linuxbabe/ ,
which is owned by root. Users not in group root can’t access it,
so I run the following command to give user plex read and
execute permission. (I do not recommend changing ownership
with chown or chgrp command. Using the setfacl
command will suffice.)

sudo setfacl -m u:plex:rx /media/linux

babe/

You may also need to assign permission on individual media

directories like below.

sudo setfacl -m u:plex:rx /media/linux

babe/directory-name

It can be tempting to add the recursive flag ( -R ), which gives

plex read and execute permission on every file and sub-
directory on the drive.

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

nuxbabe/

If your external hard drive is only used for storing media files,
then you can do so, but if you have sensitive files on the
external hard drive, don’t do it.

Once you finish adding your media folders, click Next and
then click Done . You can always add more libraries later.

Redo the Initial Setup

If you made a mistake in the initial setup, you can delete the
Preferences.xml file and start it over.

sudo rm /var/lib/plexmediaserver/Libra
ry/Application\ Support/Plex\ Media\ S
erver/Preferences.xml

sudo systemctl restart plexmediaserver

Now visit localhost:32400/web again. Plex will tell you

there’s an unclaimed server. Click claim it now .

Where to Download Movie and TV

Shows

1. Use a torrenting client like Deluge.

2. Learn how to download from Usenet.

Advantages of Usenet

1. It gives you better privacy because others can’t see what

you are downloading.

2. Superfast download speed.

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3. Files on Usenet are usually kept much longer than

torrent files. For example, Newsdemon stores files for
4430 days (more than 12 years), so you can download
old content at a very fast speed.

Create Nginx Reverse Proxy

If you don’t have a real domain name, I recommend

going to NameCheap to buy one. The price is low and
they give whois privacy protection free for life.

If you prefer to use a domain name rather than typing

http://localhost:32400 to access your Plex media
server, then you need to set up a reverse proxy. We can use
Nginx for this purpose. Install Nginx from the default Ubuntu
software repository.

sudo apt install nginx

Then create a server block file for Plex.

sudo nano /etc/nginx/conf.d/plex.conf

Put the following lines into the file. Replace

plex.example.com with your own domain name.
Remember to create an A record for the sub-domain in your
DNS manager. (If your ISP gives you a dynamic IP address
rather than a static IP address, you need to set up dynamic
DNS and port forwarding, or use PageKite. )

server {
listen 80;
server_name plex.example.com;

location / { 
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proxy_pass http://127.0.0.1:
32400;
proxy_set_header Host $host;
proxy_set_header X-Real-IP
$remote_addr;
proxy_set_header X-Forwarded
-For $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for;

#upgrade to WebSocket protoc

ol when requested
proxy_set_header Upgrade $ht
tp_upgrade;
proxy_set_header Connection
"Upgrade";
}
}

Save and close this file. Then test Nginx configuration.

sudo nginx -t

If the test is successful, reload Nginx for the change to take

effect.

sudo systemctl reload nginx

Now you can access Plex media server via

plex.example.com .

Create Apache Reverse Proxy

If you prefer Apache over Nginx, then install Apache web

server by using the following command.

sudo apt install apache2

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To use Apache as a reverse proxy, we need to enable the

proxy modules and the header module.

sudo a2enmod proxy proxy_http headers

proxy_wstunnel

Then create a virtual host file for Plex.

sudo nano /etc/apache2/sites-availabl

e/plex.conf

Put the following configurations into the file. Replace

plex.example.com with your actual domain name. Don’t
forget to create DNS A record for this sub-domain.

<VirtualHost *:80>
ServerName plex.example.com
ErrorDocument 404 /404.html

#HTTP proxy
ProxyPass / http://localhost:32400/
ProxyPassReverse / http://localhos
t:32400/

#Websocket proxy
SSLProxyEngine on
<Location /:/websockets/notificatio
ns>
ProxyPass wss://localhost:3240
0/:/websockets/notifications
ProxyPassReverse wss://localho
st:32400/:/websockets/notifications
</Location>
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Header always unset X-Frame-Options

</VirtualHost>

Save and close the file. Then enable this virtual host.

sudo a2ensite plex.conf

Restart Apache

sudo systemctl restart apache2

Now you can access Plex media server using the domain name.

Enable HTTPS

To encrypt the HTTP traffic when you visit Plex server from
outside, we can enable HTTPS by installing a free TLS
certificate issued from Let’s Encrypt. Run the following
command to install Let’s Encrypt client (certbot) on Ubuntu
20.04.

sudo apt install certbot

If you use Nginx, then you also need to install the Certbot
Nginx plugin.

sudo apt install python3-certbot-nginx

Next, run the following command to obtain and install TLS

certificate.

sudo certbot --nginx --agree-tos --red

irect --hsts --staple-ocsp --email you
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If you use Apache, then you need to install the Certbot Apache
plugin.

sudo apt install python3-certbot-apach

e

Next, run the following command to obtain and install TLS

certificate.

sudo certbot --apache --agree-tos --re

direct --hsts --staple-ocsp --email yo
[email protected] -d plex.example.com

Where:

--nginx : Use the nginx plugin.

--apache : Use the Apache plugin.
--agree-tos : Agree to terms of service.
--redirect : Force HTTPS by 301 redirect.
--hsts : Add the Strict-Transport-Security header to
every HTTP response. Forcing browser to always use
TLS for the domain. Defends against SSL/TLS
Stripping.
--staple-ocsp : Enables OCSP Stapling. A valid
OCSP response is stapled to the certificate that the
server offers during TLS.

The certificate should now be obtained and automatically

installed.

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And you can access Plex web interface via HTTPS.

How to Upgrade Plex on Ubuntu 20.04

When a new version of Plex media server comes out, you can
upgrade it by executing the following commands.

sudo apt update

sudo apt upgrade

Then restart Plex.

sudo systemctl restart plexmediaserver

I hope this tutorial helped you install Plex media server on

Ubuntu 20.04. As always, if you found this post useful, then
subscribe to our free newsletter to get more tips and tricks.
Take care 🙂

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