MariaDB add-on instructions

1st Official Post

    Sorry if this is blatantly simple but I'm looking for instructions for the MariaDB add-on.

    Specifically, what happens with video sources? Should video sources be left in place? On a second box do I have to make sure the sources are the same before setting the box to use the DB on the main box?

    I've searched everywhere and I haven't found any step by step instructions on setting it up. I managed to get my the first system up and running but I'm not sure on the second one.

    • Official Post

    Sources solely define the locations Kodi can scrape to add new content into the Library (or can be browsed from the non-Library 'Videos' view). If you define sources on a box it can scan/update its DB, which in this case is a central/shared MariaDB instance. If you do not define sources, the device can only be used for playback of content that has already been added to the DB.

    Hey Chewitt,

    Thanks for your help. Man you respond to a lot of people on here!!

    The next thing I've run into is artwork. Thumbs and fanart. How do I go about making sure it shows up on all the boxes?

    I followed the MySQL instructions where it talked about the sharing artwork. The first add-on was incorporated into base kodi and I ran the script but that didn't fix anything. So far what I've done on the second system is set the content on the sources to NONE, cleared the DB and then set them back to movies and TV. Ran a scan and now the second box has all thumbs. I haven't had a chance to check system 1 to see if the thumbs there are messed up yet.

    Is there not a way to store thumbs and fanart on the NAS with the video files and then in advancedsettings define an artwork location. I see you do that with Playlists, Keymaps, Sources, RSS Feeds, Favourites and Network share passwords

    My apologies if this is more a Kodi question. Now that I think about it it really is more Kodi than LE.

    Thanks again for your guys work!

    • Official Post

    Thumbs and other artwork are downloaded and cached uniquely on each device, but should use common URL references to the original art locations which are stored with the media in the DB, so it's inefficient (multiple downloads, multiple caches) but you should end up with the same art images on all devices.

    • Official Post
    Quote from AGLyons

    Ran a scan and now the second box has all thumbs.

    What you could do is scan the initial Kodi client, and cache as many as thumbs as possible.

    Then copy the userdata/Database/Textures13.db file as well as the userdata/Thumbnails folder to all other connected Kodi clients. That way the other clients will not need to download all the art by themselves. From that point on, only new entries will be retrieved by internet by each client.