this post was submitted on 01 Dec 2024
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Ko-Fi Liberapay
Ko-fi Liberapay

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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

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[–] [email protected] 8 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)

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).

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[–] [email protected] 5 points 3 weeks ago

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.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 3 weeks ago

I use Alpine Linux for server-based stuff because it’s so light and the packages are kept up-to-date.

[–] [email protected] 18 points 3 weeks ago (4 children)

I’m very happy running lxc containers in proxmox

[–] [email protected] 9 points 3 weeks ago

This has worked well for me too, for many years now!

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[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)

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

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

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

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[–] [email protected] 3 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

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.

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[–] [email protected] 15 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) (6 children)

I use Unraid and I'm loving it. Super stable, easy to manage, set up dockers, let's me pool my hard drives and set up parity. Highly recommend. Only thing that I've had a hard time with is finding a stable flash drive - you'd be surprised how many start to fail when used 24/7

[–] [email protected] 5 points 3 weeks ago

Came here to suggest unraid as well. There are probably better options, but for a first timer, I can’t imagine a better solution. The ability to just add a hard drive to the array with virtually not configuration, as well as adding up to two parity disks is great. Caching is super easy too.

Plus they now support zfs so there’s that.

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[–] [email protected] 4 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Like others in here, I also set mine up with Debian and docker compose. Since it's an always on server I wanted maximum stability. I don't use unRAID, so not sure about compatibility for that.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 3 weeks ago (4 children)

Data protection is a big concern. Is that something you have in your setup?

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[–] [email protected] -2 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) (1 children)

I'd assume its probably Linux even if it's the worst in terms of Proton support but, its not like you need all the bells and whistles.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Yeah I’m not surprised. Weak Proton support sucks, but for a dedicated media server it’s not the priority

[–] [email protected] 0 points 3 weeks ago

Yeah I mean its understandable why Proton does not prioritize Linux but its a bummer.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 3 weeks ago

Using debian 12.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) (1 children)

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.

Edit: but you should be doing most stuff in Docker anyway, so the actual OS isn't going to matter too much. If you're already comfortable with one base (Debian, RHEL) just use that one or a derivative.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)

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?

[–] [email protected] 9 points 3 weeks ago

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.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 3 weeks ago

Probably. I don't know what Mint or others do under the hood, but I do know they're definitely targeted at desktop use.

[–] [email protected] 40 points 3 weeks ago (8 children)

Debian with docker compose or podman.

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[–] [email protected] -2 points 3 weeks ago

@DonnieDarkmode any linux distro you want with docker on it.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 weeks ago

I'm sure there are better options, but I'm running proxmox as my host and a windows server VM for my suite.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)

I dunno what the best is, but if you choose nixos configure openvpn instead of trying to use the protonvpn package.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) (1 children)

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)

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 weeks ago

I was maybe doing it wrong, but it never worked for me while openvpn did. Glad it works for someone!

[–] [email protected] 3 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)

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.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)

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.

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[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 weeks ago (3 children)

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.

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[–] [email protected] 8 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Easy, Linux. I prefer Arch based because of AUR.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

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.

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