Running a building-only webserver

[kenanderson]

We've actually successfully set up a Plex media server and installed Rokus on all of our TVs in our Stake Center. I've put all of the seminary and institute videos on the media server and we are in the process of scheduling training for seminary and sunday school instructors.

We went with our own media server (not an out-of-the-box server) because Plex allows for streaming video transcription so multiple devices can connect to it, not just the Rokus. That streaming transcription takes more processing power than a pre-built box would give, especially when streaming 20 videos at once. That being said, we are using an i5 processor, 16GB ram and 2x500G hard drives. It's a very simple and fairly cheap configuration, but it is more than sufficient for the 600+ people that could be in the church at any given time. Technically we only have ~100 people connected to the network and only 1 or 2 Rokus running at the same time, so we've been able to handle the load pretty successfully.

The biggest challenge was dealing with the network and the regular changes that come from CHQ every month or so. Rokus don't do well at finding Plex servers without setting it up in the config and then making sure both the Rokus and Plex server have static IPs. We've resolved that internally, but it may be tricky when relying solely on the church's Firewall to maintain IPs.

I'd be interested to hear how anyone else has done it or if there is a way to get the Firewall to play nice w/ Plex/Roku config.

[johnshaw]

As a note, If you're building has multiple IP ranges, make sure you include multiple static IP's on the Plex Server... that'll be fixed once we go to the new system, but until then.

the firewall is tricky, but if you've purchased your own computers, just follow the Port requirements for Plex and you'll get it...

[russellhltn]

As a note, If you're building has multiple IP ranges, make sure you include multiple static IP's on the Plex Server... that'll be fixed once we go to the new system, but until then.

Frankly, I'd call GSC and ask to go onto the new system now. It would be easier.