I want to make a server for hosting media through Jellyfin, and maybe some Nextcloud functionality. I prefer to use containers, but something like TrueNAS’ extensions/plugins sound good as well. This is my first server, so I don’t know what to choose. My possible options are:
- Debian
- Ubuntu
- Fedora
- TrueNAS Scale Which one should I choose? I am fine with using either Docker or Podman. (Edit: The server will be running on an old laptop with a single drive slot.)
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Debian
- What’s the hardware?
- Debian, imho
I love how every answer so far is Debian.
Debian is the correct answer.
Using a debian base (OMV6) with docker. Container is maintained by linuxserver.io
No issues so far beyond myself botching permissions but anyone competent should be able to do it.Same, but with the jellyfin/jellyfin image. Been solid for me, less dramas than raw on the OS. Two cores and 8GB for the VM (in Proxmox), media on a NAS, metadata on local SSD.
Based on that generic request, you’re just going to get everyone’s personal favourite server OS here. You’ll need to give more details to get something tailored to your needs.
True, but everyone’s favorite so far is debian
As it should be.
I would like to recommend an Ubuntu Server LTS which is almost as solid as Debian in my opinion but with many useful features like nonfree drivers accessible right away and newer packages.
nonfree drivers accessible right away
Non-free firmware is included in the Debian installer since Bookworm.
I’ve recently switched from Ubuntu Server LTS to Debian stable because Ubuntu started adding snaps to Server too, and the LTS support was restricted behind machine registration which doesn’t smell good to me.
I haven’t had to deal with any unusual driver support on Debian, probably because I use Intel CPU+GPU for transcoding not Nvidia.
The only external thing I’ve installed was adding the official Docker repo to have the latest Docker, docker-compose-plugin, containerd etc. straight from the source.
Probably Debian or Ubuntu
Debian’s great for this.
I’m also running NextCloud (the official AIO Docker image) on Debian. Great for that too.
It doesn’t matter what your host os is, if you’re using docker. Choose whichever one you like more
I tried truenas and was at first enamored but felt quite limited when it came to using docker compose. There are no official ways for using it. Additionally because it uses kubernetes under the hood it’s not as easy to go under the hood to make it work, as it requires knowledge of that in addition to docker. There is an unofficial docker compose package but there is almost no documentation that I could find and it seems to be largely unmaintained nowadays.
The other OS are good candidates, though through my research, if you are after reliability, people seem to prefer Debian with its more robust validation of updates.
I’m here mostly because I’m setting up my own homelab and I’m preparing for making use of Alpine Linux, which has no desktop environment which makes it particularly fast to boot. Additionally it is very robust, has decent documentation and allows for quite some customization but requires to learn a bit about how to make it work. With its barebone structure, it is more secure as it has a smaller attack surface and you only install what you need. Perhaps an alternative for you to consider?
Edit: to keep some sanity while needing to manage your homelab, make sure to put some weight on an os you are familiar with. I have juggled for months between OSs to find what does what I want but it has been a long battle of learning everything from scratch every time. Having tried proxmox, truenas, xcpng, and now hopefully settling with Alpine and zfs. Go the more sane way, any of those first three will work just fine.
Acronyms, initialisms, abbreviations, contractions, and other phrases which expand to something larger, that I’ve seen in this thread:
Fewer Letters More Letters LTS Long Term Support software version LXC Linux Containers NAS Network-Attached Storage SSD Solid State Drive mass storage VPN Virtual Private Network
[Thread #243 for this sub, first seen 26th Oct 2023, 10:25] [FAQ] [Full list] [Contact] [Source code]
I’m using Debian, with Docker and running Jellyfin, Nextcloud, Navidrome and Wireguard on Containers on my old laptop. So that would be my suggestion.
You could install CasaOS and/or Portainer, on top of Debian if you want an easier way to manage your server and containers.
Debian, Ubuntu and Fedora should be good (in that order); I’m not very aware on truenas to give an opinion, but it seems it will work just as well from other comments.
I personally use Fedora, and it’s been a solid experience too, with the only gripe bring SELinux. I required a fix for SELinux, but it has worked flawlessly since.
However SELinux might make it annoying to work with containers, so you could consider either switching it off, using another distro or using appropriate configurations to work with it correctly.
Why Ubuntu over Fedora?
No reason other than the fact that you need extra steps to get Jellyfin working in Fedora.
If you have the patience and time, as I mentioned, you can still use Jellyfin in Fedora.
Proxmox. I’ve been using it and deployed jellyfin in a container, they have a bunch of one-click deployments and it’s great. Or you can just use a VM to group Docker containers together. Having a beautiful web interface is huge, Plus being able to access that interface from anywhere via WireGuard/Tailscale is great.
If you do choose to go down this route, there is a “no-nag proxmox” script somewhere, and it will disable some warnings and give you deeper customization options. Well worth a look!
I’ve never used Proxmox, but have a Docker setup on Ubuntu Server with Jellyfin, Nextcloud, Immich, and a bunch of other smaller things. I still don’t understand why use Proxmox over Docker. What does it give you that Docker doesn’t?
Proxmox is completely different from Docker. Proxmox is focused on VMs, and to a lesser extent LXC containers. If you think you will have a need to run VMs (for example, a Windows VM for a game server that doesn’t support Linux) Proxmox is great for that.
I run Docker on a dedicated VM inside Proxmox, and then I spin up other specialized VMs on the same system when needed. The Docker VM only does Docker and nothing else at all.
I run proxmox, then an alpine VM which has all my docker containers.
I do this so that I have the flexibility to run more vms if needed
Proxmox isn’t an OS. It runs on top of Debian.
Debian or Fedora
Debian if you want something easy and stable, Fedora if you want latest updates and are comfortable with occasional SELinux settings, TrueNAS if you don’t want to spend any time at all setting up disks
Ubuntu if you want infinite dependency hell and 5 minute boot times
