MySQL Setup

Sorry if this is already asked and answered. i searched around, but didnt see anything answering my question

i have a hard drive connected to my RPi in my living room, and by itself everything works fine. i just got another for my bedroom, so i am trying to set up mysql, so that i can have the library and files shared between the two. i am following the guide on the official Kodi wiki, and both setups are using the most recent OSMC update on RPi3. everything goes well until i have to add media sources back on to the library.

the guide says to add the source as an SMB connection, but im not able to. do i need to set up the HDD so that its not directly connected to any RPi, or am i jsut not adding it right?

Well MYSQL is just ensuring that your library is shared between the two boxes. You then would also need a method to share the content of the HDD (e.g. Samba Server from Appstore).
After you have done that you can just add the source as usual just on the remote OSMC you would need to use path substitution (search for it on Kodi page)

The path to your shared folders must be the same on both machines. You can access a network share on the machine that shares it using a smb path (loopback connection) For example machine A, ip 192.168.1.10 shares the media folders via smb, they are mounted at /media/Videos and are shared as smb://Videos You would set the path in sources.xml as smb:192.168.1.10/Videos as both machines can access the files from this path.

People often don’t realize that you can access samba shares using the network path from the machine that hosts them

@Dilligaf, wouldn’t it be more performant to use direct file access on the local machine and to use path substitution on the other machine?

Personally I avoid path substitution so setting up a new install consists of copying over advancedsettings, sources and passwords.xml with no editing involved :slight_smile:

Fair enough

i was trying to add the hdd as a smb source through OSMC, but wasnt able to get it to work. would i have to edit the sources.xml directly?

No need for manual editing. But did you install the samba server?

Yeah, samba server is installed from the app store.

So what is the problem when you try to add it as a smb source?
Explain clearly what you are trying to do and what are the issues you have (maybe with screenshots) and also add debug enabled logs.

Did you get this going? XBMC/OSMC have had an ongoing issue adding samba Windows sources where sometimes you can’t browse to them then the next day maybe you can, I think it’s a Windows problem. I have come into the habit of just manually editing sources and passwords.xml files

i had a bunch of stuff come up, and havent been able to try again since my last post.

i tried installing emby, which is a good enough solution when it works, but it keeps causing me to crash. but i guess thats an issue for a different thread