Install Plex Media Server Arch Linux on Banana Pi Pro

The awesome Plex Media Server can now be installed using Arch Linux on the Banana Pi models using multiple different methods. Arch Linux is a very small simplistic Operating System which provides more resources on the software your trying to run instead of the Operating System itself. Plex will run at full possible speeds using Arch which is always a good thing. It is assumed that you installed Arch Linux on the Banana Pi by following this guide. If not please look over it for required details.

Pi Unit	Processor	RAM	RAM Bus	Network	WiFi	USB	SATA	Cost
Raspberry Pi 3	1.2 GHz ARMv8 Quad Core	1 GB DDR2	450 MHz	100 Mbit	Yes	4	No	$35
Raspberry Pi 2	900 MHz ARMv7 Quad Core	1 GB DDR2	450 MHz	100 Mbit	No	4	No	$35.00
Raspberry Pi	700 MHz ARMv6 Single Core	512 MB SDRAM	400 MHz	100 Mbit	No	4	No	$25
Banana Pi	1 GHz ARMv7 Dual Core	1 GB DDR3	432 MHz	Gigabit	No	2	Yes	$36.99
Banana Pi Pro	1 GHz ARMv7 Dual Core	1 GB DDR3	432 MHz	Gigabit	Yes	2	Yes	$45.00

Install Plex Media Server Arch Linux on Banana Pi Pro

There are 2 tutorials in this guide. One for how to install Plex Media Server Arch Linux on Banana Pi Pro using the easy way (Repository install) and a guide on installing Plex Media Server Arch Linux on Banana Pi Pro from source.

Method 1: Install Plex Media Server Arch Linux from Repository

Update Repository Database and install Plex

sudo pacman -Syy plex-media-server

Confirm Install

If you need to change directory for temp files and metadata

sudo nano /etc/conf.d/plexmediaserver

Autostart Plex Server using Systemctl Plex Service

sudo systemctl enable plexmediaserver

Start up the Plex server using Systemctl Plex Service

sudo systemctl start plexmediaserver

Now you can go-to http://local-ip-address:32400/web to see Plex.

If you need help configuring Plex go here.

Method 2: Build Plex Media Server from Source on Arch Linux ARM

Install wget

sudo pacman -Syy wget

Change to home directory

cd ~

Grab the latest Plex Media Server package link for ARMv7 which can be found at https://plex.tv/downloads click NAS.

Click the Synology tab and right click on the ARMV7 button and copy the link to the clipboard.

Back in SSH type wget and paste the link you have copied to the clipboard, trim the s from https as well if you have issues

wget https://downloads.plex.tv/plex-media-server/0.9.14.0.1539-61cdd0f/PlexMediaServer-0.9.14.0.1539-61cdd0f-arm7.spk

Extract the source

tar -xvf PlexMediaServer*

Make a folder for Plex

sudo mkdir -p /usr/lib/plexmediaserver

Extract the Plex Server to the directory we just made

sudo tar -xf package.tgz -C /usr/lib/plexmediaserver/

Copy the directory we just made to a Plex friendly place

sudo cp -dr --no-preserve='ownership' /usr/lib/plexmediaserver /opt/

Create the systemd script

sudo nano /usr/lib/systemd/system/plexmediaserver.service

Fill out the Systemd script


[Unit]
Description=Plex Media Server
After=network.target

[Service]
EnvironmentFile=/etc/conf.d/plexmediaserver
ExecStart=
ExecStart=/opt/plexmediaserver/Plex\x20Media\x20Server
Type=simple
User=bananapi
Group=bananapi
Restart=on-failure
RestartSec=5
StartLimitInterval=60s
StartLimitBurst=3
StandardOutput=null

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

Ctrl+X, Y and Enter

Make a directory for Plex config file

sudo mkdir /var/lib/plex/

Make the Plex config file

sudo nano /var/lib/plex/plex.conf

Fill out the Plex config file

LD_LIBRARY_PATH=/opt/plexmediaserver
PLEX_MEDIA_SERVER_HOME=/opt/plexmediaserver
PLEX_MEDIA_SERVER_APPLICATION_SUPPORT_DIR=/var/lib/plex
PLEX_MEDIA_SERVER_MAX_PLUGIN_PROCS=6
PLEX_MEDIA_SERVER_TMPDIR=/tmp
TMPDIR=/tmp

Ctrl+X, Y and Enter

Make Service file config directory

sudo mkdir /etc/conf.d/

Link the Plex Config file to the Service config file

sudo ln -s /var/lib/plex/plex.conf /etc/conf.d/plexmediaserver

Change the access of the directories Plex needs access to

sudo chmod 755 {/opt,/etc/conf.d,/usr/lib/systemd/system}

Change the access of the Systemd service file

sudo chmod 644 /usr/lib/systemd/system/plexmediaserver.service

Change the access of the Plex config file

sudo chmod 644 /etc/conf.d/plexmediaserver

Change the access of the Service config file

sudo chmod 750 /var/lib/plex/plex.conf

Change the access of the Plex main directory

sudo chmod 755 /usr/lib/plexmediaserver

Re-assign the owner of the Service config directory

sudo chown -R bananapi:bananapi /var/lib/plex

Re-assign the owner of the new Plex directory

sudo chown -R bananapi:bananapi /opt/plexmediaserver

Re-assign the owner of the Plex config file

sudo chown bananapi:bananapi /var/lib/plex/plex.conf

Autostart Plex Server using Systemctl Plex Service

sudo systemctl enable plexmediaserver

Start up the Plex Server using Systemctl Plex Service

sudo systemctl start plexmediaserver

Now you can go to http://local-ip-address:32400/web to see Plex.

If you need help configuring Plex go here.