Note

There are variables to be replaced in the following guide. These variables are enclosed between < and > like <username>. Do not replace the bash variables enclosed between ${ and } like ${USER} as they are essential for the command.

Setting up Ubuntu Server

1. Install Ubuntu Server on Beelink S12 Pro

   • Make bootable USB drive with the Ubuntu Server ISO
   • Ensure Beelink S12 Pro is powered off
   • Insert bootable USB drive into Beelink S12 Pro
   • Power on Beelink S12 Pro
   • Press to select the USB drive as the boot device
   • Follow on-screen instructions to install Ubuntu Server
   • Ensure Docker is not selected for installation
   • Enable SSH access

2. Ensure Docker is not selected at install time

3. Setting the correct timezone

   sudo dpkg-reconfigure tzdata
   

Setting up and mounting medias from NAS

1. Install required packages

   sudo apt install cifs-utils
   

2. Create .smbcredentials file for account to access network share

   nano ~\.smbcredentials
   

   Content of .smbcredentials

   user=<username>
   password=<password>
   

   Setting permission that only owner can edit

   chmod 600 ~\.smbcredentials
   

3. Creating mount point folder

   sudo mkdir -p /media/plex
   

4. Test mounting the network share

   sudo mount -o credentials=/home/<username>/.smbcredentials //<IP address of NAS>/<share> /media/plex
   
   # Test if the mounting works by listing it
   ls -lah /media/plex
   
   # unmounting it
   sudo umount /media/plex
   

5. Create /etc/fstab entry to auto-mount during boot after network is ready

   sudo nano /etc/fstab
   

   Entry to be added

   //<IP address of NAS>/<share> /media/plex cifs credentials=/home/<username>/smbcredentials,_netdev,x-systemd.automount 0 0
   

   Reloading the /etc/fstab

   sudo systemctl daemon-reload
   

6. (Optional) Test if the auto-mounting works by rebooting the system

   sudo reboot
   
   # after it comes up, login in to the system and check if the share has been mounted
   ls -lah /media/plex
   

Installing Docker CE

1. Removing docker snap (if installed)

   sudo snap services | grep docker
   sudo snap stop docker
   sudo snap remove docker
   

2. Install Docker CE from repo

   # Install pre-requisites
   sudo apt install apt-transport-https ca-certificates curl software-properties-common
   
   # Downloading keys
   sudo curl -fsSL https://download.docker.com/linux/ubuntu/gpg -o /etc/apt/keyrings/docker.asc
   
   # Adding docker repository for Ubuntu
   echo "deb [arch=$(dpkg --print-architecture) signed-by=/etc/apt/keyrings/docker.asc] https://download.docker.com/linux/ubuntu $(. /etc/os-release && echo "$VERSION_CODENAME") stable" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/docker.list > /dev/null
   
   # Installing Docker
   apt-cache policy docker-ce
   sudo apt install docker-ce
   
   # Enable docker as service
   sudo systemctl enable docker
   
   # Checking if docker is running
   sudo systemctl status docker
   

3. Running docker command without root

   sudo usermod -aG docker ${USER}
   

4. Creating separate docker user and group for containers

   sudo useradd -m plex
   sudo groupadd dockercontainers
   sudo usermod -aG dockercontainers plex
   sudo usermod -aG dockercontainers ${USER}
   
   # remember the following for PUID and PGID for compose.yaml later
   id plex -u
   id plex -g
   
   # Assume that the UID is 1001 and GID is 1001. You will use this value in PLEX_UID and PLEX_GID later on in the compose.yaml
   

5. Creating local folder for mapping into containers

   mkdir -p ~/dockercontainers
   sudo chgrp -R dockercontainers ~/dockercontainers/
   sudo chmod -R g+rwX ~/dockercontainers/
   

Setting up Plex docker

1. Creating config folder

   mkdir -p ~/dockercontainers/plex/config
   

2. Creating compose.yaml to define Plex container

   nano ~/dockercontainers/plex/compose.yaml
   

   Content of compose.yaml

   services:
     plex:
       image: plexinc/pms-docker:latest
       container_name: plex
       network_mode: host
       environment:
         - PLEX_UID=1001  # replace with value of id plex -u
         - PLEX_GID=1001  # replace with value of id plex -g
         - TZ=Asia/Singapore
         - VERSION=docker
         - PLEX_CLAIM=<server claim code>
       devices:
         - /dev/dri:/dev/dri
       volumes:
         - /media/plex/Movies:/Content/Movies
         - /media/plex/Animes:/Content/Animes
         - /media/plex/Serials:/Content/Serials
         - /home/<username>/dockercontainers/plex/config:/config
       tmpfs:
         - /transcode:size=6G
       restart: unless-stopped
   

3. Starting plex container

   cd ~/dockercontainers/plex
   docker compose up -d
   

4. Checking plex container

   docker logs plex
   

5. Navigate to http://<IP address>:32400/web/ to access Plex webgui

Miscellaneous Docker commands

Updating Plex container to the latest image

docker compose pull && docker compose up -d

Force recreation of docker container to reinitialise all settings and contents not in mapped folders

docker compose up -d --force-recreate