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?
Data:
I mounted my config to my host system and passed it through exactly due to the reason you mentioned. I had some situation which necessitated deleting stuff in /config or reading the log inside with tail.
Cache: When I used a Pi, I used a USB-key as a sacrifice storage to not hit the micro-sd for swap and fill up the limited RAM.
Now I have a SSD. Don’t care that much as I have daily backups
User: Linuxserver.io offers to map it to a host-user. The local user in the container is called “abc”. Just make sure the files have proper permissions
DLNA: Only matters if you have devices that can’t use the app like smart-TVs. Those usually can still interact via DLNA. No devices that matter = No issue.
I disabled it.