You can definitely run it on those sorts of machines. You’ll want plenty of storage, but apart from thst it’s not too demanding if you don’t load it up with very high res videos.
Comment on Netflix kills casting from phones
RalphFurley@lemmy.world 12 hours agoDoes anyone know if it’s possible to run a self-hosted Jellyfin server without having to run an entire data center on your house? I could do something simple like a NUC or equivalent and a tiny NAS, anything else?
notabot@piefed.social 5 hours ago
grue@lemmy.world 9 hours ago
NUCs (8th-gen or later Intel) are pretty much ideal for serving Jellyfin because the Intel integrated graphics can do video transcoding and the software is actually not very demanding otherwise, so the low-power CPUs are fine.
fishos@lemmy.world 9 hours ago
I run a cheaper Bee-Link mini PC for mine with an attached hard drive array. They really don’t need much power. Storage is your biggest issue(I’m up to ~40TB)
Postmortal_Pop@lemmy.world 11 hours ago
I have my jellyfin running on ubuntu server on a 12 year old PC with a bunch of salvaged HDDs added in, plugged into my standard home internet. I have like 10 people I share it with. So far it’s not made a noticeable dent in either the internet usage or the electric.
handsoffmydata@lemmy.zip 8 hours ago
Your biggest issue self hosting JF will likely be port forwarding and the infrastructure required so external users can connect via WAN. Plex abstracts a lot of this away since you just have to open the port and Plex will access your library and broker the data between your server and the client. This now requires the server owner have a Plex Pass. The easiest way to host JF is allowing users LAN access via WireGuard (pivpn) but then you start hitting limitations to which devices they can install WireGuard on (smart tvs). I use Plex and JF, Plex for external users since I bought the lifetime pass 10 years ago, and JF as a backup as the enshittification of Plex continues full steam.
Jyek@sh.itjust.works 6 hours ago
Don’t port forward Jellyfin. That’s terribly insecure. Just install tailscale or similar and invite the people you wish to allow access.
handsoffmydata@lemmy.zip 5 hours ago
Don’t port forward Jellyfin. That’s terribly insecure. Just install tailscale or similar and invite the people you wish to allow access.
I don’t disagree with you. My earlier comment that mentions port forwarding and infrastructure comes from guides that direct admins to set up a tunnel through Cloudflare, expose JFs port at the router, and point the tunnel at it. Not only is it insecure and likely to offer poor performance, it’s probably a violation of CF ToS (tunneling video data). Going the Plex or pivpn routes will require a port being forwarded, Plex more a beginner option, pivpn only slightly more complicated, but both still expose an attack surface. Tailscale looks appealing from a security perspective, no port forwarding required, plus I find full mesh networks really neat. I just don’t want to rely on tailscale’s coordinated servers to stand between my network devices since I rely on WireGuard for more than media streaming. Tailscale is definitely a great solution for users with CGNAT-based ISPs though.
Jyek@sh.itjust.works 4 hours ago
Tailscale actually uses wire guard as well. It can also be used as an exit node for mullvad so you can use tailscale as your full stack vpn solution.
Addv4@lemmy.world 11 hours ago
You absolutely can. Currently running mine off of my desktop, but it’s overkill and have a few coworkers that used nucs/cheap mini PCs to setup jellyfin. Biggest thing is to make sure you have enough storage to hold all of your media, then you’re fine.
LiveLM@lemmy.zip 10 hours ago
I could do something simple like a NUC or equivalent and a tiny NAS
Literally me rn. A tiny second-hand Dell Optiplex with a 8th gen i3 and a 2TB SSD.
Maybe not the most future thinking solution since it can only fit 2.5" HDDs and NVMe’s, which are both more expensive than conventional big fat HDDs, but hey, works great.
If you can find one for cheap locally and get a decent deal on a compatible drive you’re set. You could stretch a Terabyte or two for a looooong while as long as you’re not trying to host Jellyfin for too many people.quackerjo@lemmy.wtf 11 hours ago
You can probably run it off your existing hardware just using an external drive(s).
fishos@lemmy.world 9 hours ago
Mine runs on a mini PC(NUC) hooked up to a hard drive array for the storage. So it’s basically a tiny PC and another box full of hard drives(not required, but you’ll need space somehow…). Pc was around $250.
Very easy and you don’t need to set up an actual “server rack”. Hell, you can use an old laptop.
AnUnusualRelic@lemmy.world 10 hours ago
But then won’t your rack look a bit empty?
Evotech@lemmy.world 9 hours ago
I just run it on my gaming tower
cupcakezealot@piefed.blahaj.zone 11 hours ago
i mean i’m only using it for me and my family but i just run it on my desktop linux (and before i switched i was running it on my desktop windows with scoop install jellyfin)
vodka@feddit.org 12 hours ago
There’s people running old raspberry pis with USB hard drives.
It’ll run on just about anything.
Though, you’ll only be able to stream original quality, no on the fly quality changes for low speed connections and such.