I want to use Jellyfin on Proxmox, if that is a thing. After reading a post here where most people recommended Debian as host OS I want to make a VM running Debian and install Jellyfin Server there.
Now I have a few questions:
-
I see many people install Jellyfin via docker. Does that have any advantages? I would prefer to avoid docker as it adds a level of complexity for me.
-
where do I save my media? I have a loose plan to run a second VM running openMediaVault where all my HDDs are passed through and then use NFS to mount a folder on the Jellyfin VM. Is that a sane path?
-
what do I have to consider on Proxmox, to get the best hardware results on Jellyfin? Do I need some special passthrough magic to get it running smoothly? I don’t have a dedicated GPU, does that make the configuration easier?
Your head might be spinning from all the different advice you’re getting - don’t worry, there are a lot of options and lots of folk are jumping in with genuinely good (and well meaning) advice. I guess I’ll add my two cents, but try and explain the ‘why’ of my thinking.
I’m assuming from your questions you know your way around a computer, can figure things out, but haven’t done much self-hosting. If I’m wrong about that, go ahead and skip this suggestion.
- Jellyfin good - a common gateway drug to homelabbing, and the only thing you’ll do that non-tech friends will appreciate
- Proxmox good - it makes the backups simple and provides a path forward for all sorts of things
- Docker good - you’ve said it increases complexity; this is correct in that you’re adding more layers of stuff, but it reduces your complexity of management by removing a heap of dependency issues. There is a compute and memory overhead involved, but it’s small and the tradeoff is worth it.
- VM good - yes an LXC is more efficient, but it’s harder to run docker in. Save that for a future project
- Media data somewhere else good - I run a separate NAS with an SMB share. A NAS in a VM is a compromise, but like all things self hosting, you start out with what you’ve got. I let Jellyfin keep the metadata in the VM that’s hosting my Jellyfin though since the NAS is over the network. That’s less of a consideration if you are visualizing your NAS on the same machine, but I’d still do it my way for future proofing.
- Passthrough magic not yet - this can also be a future project. If your metal has quicksync that can be utilized to reduce the CPU load, but that can also be a future project.
That summarized my situation pretty good. Since a year now I switched everything to Linux, selfhosting seems to be a natural extension of that.
May I ask, since you have a very beginner-friendly way of writing:
I run a separate NAS with an SMB share.
Why did you choose SMB instead of NFS? I read here that NFS is very efficient and fast.
Docker good
Many people here have very convincing arguments for docker. While checking it out I saw that it uses partly proprietary licenses. Why are so many people so sure that docker won’t pull a ‘Unity-stunt’ and make their knowledge about docker obsolete?
LXC is more efficient, but it’s harder to run docker in.
I meant to install a Jellyfin LXC, if there is such a thing, without docker involved. Is that possible?
The Docker engine itself, meaning the
dockerddaemon, its APIs and thedockerCLI, are all under Apache 2.0. The non-free parts are mostly in their Docker Desktop offering, which is mostly a convenience GUI and not absolutely necessary (the easiest, on Windows and macOS, probably, but not the only one) to run Docker on most platforms.
