Update Libraries Script / Service

Hey Guys –

I’ve been a Kodi/XBMC user for a few years now and can’t say enough good things about it. I have a simple question, but first here’s my setup…

My primary Kodi system is a dedicated Windows box in my living room. It accesses all media locally over SMB from my “server” which is upstairs via a Wireless AC connection. As my library has gotten really big over the years, it’s taking forever to update / clean it – even when connected via gigabit ethernet as I have 32tb of media. I typically update the video library every 4 hours and clean once a day using the standard Kodi Library Update add-on. Even though all media is meticulously scraped with Kodi’s use in mind, I still have it use online sources for metadata.

This morning, I decided to install mySQL on my media server (Windows) and after doing so installed a new copy of Kodi onto the local server. After configuring advancedsettings and adding the same sources (via SMB even though local); it’s currently updating the libraries now therefore populating the databases. Once complete, I plan to reconfigure or perhaps rebuild the dedicated box downstairs. I use my server for many things and as it already remains on 24/7 plus has the fastest connection to the media, would like for it to perform all library updates / cleaning – however – do not wish to have a dedicated copy of Kodi running at all times on it.

Question #1
Is there a method / script / whatever which I could use or configure to run as a Windows service which would update / clean my libraries without having Kodi running on the system? I figured it would be a long shot, but wanted to ask. If not, I think my next best option would be to run a copy from a VM which is on a host local to the server.

Question #2
A bit over a year ago, I tried the “WatchDog” add-on. It was running from my living room Kodi box which was connected via 802.11n at the time but I seemed to get a lot of errors / confliction. I never looked much into the details of the issues and figured it was due to so much media trying to be managed over a tiny WiFi connection. If from now on I’m using mySQL plus planning on doing library maintenance from a system on or connected via gigabit ethernet, should it be something I revisit? What it offers would be ideal, but don’t know how it would work in my scenario. I’d much rather have a stable solution than one with more features.

Any suggestions, thoughts, or whatever else are appreciated – Thanks!