People resoundingly suggested using containers. So I've been reading up. I know some things about containers and docker and what not. But there are a few decision points in the jellyfin container install instructions that I don't know the "why".

Data: They mount the media from disk, which is good cause it's on a NAS. But for the cache and config they use docker volumes. Why would I want a docker volume for the config? Wouldn't I want to be able to see it from outside the container easier? What am I gaining by having docker manage the volume?

Cache: I saw a very old post where someone mentioned telling docker to use ram for the cache. That "seems" in theory like a good idea for speed. I do have 16gb on the minipc that I am running this all on. But I don't see any recent mentions of it. Any pros/cons?

The user. I know from work experience that generally you don't want things running as root in the container. But... do you want a dedicated user for each service (jellyfin, arr*)? Or one for all services, but not your personal user? Or just use your personal user?

DLNA. I had to look that up. But I don't know how it is relevant. The whole point seems to be that jellyfin would be the interface. And DLNA seems like it would allow certified devices to discover media files?

The last post on the subject I could find was a year ago. So thought I would ask again. I have debian 12 up on miniPC and I have my NAS mounted. My intention is to use jellyfin and some of the arr* stuff. I know only a little about systemd (I just google what I need to know). I have some contianer knowledge, but mostly in k8s. And the docker parts aren't really my problem. But I have a vague understanding of docker. What are the latest pros and cons of containers vs service installation?

Edit: The opinions were unanimous. Containers it is.

I have jellyfin, qbittorrent, radarr, sonarr, prowlarr. I end up with copies of things I download in two places, media folder, and then in a radarr or sonarr subfolder. Radarr and sonarr are configured to have their own dirs. Jellyfin has media libraries for movies and shows pointing to those same subdirs. But qbittorrent has a default save dir of the media dir.

If I delete something in jellyfin, it gets deleted only from the subfolder, not the media folder.

I thought that radarr and sonarr would tell qbittorrent where to download to... and it would be their subdirs. So what is making the copy in media? And is there some reason I should have these extra copies?

So my plan based on reading was to get a mini pc and a nas. But then I realized... what is the best way to connect them. So I started doing more reading. And I confused myself.

So a NAS has it's own CPU and such, and other computers can talk directly to it over the network. But if I am using a mini pc to run the server, then I assume I would want a really fast direct connection to the storage. So it seems like I would want the NAS to be on the network as well as directly connected to the mini PC. And of course the mini pc would need to be on the network as well. Stuff I saw about connecting them directly seemed to pretty much use the Ethernet ports and a crossover cable. So that would mean that both devices would have to have two Ethernet ports, right?

And the bonus question is, would it just be better for the NAS to really be a dumb DAS for the mini pc instead?

Edit to summarize: For having two devices, the consensus is that LAN is good enough (just make sure you have a decent switch between them). A few like doing it all on one device for a variety of reasons.

So I am finally going to get around to setting up a dedicated media server with network storage and all that. I have previously read up and decided on this Beelink Mini S12 PC. But I have heard about lots of problems with some of the latest intel chips and such. Does that affect this mini pc?

And since it has been nearly a year, is that still the best idea for a media server? I mostly want it to be quite since it is always on, and I don't want to hear it down the hall in my bedroom at night like my current windows pc. But outside of that, whatever works best. It seems pretty inexpensive compared to what I was expecting.

I have some stuff where my language is not the default audio track. I can't figure out how to tell it to change the track when using the jellyfin app on roku. Am I missing something?

I have jellyfin running on window 11. Things were working fine. Then yesterday my monitor stopped turning off after 15 minutes like it should. This happens every few months or so. So I rebooted, which often fixes it. When I did, jellyfin won't work anymore. I start it manually. So I click to start it, I see it show up in my taskbar on the far right, then go away. When I click on the up arrow, I can see the jellyfin icon, until I mouse over it. Then it goes away. So clearly it is crashing...

I went to the log dir, and the log file isn't updating when I launch. And the last entries are pretty mundane as well as before it started crashing.

I tried running the same command the icon was running in a cmd window, (Jellyfin.Windows.Tray.exe), and it did the same thing but no output like I was hoping. Tried adding a help arg... nothing.

Tried rebooting again of course. No luck.

So any ideas on how to debug this?

I am pretty new at all this. But I got jellyfin and such setup on my window box. I have a roku client and all that working. So now it is time to look into a standalone box to run 24/7. But I don't know what specs matter.

I have read that I need at least a 6th gen intel i7 or i5 to take advantage of a feature that helps with this sort of thing.

But outside of that. Does ram matter? How much of a drive do I need on the box? (Going to get a NAS for real storage). Any other specs that matter? I am hoping to go fanless (not because I know anything, but cause I want it to be silent), is that ok? And which flavor of linux is the most popular?