Wake up on lan/Plex

[Blownbyyou]

Okay, so I will start by saying that I am some what savvy in computers, but I know when I am in over my head! So I was hoping that I could get some help here (and yes I have googled but I was lost).

I have Plex setup on my htpc and I love it and its worked perfectly other than the computer occasionally falls asleep so i will have to wake it up to watch the movie. The problem comes now that my brother-in-law asked if he could watch my movies and I of course have to oblige (he is really awesome and has had alot adversity in his life).

So I want to set my computer up to wake up on LAN so I don't have to run it every day,

So I googled it and found that motherboard is compatible and I have turned WOL on in the bios. The part I am becoming scared on is messing with my router. I have a netgear WNDR3400 which does not have that capability, however I have read that if I use tomato (no idea wtf that is) I can import new settings to make it work...


So does this make anysense to anyone? Will I brick my router if I try this?


Also does WOL need a hard wired connection? I just realized my computer is wireless(for now)...

Click to read more...

 

[Intel]

tomato is an aftermarket firmware that allows a lot more options on your router. Think of it like an ECU tune for your car.

You can brick your router, just make sure you follow the instructions exactly.

Considering it is Wake on Lan it would have to be connected to the lan/ethernet connection.

 

[Eagle]

Create him his own account and allow him to power the machine up and down to watch?

WOL is something I've never worked with, but in theory, should do what you're looking for... Wifi support will depend on the device and what options it has, some cards support it while others do not.

 

[Blownbyyou]

[MENTION=340]Eagle[/MENTION]

How would I create him his own account? Wouldn't my computer still be sleeping when he wants to watch it?

 

[Eagle]

Is he local to the PC? Or is he streaming remotely?

 

[Blownbyyou]

Is he local to the PC? Or is he streaming remotely?

Streaming remotely...

 

[Blownbyyou]

Is he local to the PC? Or is he streaming remotely?

Streaming remotely...

 

[Thirdgen89GTA]

WOL requires that you be on the same VLAN/Subnet to send the WOL Packet.

So, someone accessing plex remotely over the internet wouldn't be able to wake Plex up.

There are methods around it using port forwarding, but nothing integrated directly into the Plex client itself that i know of.

 

[Blownbyyou]

WOL requires that you be on the same VLAN/Subnet to send the WOL Packet.

So, someone accessing plex remotely over the internet wouldn't be able to wake Plex up.

There are methods around it using port forwarding, but nothing integrated directly into the Plex client itself that i know of.

Is there anything you can point me to to try and figure it out?

 

[wombat]

Is there anything you can point me to to try and figure it out?

Setup a VPN? That way you can access it over the web, be on the same network to send the WOL packet.

i'd do a VPN before port forwarding/triggering

 

[Thirdgen89GTA]

Is there anything you can point me to to try and figure it out?

look into guides for home VPN (routers need to support it). Its harder to setup, but more secure. There are some drawbacks as it has more overhead.

There is also Port Forwarding. Your router also needs to support this, but its more widely supported. The negative is its less secure, you are opening a hole in your router through which someone could attack.

The easiest method would probably be to just not have the PC sleep. I do that with my NAS. Its always awake and running. 24/7/365.

Power usage is pretty low, around 50 watts, it goes into a low power mode, but never really sleeps. Goes to full power pretty quick and I don't even notice the power usage on my Electric bill.

 

[Blownbyyou]

look into guides for home VPN (routers need to support it). Its harder to setup, but more secure. There are some drawbacks as it has more overhead.

There is also Port Forwarding. Your router also needs to support this, but its more widely supported. The negative is its less secure, you are opening a hole in your router through which someone could attack.

The easiest method would probably be to just not have the PC sleep. I do that with my NAS. Its always awake and running. 24/7/365.

Power usage is pretty low, around 50 watts, it goes into a low power mode, but never really sleeps. Goes to full power pretty quick and I don't even notice the power usage on my Electric bill.

Is there any low power setting's per say? Or should I just not have it sleep...

 

[Thirdgen89GTA]

Is there any low power setting's per say? Or should I just not have it sleep...

Unless you have it disabled, its built into the OS as automatic.

Windows automatically enters the lower power states on newer processors without having to go to sleep.

 

[Blownbyyou]

Unless you have it disabled, its built into the OS as automatic.

Windows automatically enters the lower power states on newer processors without having to go to sleep.

So if I disable sleep it will go to a lower power mode? Coolio..

 

[Lord Tin Foilhat]

The way i have my plex server setup is so it shuts down at 12 and boots up at 7am (thru bios settings). The power usage is very minimum. You can buy a killawatt to see what kind of kwh usage you are using. My plex server costs about 50/ year to run it 17hrs/day 365 when i checked it.

For WOL its a little trickier. I personally havent looked into it for external network ability.

Tomato is very easy to flash on the router, just need to follow directions and make sure to do the 30/30/30 procedure while flashing.

Also you need to make sure that the plex computer automatically logs on the user on boot up otherwise the plex service wont start.

 

[Blownbyyou]

The way i have my plex server setup is so it shuts down at 12 and boots up at 7am (thru bios settings). The power usage is very minimum. You can buy a killawatt to see what kind of kwh usage you are using. My plex server costs about 50/ year to run it 17hrs/day 365 when i checked it.

For WOL its a little trickier. I personally havent looked into it for external network ability.

Tomato is very easy to flash on the router, just need to follow directions and make sure to do the 30/30/30 procedure while flashing.

Also you need to make sure that the plex computer automatically logs on the user on boot up otherwise the plex service wont start.

I think I will do that, this way the computer knows to shut down and atleast gets a little rest every day...

 

[Lord Tin Foilhat]

I think I will do that, this way the computer knows to shut down and atleast gets a little rest every day...

Yeah i just hate hearing it while i sleep

 

[Thirdgen89GTA]

So if I disable sleep it will go to a lower power mode? Coolio..

Its part of the firmware.

Some modern CPU's will shutdown extra cores when at idle. Say you have a 4 core CPU. At idle, you don't need 4 cores, so it will put 3 cores to sleep, and process all instructions through a single core.

They also drop the CPU speed down. A 2.7ghz i7 CPU might idle down to 1.2ghz with just a single core running. All of this happens without intervention from the operating system or user in most cases.

Eventually we will see something called "big.Little" designs. The CPU contains a very small, very power efficient core. This core is what runs the device until CPU load exceeds a threshold, then a much more powerful core, or set of cores, wakes up and does whats needed. When the demand is over, the big core goes back to sleep, leaving the little guy to do everything again.

This is already implemented in some mobile ARM processors for phones and tablets. You'll see it appear probably in the mobile CPU markets first, and eventually we'll see something like it on Desktop CPU's.

 

[TommyGloves]

Also you need to make sure that the plex computer automatically logs on the user on boot up otherwise the plex service wont start.

A little off topic...but you can run Plex as a Windows service without having to login with a desktop user. See here: https://forums.plex.tv/discussion/93994/pms-as-a-service

I run this on my Plex box with Windows 10.

 

[Fish]

The way i have my plex server setup is so it shuts down at 12 and boots up at 7am (thru bios settings). The power usage is very minimum. You can buy a killawatt to see what kind of kwh usage you are using. My plex server costs about 50/ year to run it 17hrs/day 365 when i checked it.

For WOL its a little trickier. I personally havent looked into it for external network ability.

Tomato is very easy to flash on the router, just need to follow directions and make sure to do the 30/30/30 procedure while flashing.

Also you need to make sure that the plex computer automatically logs on the user on boot up otherwise the plex service wont start.

I think that is standard to have Plex open on start up when you install.

A little off topic...but you can run Plex as a Windows service without having to login with a desktop user. See here: https://forums.plex.tv/discussion/93994/pms-as-a-service

I run this on my Plex box with Windows 10.

I have mine set up like this just in case my computer reboots for some reason and I am out and want to watch something.

I have been meaning to find out how to check the power consumption for my box. Mine runs non stop. Along with the box full of drives.

 

[Thirdgen89GTA]

I think that is standard to have Plex open on start up when you install.



I have mine set up like this just in case my computer reboots for some reason and I am out and want to watch something.

I have been meaning to find out how to check the power consumption for my box. Mine runs non stop. Along with the box full of drives.

Killawatt device. Plugs in between the computer and the wall and measures usage.

Only other way is to make educated guesses knowing the average volts/current listed on the devices.

My UPS shows me the load values, so it tells me how many watts i'm using. The one time I unplugged everything but the NAS, it was around 70 watts idling.