LightSpeedTaco

Introduction Hey guys, As promised here is a look behind the screen of Plex in particular to the software aspect of the server including the networking and NIC Teaming and the episode tracking/naming that keeps everything up to date. Networking Note the speed of the adapter being 5.0 GBps rather than the 1.0 GBps for typical gigabit ethernet interfaces. This is due to the NIC Teaming of the several Intel gigabit speed interfaces in my case. These are the adapters used however they are named differently by the drivers to allow them to run on Windows 8.1 rather than Windows Server as they were initially intended to do. The type of Team I’m utilizing is the Static Link Aggregation which is described as such. Static Link Aggregation Static Link Aggregation (SLA) is a performance technology developed to increase throughput between switches or a server and switch. This is accomplished by bundling or channeling several ports together and showing them as a single link. This increases the total bandwidth for the link and provides fault- tolerance in the event of a switch port, cable, or adapter failure. Primary and Secondary adapters can be selected for this team, but are not required.… Read More »Behind the Screen (Part 1 – Software)

Once the Plex Server finished indexing all the content from scratch I noticed a lot of incorrect matches and after all this hard work I wasn’t prepared to see all the content in disarray. One issue I found was the agent being used to acquire the metadata for the media files was basically shit. We’re talking slow, and horribly inaccurate meaning shitty looking thumbnails and backgrounds. I swapped the default agent and re-analysed all the content once again and this time, with some tweaking and bulk file renaming for easier recognition by the metadata agent it turned out beautiful. Accurate, clean and complete. Have a look in real time on the Plex or check out this screenshot from a small portion of the Movies section. Some more content is on the way but for the most part everything is all ready and stable. Because of the strain on my network I’m worried the uptime monitor will mistakenly think the server is down since it simply can’t make a connection to say “Hi, I’m still alive and kicking!” which would make the uptime ration go to hell so in a few days I’ll re-enable the uptime monitor and statistics pages for… Read More »Spit Shine

Another day rolls by and my nose is runny as ever. The fantastic new improvements to the server are taking full advantage of every megabit of my connection. With maybe two days of downloading round the clock will wrap up the vast majority of series and make for endless entertainment. (Receiving nearly 26 Mbps of data, the most my connection can take, although for a premium I could upgrade to 50 Mbps down) In the end, the No Breaks Plex Server will boast over 100 TV series, many which are quite complete and HD as frequently as possible and just over 600 movies the wait will be well worth it. Seeing as I won’t be available this weekend, I’ll be looking up to the new system to do its thing and maintain a steady stream of new content (fingers crossed). A speed test indicating the maximum I could download and upload, compared to the actual download speeds. Upon my return to home and hopefully good health I’ll put together a comprehensive tour of the hardware and software involved, from the team of Network Interface Cards in my PC (all 6 of them, the 7th is the amalgamation of these 6)… Read More »(Not So) Slow and Steady

Spending most of the day blow my nose (I’m sick as a dog) over my keyboard yelling at python scripts paid off. It seems that the hard work has paid off. A lot of content is still being filled in however the Plex Server is back online and is slowly repopulating with the new and improved content. You may have lost your place if you were partially through a video but its all in the name of progress! Bear with me as I add content which may slow the server down however I’m planning on scheduling this content to be downloaded over night to reduce inconvenience to you. Some adjustments will need to be made on my part as things settle back down however for the most part it should be business as usual in a day or two. LightSpeedTaco

Hello everyone, With the introduction of the automation system in place for the Plex server there will be some noticeable downtime for the next few days. I wish I had a better ETA but there are some massive changes happening to the media structure in the Plex Server meaning a lot of things are being rewritten such as the file names for example which will now have proper usable file names that state the Season and Episode properly in a way which can be read by the server/software better. As well as fixing the old, I’m ushering in the new and filling in missed spots and blank spaces where episodes should be. My goal is to attain them all in 720p for both quality level and disk space friendliness as well as viewer pleasure. I’ll be sure to keep you all updated however as of right now think of the Plex server as a car without an engine. On a more beneficial note I’ve been considering so special hardware for the server however budget limitations is the usual culprit.   Keep you posted, visit often.   LightSpeedTaco