jellyfin Installation Guide Installation Guide

jellyfin is a free and open-source free software media system. Jellyfin is a free and open-source media server for hosting and streaming your media library, serving as an alternative to Plex, Emby, or commercial streaming solutions

Hardware Requirements:

CPU: 2+ cores (4+ for transcoding)

RAM: 2GB minimum (4GB+ recommended)

Storage: 100GB+ for media storage

Network: Stable network for streaming

Operating System:

Linux: Any modern distribution (RHEL, Debian, Ubuntu, CentOS, Fedora, Arch, Alpine, openSUSE)

macOS: 10.14+ (Mojave or newer)

Windows: Windows Server 2016+ or Windows 10

FreeBSD: 11.0+

Network Requirements:

Port 8096 (default jellyfin port)

Port 8920 for HTTPS

Dependencies:

See official documentation for specific requirements

System Access: root or sudo privileges required

This guide supports installation on:

RHEL 8/9 and derivatives (CentOS Stream, Rocky Linux, AlmaLinux)

Debian 11/12

Ubuntu 20.04/22.04/24.04 LTS

Arch Linux (rolling release)

Alpine Linux 3.18+

openSUSE Leap 15.5+ / Tumbleweed

SUSE Linux Enterprise Server (SLES) 15+

macOS 12+ (Monterey and later)

FreeBSD 13+

Windows 10/11/Server 2019+ (where applicable)

bash

# Install EPEL repository if needed
sudo dnf install -y epel-release

# Install jellyfin
sudo dnf install -y jellyfin

# Enable and start service
sudo systemctl enable --now jellyfin

# Configure firewall
sudo firewall-cmd --permanent --add-port=8096/tcp
sudo firewall-cmd --reload

# Verify installation
jellyfin --version

bash

# Update package index
sudo apt update

# Install jellyfin
sudo apt install -y jellyfin

# Enable and start service
sudo systemctl enable --now jellyfin

# Configure firewall
sudo ufw allow 8096

# Verify installation
jellyfin --version

bash

# Install jellyfin
sudo pacman -S jellyfin

# Enable and start service
sudo systemctl enable --now jellyfin

# Verify installation
jellyfin --version

bash

# Install jellyfin
apk add --no-cache jellyfin

# Enable and start service
rc-update add jellyfin default
rc-service jellyfin start

# Verify installation
jellyfin --version

bash

# Install jellyfin
sudo zypper install -y jellyfin

# Enable and start service
sudo systemctl enable --now jellyfin

# Configure firewall
sudo firewall-cmd --permanent --add-port=8096/tcp
sudo firewall-cmd --reload

# Verify installation
jellyfin --version

bash

# Using Homebrew
brew install jellyfin

# Start service
brew services start jellyfin

# Verify installation
jellyfin --version

bash

# Using pkg
pkg install jellyfin

# Enable in rc.conf
echo 'jellyfin_enable="YES"' >> /etc/rc.conf

# Start service
service jellyfin start

# Verify installation
jellyfin --version

bash

# Using Chocolatey
choco install jellyfin

# Or using Scoop
scoop install jellyfin

# Verify installation
jellyfin --version

bash

# Create configuration directory
sudo mkdir -p /etc/jellyfin

# Set up basic configuration
# See official documentation for detailed configuration options

# Test configuration
jellyfin --version

bash

# Enable service
sudo systemctl enable jellyfin

# Start service
sudo systemctl start jellyfin

# Stop service
sudo systemctl stop jellyfin

# Restart service
sudo systemctl restart jellyfin

# Check status
sudo systemctl status jellyfin

# View logs
sudo journalctl -u jellyfin -f

bash

# Enable service
rc-update add jellyfin default

# Start service
rc-service jellyfin start

# Stop service
rc-service jellyfin stop

# Restart service
rc-service jellyfin restart

# Check status
rc-service jellyfin status

bash

# Enable in /etc/rc.conf
echo 'jellyfin_enable="YES"' >> /etc/rc.conf

# Start service
service jellyfin start

# Stop service
service jellyfin stop

# Restart service
service jellyfin restart

# Check status
service jellyfin status

bash

# Using Homebrew services
brew services start jellyfin
brew services stop jellyfin
brew services restart jellyfin

# Check status
brew services list | grep jellyfin

powershell

# Start service
net start jellyfin

# Stop service
net stop jellyfin

# Using PowerShell
Start-Service jellyfin
Stop-Service jellyfin
Restart-Service jellyfin

# Check status
Get-Service jellyfin

See the official documentation for advanced configuration options.

nginx

upstream jellyfin_backend {
    server 127.0.0.1:8096;
}

server {
    listen 80;
    server_name jellyfin.example.com;
    return 301 https://$server_name$request_uri;
}

server {
    listen 443 ssl http2;
    server_name jellyfin.example.com;

    ssl_certificate /etc/ssl/certs/jellyfin.example.com.crt;
    ssl_certificate_key /etc/ssl/private/jellyfin.example.com.key;

    location / {
        proxy_pass http://jellyfin_backend;
        proxy_set_header Host $host;
        proxy_set_header X-Real-IP $remote_addr;
        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for;
        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Proto $scheme;
    }
}

apache

<VirtualHost *:80>
    ServerName jellyfin.example.com
    Redirect permanent / https://jellyfin.example.com/
</VirtualHost>

<VirtualHost *:443>
    ServerName jellyfin.example.com
    
    SSLEngine on
    SSLCertificateFile /etc/ssl/certs/jellyfin.example.com.crt
    SSLCertificateKeyFile /etc/ssl/private/jellyfin.example.com.key
    
    ProxyRequests Off
    ProxyPreserveHost On
    
    ProxyPass / http://127.0.0.1:8096/
    ProxyPassReverse / http://127.0.0.1:8096/
</VirtualHost>

haproxy

frontend jellyfin_frontend
    bind *:80
    bind *:443 ssl crt /etc/ssl/certs/jellyfin.pem
    redirect scheme https if !{ ssl_fc }
    default_backend jellyfin_backend

backend jellyfin_backend
    balance roundrobin
    server jellyfin1 127.0.0.1:8096 check

bash

# Set appropriate permissions
sudo chown -R jellyfin:jellyfin /etc/jellyfin
sudo chmod 750 /etc/jellyfin

# Configure firewall
sudo firewall-cmd --permanent --add-port=8096/tcp
sudo firewall-cmd --reload

# Enable SELinux policies (if applicable)
sudo setsebool -P httpd_can_network_connect on

See official documentation for database configuration requirements.

bash

# Basic system tuning
echo 'net.core.somaxconn = 65535' | sudo tee -a /etc/sysctl.conf
echo 'net.ipv4.tcp_max_syn_backlog = 65535' | sudo tee -a /etc/sysctl.conf
sudo sysctl -p

bash

# Check service status
sudo systemctl status jellyfin

# View logs
sudo journalctl -u jellyfin -f

# Monitor resource usage
top -p $(pgrep jellyfin)

bash

#!/bin/bash
# Basic backup script
BACKUP_DIR="/backup/jellyfin"
DATE=$(date +%Y%m%d_%H%M%S)

mkdir -p "$BACKUP_DIR"
tar -czf "$BACKUP_DIR/jellyfin-backup-$DATE.tar.gz" /etc/jellyfin /var/lib/jellyfin

echo "Backup completed: $BACKUP_DIR/jellyfin-backup-$DATE.tar.gz"

bash

# Stop service
sudo systemctl stop jellyfin

# Restore from backup
tar -xzf /backup/jellyfin/jellyfin-backup-*.tar.gz -C /

# Start service
sudo systemctl start jellyfin

1. Service won't start:

bash

# Check logs
sudo journalctl -u jellyfin -n 100
sudo tail -f /var/log/jellyfin/jellyfin.log

# Check configuration
jellyfin --version

# Check permissions
ls -la /etc/jellyfin

2. Connection issues:

bash

# Check if service is listening
sudo ss -tlnp | grep 8096

# Test connectivity
telnet localhost 8096

# Check firewall
sudo firewall-cmd --list-all

3. Performance issues:

bash

# Check resource usage
top -p $(pgrep jellyfin)

# Check disk I/O
iotop -p $(pgrep jellyfin)

# Check connections
ss -an | grep 8096

yaml

version: '3.8'
services:
  jellyfin:
    image: jellyfin:latest
    ports:
      - "8096:8096"
    volumes:
      - ./config:/etc/jellyfin
      - ./data:/var/lib/jellyfin
    restart: unless-stopped

Maintenance

bash

# RHEL/CentOS/Rocky/AlmaLinux
sudo dnf update jellyfin

# Debian/Ubuntu
sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade jellyfin

# Arch Linux
sudo pacman -Syu jellyfin

# Alpine Linux
apk update && apk upgrade jellyfin

# openSUSE
sudo zypper update jellyfin

# FreeBSD
pkg update && pkg upgrade jellyfin

# Always backup before updates
tar -czf /backup/jellyfin-pre-update-$(date +%Y%m%d).tar.gz /etc/jellyfin

# Restart after updates
sudo systemctl restart jellyfin

Regular Maintenance

bash

# Log rotation
sudo logrotate -f /etc/logrotate.d/jellyfin

# Clean old logs
find /var/log/jellyfin -name "*.log" -mtime +30 -delete

# Check disk usage
du -sh /var/lib/jellyfin

Official Documentation: https://docs.jellyfin.org/

GitHub Repository: https://github.com/jellyfin/jellyfin

Community Forum: https://forum.jellyfin.org/

Best Practices Guide: https://docs.jellyfin.org/best-practices

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Note: This guide is part of the HowToMgr collection. Always refer to official documentation for the most up-to-date information.

1. Prerequisites

2. Supported Operating Systems

3. Installation

RHEL/CentOS/Rocky Linux/AlmaLinux

Debian/Ubuntu

Arch Linux

Alpine Linux

openSUSE/SLES

macOS

FreeBSD

Windows

Initial Configuration

Basic Configuration

5. Service Management

systemd (RHEL, Debian, Ubuntu, Arch, openSUSE)

OpenRC (Alpine Linux)

rc.d (FreeBSD)

launchd (macOS)

Windows Service Manager

Advanced Configuration

Reverse Proxy Setup

nginx Configuration

Apache Configuration

HAProxy Configuration

Security Configuration

Basic Security Setup

Database Setup

Performance Optimization

System Tuning

Monitoring

Basic Monitoring

9. Backup and Restore

Backup Script

Restore Procedure

6. Troubleshooting

Common Issues

Integration Examples

Docker Compose Example

Maintenance

Update Procedures

Regular Maintenance

Additional Resources

Related Media servers Guides

emby Installation Guide

plex Installation Guide