So as I look to build my first dedicated media server, I’m curious about what OS options I have which will check all the boxes. I’m interested in Unraid, and if there’s a Linux distro that works especially well I’d be willing to check that out as well. I just want to make sure that whatever I pick, I can use qbittorrent, Proton, and get the Arr suite working
I use Unraid on my NAS. I like it for storage, I don’t like it for running services. It’s still running my media stack, but only until I get that moved to a Debian server.
Depending on how involved you want to be and what you want to learn, Unraid might be a good fit for you. It’s easy and mostly just works.
I second UNRAID, but also for your media stack. I have my home server running UNRAID and around 20 services, with zero issues.
I’m sure any server oriented Linux distro will do fine. I use Debian.
I will note, I don’t know if you’re planning on having remote access (e.g. through tailscale or reverse proxy), but if you are, I found it quite a challenge to get proton to play nice with them
For newcomers I’d recommend docker and images like gluetun for setting up the VPN. It makes it easy to forward ports (for remote access) while keeping the torrent client behind the VPN.
What did you end up using instead? It’s not a necessity, but remote monitoring and access has come in very handy in the past
For a while I split tunneled tailscale through an openvpn .conf file, but recently switched to using qbittorrent in docker with gluetun. Qbittorrent is realistically the only service that needs to be behind a vpn so it works out well
I’m very happy running lxc containers in proxmox
This has worked well for me too, for many years now!
I just recently discovered proxmox and am slowly moving my docker containers off my NAS. Picked up a used Intel NUC, i5-8259, 32gb ram, 512gb HDD. It’s been great so far, very happy with its ability paired with proxmox.
any specific reason why switch?
Performance mostly, encoding is better, reducing load on my NAS and using it specifically for storage. Immich performs better as well, it’s pretty resource hungry I found. I also am planning to set up Frigate for home security and that’s the main reason I wanted something with a bit more power.
I assume any Linux or *BSD distro will work, especially one with Docker (which is most/all of them?) so you don’t have to worry about things being packaged for your distro so long as there’s a docker image. My server is Alpine Linux.
I use Alpine Linux for server-based stuff because it’s so light and the packages are kept up-to-date.
I’ve been running my stack on FreeBSD for a while now. I cannot recommend it enough; solid as a rock, no surprises. BSD license is different from GPL though, so some software cannot be migrated with the same name, but there are drop in replacements that are usually better anyway.
Software meaning Arr suite, or things like Proton VPN?
I have been fighting with Docker and Fedora on these exact items all weekend. Good luck
Now that Truenas Scale supports just plain Docker (and it’s running on Debian) I think it’s a great option for an all-in-one media box. I’ve had my complaints with Truenas over the years, but it’s done a really great job at preventing me from shooting myself in the foot when it comes to my data.
I believe raidz expansion is also now in stable (though still better to do a bit of planning for your pool before pulling the trigger).
The raidz stuff, as I understand it, seems pretty compelling. A setup where I can lose any given drive and replace it with no data loss would be very ideal. So I would just run TrueNAS scale, through which would manage my drives, and then install everything else in docker containers or something?
Easy, Linux. I prefer Arch based because of AUR.
I wouldn’t use Arch on a Server. Everything you install will probably be in a docker container anyway, so fast updates for system packages isn’t important compared to stability. Good choices would be Debian or Fedora Server. I personally use Fedora but the reason is just that I use Fedora on Desktop too, so I know they have really good defaults (They’re really fast in adopting new stuff like Wayland, Pipewire, BTRFS with encryption and so on) and it’s nice that Cockpit us preinstalled, so I can do a lot of stuff using a WebUI. Debian is probably more stable tho, with Fedora there is a chance that something could break (even though it’s still pretty small) but Devian really just works always. The downside is of course very outdated packages but, as I said, on a Server that doesn’t matter because Docker containers update independetly from the system.
Debian!
Always Debian.
I dunno what the best is, but if you choose nixos configure openvpn instead of trying to use the protonvpn package.
Just wanted to add that Wireguard is better than OpenVPN in every way and you should use that except when you want to use it for torrenting. I don’t know remember the reason but that’s the one time when you should be using OpenVPN. I think it had something to do with OpenVPN supporting TCP and Wireguard being UDP only or something like that.
Wireguard uses UDP which results in better latency and power usage (e.g. mobile). This does not mean Wireguard can’t tunnel TCP packets, just like OpenVPN also supports tunneling UDP.
I’m using Wireguard succesfully for torrenting.
As a note: while UDP is preferable for stability/power usage, UDP VPN traffic is often blocked by corporate firewalls (work, public free wifi, etc) and won’t connect at all. I run OpenVPN using TCP on a standard port like 80/443/22/etc to get through this, disguised as any other TLS connection.
Good point. Setting up shadowsocks and tunneling wireguard through is on my to-do list. I believe ss also works over TCP so it should work reliably in filtered networks.
interesting. proton has example openvpn configs on their site which was hugely helpful to me. dunno if they have wireguard equivalents, or if those are needed.
I’d be weird if they didn’t have Wireguard configs, Wireguard is basically the standard nowadays. It’s faster and safer (the code base is way smaller, so the chance of there being security vulnerabilities is a lot lower and can be fixed more easily).
Looks like they do have both openvpn and wireguard configs. Is it true that for torrenting openvpn is preferred? That’s basically the only reason I use vpn.
why? protovpn package has been working fine for me on nixos
edit: nevermind, in a server environment you should configure openvpn (i just use protonvpn on my desktop)
openmediavault + Docker or TrueNAS Scale
So openmediavault running on the server, and then use one of the other two to get PMS, Proton VPN, qbittorrent, etc.?
@DonnieDarkmode any linux distro you want with docker on it.
Debian with docker compose or podman.
That’s what I’m running. I’m sure you could squeeze more performance out of a specialized OS, but headless Debian is fast and easy enough.
This. Besides, stability beats out 2-5% performance gains any day of the week, for servers.
Are there any resources available for how to do this? I feel like I more or less understand how Docker works conceptually, but every time I try to actually use it, I feel in over my head very quickly
look for docker-compose + whatyouwant specifically, it’s way more straightforward. once you have one set up, it get easier adding on different software.
The best thing is: if something doesn’t work, you tweak the compose file instead of having to retype or edit a command.
And you can have a GitHub of your compose files and any supporting config files.
I don’t get how some people can raw dog a docker run command!
Search for dockstarter and trash guides. It will give you the foundations of what you need
I use Alma because RHEL is designed for enterprise stability. Debian is also a good option.
Just don’t use Ubuntu. They do too much invisible fuckery with the system that hinders use on a server. For basic desktop use it’s fine, but never for a server.
Just don’t use Ubuntu. They do too much invisible fuckery with the system that hinders use on a server.
Would that warning also apply to Mint, since it’s based on Ubuntu, as well as other Ubuntu-based distros?
Probably. I don’t know what Mint or others do under the hood, but I do know they’re definitely targeted at desktop use.
I wouldn’t use Mint or other desktop-focused OS for a server. Ubuntu’s advantage of newer packages gets largely negated by how long Mint takes to release a new major release, so I’d rather use Debian.
I do think Ubuntu is fine for servers too, like almost any other point release distro.
