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
Depends on your experience, hardware, and other stuff.
You could easily use Debian or Ubuntu server and install Docker if all you want is those listed services installed on unRAIDed drives.
You could try something like Dietpi (which is what Ive used since I started self hosting) which simplifies a few things and gives some helpful scripts on top of a basic Debian installation. It’s a simple setup but still just plain ol’ Debian so easy to set up however you like.
You could use something like CasaOS or ZimaOS which offer Web interfaces and integrate with docker for those with a “no tech” background up to technical users.
ProxMox is an option, but takes a lot of learning proxmox-specific stuff and IMO might be a bit overkill for your first server.
Personally, I’d go for something accessible to your tastes because everything nowadays has some kind of “easy setup” path for Plex/Jelly + Arr. Once it’s set up, use it! Then once you need a big change for better hardware or more bespoke software setups then start digging into more fancy setups.
I actually want to prioritise the data protection of some sort of RAID setup, and support for torrenting and whatnot would be secondary to that. Really what I’m trying to avoid is installing and setting up my system only to find out that the OS I’ve picked is terrible for torrenting afterwards.
I have a workable setup on consumer Windows 11 right now, so I see the next step as having a dedicated Media Server box which can give me plenty of storage, data protection (right now a drive failure would wipe out half my server), and room for future expansion. Once that’s sorted, then I’ll look into the Arr suite and more advanced torrenting stuff. I want to pick something good for that stuff now, though, so I don’t have a ton of headache down the road
I think there’s some deffo better OSes than my suggestions for RAID setups and stuff, bar ProxMox. Maybe it is worth you looking into those options!
That being said, any OS can torrent shit just fine. If it can run Docker or other containers (so 99% of suggestions here) you’re set.
Maybe if you can spare the hardware try setting up a RAID on a couple of different ISOs to test em. That’ll be the harder, or more permanent, aspect of the setup I think.
I’m currently playing with setting up a home server on an old PC, using Proxmox as the main OS and using LXC and VMs for the services, not fully set up yet (still working on figuring out reverse proxy to make my services available on the internet)
It’s neat tho, and there’s some helpful scripts for installing various containers and things online.
I would need that because I’m basically starting from zero with learning all this stuff lol. Using Tautulli remotely is a challenge for me right now if that gives any indication of my level of knowledge here
remotely is a challenge for me right now
I’ve seen you mention this a few times and like mentioned elsewhere in here, set yourself a Tailnet up.
It’s fugging brilliant, the docs are wrote by some very clever people (note, I am best described as a copy / pasta person?) and are through, and you can use a github or even a Google account for authentication.
Even grabbing a cheapo raspberry pi4 gives you a 1GB port (the rpi3 only has a 100Mbps rj-45 port and would still suffice for lesser needs) for your own VPN Wireguard to home, that is P2P encrypted and can be used as an Exit Node / subnet router
ie: if you’re on someone else’s internet/cellular you can simply hit up your exit node to break out of any nanny filters, stop anyone else noseying at your traffic (obv bar your ISP seeing outgoing requests unless you have a another…VPN on your router), and also view and/or manage any devices on your home network/Tailnet by IP address.
Hell, I dumped a rpi down at a family members house that is part of the “stack” so I can help out remotely but it seems someone has knocked the aerial out of the HAT again :/
Best thing ever.
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.
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 have been fighting with Docker and Fedora on these exact items all weekend. Good luck
