Selfhosted @lemmy.world suntzu @lemmy.dbzer0.com 10 mo. ago

pooling media libraries - like distributed storage

I run a full media server, as well do a few friends. Now we had the idea to share our media libraries. In a first quick attempt we, mounted each other's library folder via an smb share and imported those in jellyfin (all servers connected by VPN) Works quite well, but is kind of cumbersome the more people get in. I had the following idea: distributed storage, not as in redundancy, but more like mergerfs. Each "node" allocates a certain amount of storage, say node A, B and C provide 1TB each, these get fused into a singe mount that shows up as 3TB volume. If one node goes offline, the volume will only be 2TB and all files on the offline node will of course be unavailable.

Did a bit of research and found stuff like ceph,.glusterfs or seeweedfs, all of which I guess have a lot more functionality and thus are quite complicated and a little over my head. Do you do something like that or have any good ideas how to do that easily?

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42 comments

I use Plex instead of jellyfin, but there's the ability to just add a friends library and it pulls in without mounting anything. I thought Jellydin had that as well?
- I run Plex too, and indeed library sharing is built right in and ridiculously easy to set up.
  
  I think OP is already doing things the best way possible in Jellyfin by mounting others' servers remotely over VPN
- plex uses a centralized service for this kinda of nonsense. most of us are using standalone server products.
  
  this use case calls for either centralized storage (s3 bucket) or access mechanism(all them vpns) to distributed channels (ala plex)... but friends dont let friends use plex.
  
  im curious about ipfs as distributed file systems sound like a new kink i should have
  
  but friends dont let friends use plex.
  
  I would love to get rid of Plex, but jellyfin failed the spouse test last summer and it never really liked my GDrive mount
  
  Plus, Plex clients are everywhere, so it's all but guaranteed that whoever I decide to onboard is going to have something compatible. I've even had early smart TV's from like 2013 with that weird Yahoo app store thing that had a Plex app that still worked even when the Netflix app didn't lolol
  
  Funnily enough, my wife is the only person who likes jellyfin. It works perfectly for her. Everyone else? I've never had it work even once. And I have no damn idea why.
  
  ha, i feel ya on the spouse. in the house i use local kodi on pis with a shared backend. that same source runs jellyin for the kids/outside the house
  
  ive had the same interface for the wife on kodi/xbmc for probably 10 years
  
  ive found kodi+jellyfin fits all my use cases
  
  tell me why i shouldn't use plex as I'm always tempted by it whenever these threads come up and everyone who uses it is so happy.
  
  But free/libre is so much more delicious.
  
  But don't let the perfect be the enemy of the good.
  
  Does Plex work for you? Keep using it.
  
  Jellyfin is nice but has a long way to go to replicate the features of Plex [like PlexAmp and Sonic Analysis] and features that are “Plex adjacent” [like Tautulli].
  
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  Does Jellyfin have:
  
  A dedicated music app?
  Music filtering/smart playlists? Sonic analysis?
  Good 4k/x265 performance?
  Has a third party (or built in) utility that shows me streaming usage per person?
  Allows me to limit remote users to streaming from a single IP address at a time?
  Let’s me watch something together with another remote user?
  Has an app for most any device (like Plex or Emby) that does NOT require sideloading?
  Has built in native DVR steaming/recording support?
  Two factor authentication?
  
  When it does, I’ll switch.
  
  I know you want a single 'yes' for the whole package which is fair, and Jellyfin doesn't offer all of these things, but I'll at least mention:
  
  A dedicated music app?
  
  Its FOSS and there are several excellent apps in my experience worth looking into. I absolutely love feishin (for jellyfin or navidrome). On android I've liked finamp and Gelli.
  
  Music filtering/smart playlists?
  
  smart playlists - Not that I know of
  
  Sonic analysis?
  
  not that I know of
  
  Good 4k/x265 performance?
  
  I actually am not sure what issues you have here. Are you talking about transcoding it? I most often use native play and so long as the device receiving x265 can handle it I've never had issues
  
  Has a third party (or built in) utility that shows me streaming usage per person?
  
  https://github.com/CyferShepard/Jellystat
  
  Allows me to limit remote users to streaming from a single IP address at a time?
  
  single IP, I am not sure. But you can limit the number of simultaneous connections they can have (e.g. only one stream, etc). I realize that doesn't have the same exact result in edge cases.
  
  Let’s me watch something together with another remote user?
  
  Yes. Syncplay exists on it. I have had good experiences with both users in browsers app. But on webos TV app it doesn't work for me.
  
  Has an app for most any device (like Plex or Emby) that does NOT require sideloading?
  
  Pretty sure they have webos/android TV apps, android, iOS, a desktop player, web interface. I have first hand experience with android, web interface, Linux/windows, webos. There is a roku app, but I don't knknow if it requires sideloading.
  
  Has built in native DVR steaming/recording support? Jellyfin DVR capabilities exist, but I can't speak to them.
  
  Two factor authentication? Unfortunately, not. I think there are hack ways to pass it through other validators/credentials, but I agree it needs native support of some kind.
  
  For the music gripes - honestly, navidrome IMO. If folks are happy with experience with Plex for everything, I am happy for them, but libraries specialized for media types can have big benefits and focused features.
  
  Video: Jellyfin (or Plex)
  
  Music: Navidrome
  
  Audiobooks: audiobookshelf
  
  Podcasts: still searching. I partially use Audiobookshelf here but don't love it for podcasts.
  
  I’m looking for the truth, not just a blanket “yes”.
  
  I’ve really become into the Plex music app over the iOS music app; it does so much more (especially with the sonic analysis)
  
  Not transcoding x265; solid x265 playback without transcoding.
  
  Will have to look at Jellystat and see how it compares to Tautulli
  
  2FA is pretty important, though I know that’s offset by the fact that you can authenticate locally.
  
  I dia just find this: https://forum.jellyfin.org/t-jellyfin-authentik-duo-2fa-solution-tutorial
  
  Which claims app compatible 2FA via authentik
  
  Yeah, while it is technically 2FA it’s not nearly as easy as it is setting it up for Plex.
  
  Agreed.
  
  Nothing like a sonic analysis that I know of jellyfin.
  
  Never had issues with x265 other than for devices that don't have the computation power to decompress. Direct play to my TV with 4K streams have always been excellent.
  
  It could heavily limit apps, but you could use authentik/authelia to enable access to jellyfin, so external access requires MFA. Internally apps could access the local IP normally without authentik. But bouncing off authentik first would likely prevent most (all?) Apps from working externally - you'd likely only have the webui externally. Can't think of a solid solution until Jellyfin natively supports 2FA
  
  Looked at the setup directions; is it not where as simple/easy as Plex’s 2FA.
  
  last time i checked plex required an account on their service. thats a big red flag for people who host their own shit.
  
  This
  
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  Can you not just use a reverse proxy for your jeyllfin server and add multiple servers to the same client?
  
  jellyfin addresses files locally. i dont know how you could stitch together remote machines
  
  I'm surprised the client doesn't support switching between servers. When I had jellyfin running I exposed it through traefik to allow external playback. Figure it would make sense that you could just show multiple servers in the UI. Add several reverse proxied addresses and boom.
  
  You definitely can. Idk why the commentor above you thinks its local only?
  
  I have two severs I swap between exactly like you describe.
  
  Thats what I thought.
  
  Then I have multiple jellyfin servers in the app.... That's not what I want, I want a single mount where all the media of all nodes is accessible
  
  yeah, that might work for what op is tryin to do, maybe, assuming jellyfin fits his client needs

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