UnicornLoadBalancer

This software is a part of UnicornTranscoder project, it's the LoadBalancer that will catch Plex requests and send them to a UnicornTranscoder.

UnicornTranscoder Project

• UnicornTranscoder
• UnicornLoadBalancer
• UnicornFFMPEG

Support us!

The UnicornTranscoder project is an open source software, maintained by @drouarb and @Maxou44. If you want to support us, you can tip us on Ko-fi: https://ko-fi.com/unicorntranscoder ☕

Dependencies

• Plex Media Server
• NodeJS
• RedisCache (Optionnal)
• Postgresql (Optionnal)

Setup

1. Installation

• Clone the repository
• Install with npm install
• Setup some environnement variables to configure the UnicornLoadBlancer
• Type npm start to launch the load-balancer

Name	Description	Type	Default
SERVER_PORT	Port used by the UnicornLoadBalancer	int	3001
SERVER_PUBLIC	Public url where the UnicornLoadBalancer can be called, with a slash at the end	string	http://127.0.0.1:3001/
PLEX_HOST	Host to access to Plex	string	127.0.0.1
PLEX_PORT	Port used by Plex	int	32400
PLEX_PATH_USR	The Plex's path	string	/usr/lib/plexmediaserver/
PLEX_PATH_SESSIONS	The path where Plex store sessions (to grab external subtitles)	string	/var/lib/plexmediaserver/Library/Application Support/Plex Media Server/Cache/Transcode/Sessions
DATABASE_MODE	Kind of database to use with Plex, can be sqlite or postgresql	string	sqlite
DATABASE_SQLITE_PATH	The path of the Plex database	string	/var/lib/plexmediaserver/Library/Application Support/Plex Media Server/Plug-in Support/Databases/com.plexapp.plugins.library.db
DATABASE_POSTGRESQL_HOST	Host of the Postgresql server	string
DATABASE_POSTGRESQL_DATABASE	Name of the postgresql database	string
DATABASE_POSTGRESQL_USER	User used by the Postgresql database	string
DATABASE_POSTGRESQL_PASSWORD	Password used by the Postgresql database	string
DATABASE_POSTGRESQL_PORT	Port used by the Postgresql database	int	5432
REDIS_HOST	The host of the redis database	string undefined	undefined
REDIS_PORT	Port used by Redis	int	6379
REDIS_PASSWORD	The password of the redis database	string
REDIS_DB	The index of the redis database	int	0
CUSTOM_SCORES_TIMEOUT	Seconds to consider a not-pinged server as unavailable	int	10
CUSTOM_IMAGE_PROXY	URL of an alternative server to convert images, this proxy must be compliant with the images.weserv.nl API (original or self-hosted). Eg supported value: https://images.weserv.nl/	string
CUSTOM_DOWNLOAD_FORWARD	Enable or disable 302 for download links and direct play, if enabled, transcoders need to have access to media files	bool	false
CUSTOM_SERVERS_LIST	Transcoder servers set by default, with a slash at the end, separate servers with a comma	string array	[]

• Configure Plex Media Server access address
• In Settings -> Server -> Network
• Set Custom server access URLs to the address to access the UnicornLoadBalancer
• Run with npm start

2. Notes

All requests to the Plex Media Server should pass through the UnicornLoadBalancer, if someone reach the server directly he will not be able to start a stream, since FFMPEG binary has been replaced. To solve this problem it is recomended to configure an iptable rule to drop direct access from port 32400. You also need to disable the relay feature in Plex settings AND remove the Plex Relay binary.
It is also recomended to setup a nginx reverse proxy in front of the UnicornLoadBalancer to setup a SSL certificate.

#Example iptable: Deny 32400 port
iptables -A INPUT -p tcp --dport 32400 -i [your-network-interface] -j DROP

After a 32400 port drop, you must define your server url and the port used (443 or 80) in Plex settings, if it's not configured you will not be able to access to your server from https://app.plex.tv

Disclamer

THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.

Pull Requests are welcome 😉