Plex Media Server (Core Service)#

Plex Media Server serves as the centralized media host for the DUMB ecosystem. It enables playback of collected media through a wide range of client devices and integrates seamlessly with DUMB core orchestrators like Riven, CLI Debrid, Plex Debrid, and Decypharr.

🔗 Service Relationships#

Classification	Role
Core Service	Media Server / Playback Host
Depends On
Optional	None
Exposes UI	Yes (Web UI on port 32400)

📦 Configuration in `dumb_config.json`#

"plex": {
  "enabled": false,
  "process_name": "Plex Media Server",
  "suppress_logging": false,
  "log_level": "INFO",
  "port": 32400,
  "auto_update": false,
  "auto_update_interval": 24,
  "config_dir": "/plex",
  "config_file": "/plex/Plex Media Server/Preferences.xml",
  "log_file": "/plex/Plex Media Server/Logs/Plex Media Server.log",
  "plex_claim": "",
  "friendly_name": "DUMB",
  "command": [],
  "env": {}
}

🔍 Key Configuration Fields#

enabled: Toggle Plex Media Server on or off.
plex_claim: Plex claim token for initial server registration.
friendly_name: The name that appears in the Plex Web App and on local clients.
config_dir: Directory containing Plex server data (including preferences).
port: Default access port (32400).

DUMB does not yet support auto_update or port assignment for Plex Media Server

⚙️ Setup & Behavior#

🧰 Requirements#

Plex must have access to:
Media directories (local or rclone-mounted).
Transcoding cache (if transcoding is enabled).
Valid claim token for first-time setup (if not already configured).

📦 Migrating an Existing Plex Server into DUMB#

If you're migrating an existing Plex Media Server into the DUMB container, the process involves preserving your current Plex data directory and ensuring it is placed correctly within the DUMB ecosystem.

📁 Step 1: Copy Existing Plex Configuration#

Whether your current Plex server is running as a Docker container or directly on the host machine, locate its configuration directory. This directory typically contains:

Plex Media Server/Preferences.xml
Plex Media Server/Library/...
Plex Media Server/Logs/...

Copy this entire Plex configuration directory to the DUMB host's Plex directory:

# Replace /path/to/existing/plex with the path from your host or old container
cp -r "/path/to/existing/plex/Plex Media Server" "/path/to/DUMB/plex/"

The result should be:

DUMB/plex/Plex Media Server/Preferences.xml
DUMB/plex/Plex Media Server/Library/...

The internal path must remain /plex/Plex Media Server/Preferences.xml inside the container, unless you follow Step 2 below.

🗃️ Step 2: Point DUMB to the Copied Config#

This is only required if changing the default location (shown below) for Plex configs inside the container

Update the dumb_config.json to ensure the config_dir is /plex, which is the internal path mounted inside the container.

"plex": {
  "enabled": true,
  "config_dir": "/plex",
  "config_file": "/plex/Plex Media Server/Preferences.xml",
  ...
}

🗂️ Step 3: Add Media Content#

If you have existing media content from your previous Plex setup:

Mount to a custom path (e.g., /mnt/local):

Custom Path

Using /mnt/local or any other custom path allows you to preserve legacy media folder structures separately from DUMB's collection system..

You can also consolidate or symlink these into /mnt/debrid if needed.

Example Docker Compose snippet:
```
volumes:
  - /path/to/old/media/movies:/mnt/local/movies
  - /path/to/old/media/shows:/mnt/local/shows
```
Update Plex library folders in the Plex Web UI to match the new internal container paths (e.g., /mnt/local/movies).

✅ Step 4: Restart and Verify#

Once configuration and mounts are complete:

Start the DUMB container.
Access Plex via http://<host>:32400/web.
Verify:
- Your old libraries and settings are intact
- Media paths resolve correctly
- Server is claimed and signed in to Plex.tv

🧪 Optional: Reclaim or Reconfigure#

If you're reusing an old server and want to reset it:

Delete Preferences.xml to force a new setup
Provide a new plex_claim token in dumb_config.json

This allows you to re-register the server cleanly if needed.

🧰 Summary Table#

Migration Source	Steps
Plex Docker Container	Copy container's volume contents to `DUMB/plex`
Plex on Host	Copy `/var/lib/plexmediaserver` or equivalent to `DUMB/plex`
Plex Media	Bind mount original media directories to `/mnt/debrid` in DUMB

Once complete, your DUMB-based Plex server should fully replicate your prior setup while gaining the integration benefits of the DUMB ecosystem.

🛠️ How to Start#

Utilize the onboarding process#

The onboarding process can be re-launched from the DUMB Frontend settings menu

Onboarding will prompt for the Plex Claim Token.
Onboarding will optionally prompt for your Plex Token. If provided, this enables:
- Enhanced functionality for Plex Pass members (e.g., downloads)
- Preconfigured integration with other core services like Riven and CLI Debrid

Manually#

Ensure the plex block is properly configured in dumb_config.json.
Provide a plex_claim token if starting fresh.
Start the container with DUMB orchestration, or manually start the Plex service.
Access via: http://<host>:32400/web

Hardware Transcoding#

Hardware-accelerated streaming enables Plex to use the GPU or specialized hardware encoders to offload and speed up transcoding operations, significantly improving performance and lowering CPU usage.

Plex Pass Required

Hardware-accelerated transcoding is a premium feature and requires an active Plex Pass subscription. Learn more

🧪 Docker Setup for Hardware Transcoding#

To enable hardware transcoding in a Docker container:

devices:
  - /dev/dri:/dev/dri

This grants the container access to the host system's Direct Rendering Infrastructure (DRI), which is required for GPU access (e.g., Intel Quick Sync, NVIDIA NVENC).

Intel Quick Sync Users#

Additional permissions may be needed:

group_add:
  - "992"  # Typically 'render' group
  - "993"  # Some systems require both 'render' and 'video'

You can confirm the group IDs for your system by running:

getent group video
getent group render

Make sure the Plex container runs with appropriate PUID and PGID values that also have access to /dev/dri.

⚙️ Enabling in Plex Settings#

Once the container is running and hardware access is configured:

Go to the Plex Web UI: http://<host>:32400/web
Navigate to: Settings > Transcoder
Enable the checkbox: Use hardware acceleration when available
(Optional) Enable Use hardware-accelerated video encoding for encoding tasks.

✅ Confirming Hardware Transcoding is Active#

When a video is playing:

Click the three dots next to the playback and choose Stats for Nerds
Look for entries like hw or h264_qsv or nvenc which indicate hardware acceleration.
Alternatively, open the Server Dashboard during playback and check the stream status for an (hw) label next to the transcoding type.

🧪 Monitoring GPU Usage from Inside the Container#

You can supplement Plex's built-in tools (like "Stats for Nerds") with real-time GPU monitoring inside the DUMB container.

🧠 Intel iGPU Monitoring#

Intel GPUs (e.g., Quick Sync) can be monitored using intel-gpu-tools:

# Enter the container
docker exec -it DUMB bash

# Install the tools (Debian/Ubuntu based images)
apt update && apt install -y intel-gpu-tools

# Launch real-time GPU monitor
intel_gpu_top

This provides a live view of the GPU's video encode/decode engines. Look for activity under:

Video or Video/0 for decoding
VideoEnhance or Blitter for scaling and filtering

Use q to exit intel_gpu_top

🧠 NVIDIA GPU Monitoring#

For NVIDIA GPUs with NVENC/NVDEC support, use the nvidia-smi tool:

# Enter the container
docker exec -it DUMB bash

# If not already installed, install NVIDIA tools
apt update && apt install -y nvidia-smi

# Monitor GPU usage
nvidia-smi

Look for the Plex process listed under the Processes section. When active transcoding is occurring, you should see:

Increased GPU-Util percentage
Encoder usage
Memory allocation from Plex or Plex Transcoder

If nvidia-smi is not recognized, ensure the container is running with the --gpus all flag and NVIDIA Docker runtime is enabled on the host.

🛑 Troubleshooting GPU Access & Hardware Transcoding#

Confirm the container has access to /dev/dri or sometimes /dev/nvidia*
Confirm Plex Pass is active and the account used in Plex is signed in and authorized
Validate Plex transcoder settings are enabled for hardware use
Check that Plex is actually transcoding (not Direct Playing)
Ensure your hardware supports it (Intel iGPU, NVIDIA GPU with driver support, etc.)
Review container logs and Plex logs for errors related to transcoding

🧩 Integration with Other Services#

Plex is designed to serve content collected and maintained by core DUMB services including Riven, CLI Debrid, Plex Debrid, and Decypharr. These services fetch, organize, and optionally symlink media content into the mounted directory used by Plex.

By default, media content is made available inside the container at /mnt/debrid through rclone mounts.

Core services populate /mnt/debrid with downloaded or upgraded content.
Plex scans this location to index and serve the media.

If you want to serve media from the host system, bind mount your local media directory into the container and add it as a library path in Plex.

🌐 Access#

URL: http://<host>:32400/web
Credentials: Managed through Plex.tv account

📁 Mount and Path Planning#

Ensure your media storage is accessible to Plex via the correct container path.

Default internal mount: /mnt/debrid
Add bind mounts: for local media stored on the host machine not managed by DUMB.

🧪 Tips and Troubleshooting#

If the container fails to start due to permissions, ensure Plex has proper access to its config_dir and media directories.
Use PUID and PGID to match host user permissions.
Logs can be viewed directly from the DUMB Frontend.
You can also start, stop, restart Plex, and modify the dumb_config.json or Plex Preferences.xml from the DUMB Frontend interface.

Plex Media Server (Core Service)#

🔗 Service Relationships#

📦 Configuration in dumb_config.json#

🔍 Key Configuration Fields#

⚙️ Setup & Behavior#

🧰 Requirements#

📦 Migrating an Existing Plex Server into DUMB#

📁 Step 1: Copy Existing Plex Configuration#

🗃️ Step 2: Point DUMB to the Copied Config#

🗂️ Step 3: Add Media Content#

✅ Step 4: Restart and Verify#

🧪 Optional: Reclaim or Reconfigure#

🧰 Summary Table#

🛠️ How to Start#

Utilize the onboarding process#

Manually#

Hardware Transcoding#

🧪 Docker Setup for Hardware Transcoding#

Intel Quick Sync Users#

⚙️ Enabling in Plex Settings#

✅ Confirming Hardware Transcoding is Active#

🧪 Monitoring GPU Usage from Inside the Container#

🧠 Intel iGPU Monitoring#

🧠 NVIDIA GPU Monitoring#

🛑 Troubleshooting GPU Access & Hardware Transcoding#

🧩 Integration with Other Services#

🌐 Access#

📁 Mount and Path Planning#

🧪 Tips and Troubleshooting#

🔗 Resources#

📦 Configuration in `dumb_config.json`#