Inspired by “What’s a good piece of hardware to run a jellyfin server?” I wanted to get the communities thoughts on how to set up my home media server.

Current hardware: Apple Mac mini “Core i7” 2.3 (Late 2012) with 8GB RAM (2x4GB) and 1.0TB Mercury Electra 6G SSD that I upgraded

OS: OMV6 (6.9.14-1 (Shaitan))

Docker containers:

Goal:

  • Use this old Mac Mini for as long as possible as a media server. Be able to download with Transmission over VPN and then add them to a Plex media folder via SMB on my Mac Studio. I want to manage the containers in Portainer and I’ve used Stacks/Compose to add most of the containers. Use the discrete GPU for hardware accelerated transcoding, mostly so I can download movies to my iPad quicker, less so other people can use it remotely. The containers should restart if they stop and I want to keep them updated automatically if possible. I’ve not experimented with Servarr yet (Radarr, Sonarr), not opposed, but also happy to drag them over.

Problems:

  • I don’t love OMV, I seem to have a recurring DNS issue with containerd that causes Plex to stop whenever I’m watching a movie. I can run a test and leave something playing all day and not have a problem, then whenever I want to watch something with my wife, the whole system becomes unavailable and I have to watch a ping until it comes back. I’m considering a new OS, it should be accessible via VNC/SSH and have my internal and external drive shared as a SMB share to my Mac. I can’t figure out how to get the GPU to be seen by OMV so everything is on the CPU, an OS where this is easier is preferred.

Questions:

  • Any OS recommendations to use instead of OMV6?
  • Advice on getting the discrete GPU seen in whatever OS I use?
  • I can’t tell if it’s Haugene causing the DNS issue, I’m using public Google/CloudFlare DNS to avoid using my PiHole that runs on a Pi3b. Can I set up Docker to use a different network so it doesn’t bring my whole system’s IP down? It might also be Watchtower updating a container and bring it down, any advice to troubleshoot would be appreciated.

Disclaimer:

  • IT guy, but mostly Mac. I can Google my way through most things, but I am NOT a Linux or Docker expert. So please go easy on me if I have any follow up questions!

Thank you in advance!

  • robalees@lemmy.worldOPEnglish
    0·
    5 months ago

    You are right, no discrete, I was confusing it with an older MBP (“Core i7” 2.8 15" Early 2013) I have. I might have a look at Proxmox, I like the idea of being able to segment the networks a little easier in a VM. I might need to go back to the Haugene documentation, I think they suggest public DNS, but I can try IVPNs DNS. Honestly does it make more sense to buy a NAS (Synology) and run Docker/Plex off that? If I drop the $ on some nice drives and RAM, would that be easier to manage and perform better? I’d like to not worry with 4K content on my home Apple TV and be able to have some people remotely connect if they wanted. Also tempted to use the Mac Mini for VPN/Transmission, then setup a cron rsync to my Mac Studio and use that for Plex.

    • CurbsTickle@lemmy.worldEnglish
      0·
      5 months ago

      Use your VPNs DNS, and make sure to test that the IP seen publicly is your VPNs. There are a bunch of simple torrent tests out there for that.

      No need to set up cron/rsync if you use the *arrs. They will handle fetching, renaming, upgrading, moving, etc.

      Related to those two above, and the Proxmox recommendation, here is what I do:

      • Set up an LXC (another type of container, lightweight but with a closer to VM in use - really useful) and make it run all your docker containers.
      • Instead of a container that combines the torrent client and VPN, have a distinct VPN container that other containers can connect to. You can also have it set up where if the VPN connection goes down, it stops working - this is safer.
      • Your torrent client will connect to that VPN container for network access.
      • Prowlarr (connects to all of your indexers) can then be set to use that network to search for torrents as well.
      • Sonarr, Radarr, etc don’t need to connect to that VPN container, since Prowlarr is what they would be querying.

      Your Mac Studio would definitely be better for Plex unless you’re going to avoid transcoding entirely. If you are going to do direct stream only (and that means some subtitle types will be a problem btw), you can put Plex in a VM.

      Now a synology that can handle Plex and transcodes is an option, but in my opinion you’re better off with a 6th gen or higher Intel machine that’s cheap (preferably 10th for the latest capabilities, 8th for more transcoding options than 6, but 6th is good enough for most people). I have two synology NASs that could be used for Plex and an xpenology VM, and I don’t go that route because a $100-$200 business desktop (tiny/mini/micro) is more capable.

      With 4K content, id lean toward using a 10th gen chip, there are some options with quick sync iGPUs though in cheaper lineups from modern gens that do a great job though (beelink, s12pro specifically with the alder lake n100, though any with the n100 would be the same).

      This can seem like a TON of setup, but honestly once you get the handle on managing a few containers it is just so much easier than other options.

      • robalees@lemmy.worldOPEnglish
        0·
        5 months ago

        This is incredibly helpful CurbsTickle!

        Sorry this is probably a super dumb DNS questions, should I be setting my OMV DNS to the IVPN DNS or just my Transmission/OVPN Docker stack? I tried using the OpenVPN DNS here and it doesn’t connect when set in the stack, OMV or both. I also have PiHole on a Pi (maybe I can move that to Proxmox and use 1 system?), which is why I was using the Google Public DNS in OMV and the Haugene stack which seemed to work, apart from the weird issue I’m seeing randomly.

        Honestly, I might scrap this configuration and put the time into getting Proxmox setup on this machine, try to get it in a good working order and then look at a tiny/mini/micro for later down the line. I’ve started watching more Anime and honestly the subtitle transcoding worries me a bit!

        Any personal preferences or suggestions on hardware outside of the beelink s12pro which I’m checking out? I’m also hoping to cannibalize the SSD which isn’t that old, the RAM might be useless at this point.

        Also any guides/tutorials you can suggest for getting a working Proxmox setup running similar to yours?

        • CurbsTickle@lemmy.worldEnglish
          0·
          5 months ago

          Only your container with VPN connection and transmission would be using the VPN’s DNS

          With regards to the pihole, yeah I’d run that as a container on proxmox (there are some handy scripts by [tteck](https://tteck.github.io/Proxmox/, though I’m not generally a fan of running shell scripts off the net like this it is easy). But I wouldn’t get rid of the pi, I’d keep it as your secondary. Single point of failure means it will drive you nuts if you have to reboot the server, everything will be down.

          Outside of the beelink, it’s just the tiny/mini/micro options from Lenovo/HP/Dell, and then by generation of CPU. The beelink is a popular choice, but personally I like the power that an i5/i7 will give me, and I’ve got a couple of machines with 32GB and 64GB of ram - throwing 16GB at a VM I can access remotely for Windows apps is super useful, and I can otherwise live in my Linux desktop.

          I’d also say you don’t have to toss the 2012 Mac mini, you can grab some bits you want (SSD), but you can drop in a replacement and make it another proxmox host. Even run your second pihole there.

          In terms of guides, sorry don’t really have any on specifically my setup no. But there are ones out there to learn how to set up an LXC as a docker host, docker networking, guides to the *arrs being set up, etc.

          Such as this one for a VPN container, and docker-compose samples for having other containers use that network: https://www.naturalborncoder.com/linux/2021/02/19/making-a-docker-container-use-a-vpn/

          For a good start on how to set up (after the containers are running) sonarr/Radarr/etc, check out: https://trash-guides.info/

          And you can always ask questions in the various home server communities here (and elsewhere on the fediverse obviously).

          Good luck!