transmission Installation Guide Installation Guide

transmission is a free and open-source BitTorrent client. Transmission provides a fast, easy, and free BitTorrent client with web interface

Hardware Requirements:

CPU: 1 core minimum

RAM: 256MB minimum

Storage: 1GB for downloads

Network: BitTorrent protocol

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 9091 (default transmission port)

Peer ports 51413

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 transmission
sudo dnf install -y transmission

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

# Configure firewall
sudo firewall-cmd --permanent --add-port=9091/tcp
sudo firewall-cmd --reload

# Verify installation
transmission --version

bash

# Update package index
sudo apt update

# Install transmission
sudo apt install -y transmission

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

# Configure firewall
sudo ufw allow 9091

# Verify installation
transmission --version

bash

# Install transmission
sudo pacman -S transmission

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

# Verify installation
transmission --version

bash

# Install transmission
apk add --no-cache transmission

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

# Verify installation
transmission --version

bash

# Install transmission
sudo zypper install -y transmission

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

# Configure firewall
sudo firewall-cmd --permanent --add-port=9091/tcp
sudo firewall-cmd --reload

# Verify installation
transmission --version

bash

# Using Homebrew
brew install transmission

# Start service
brew services start transmission

# Verify installation
transmission --version

bash

# Using pkg
pkg install transmission

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

# Start service
service transmission start

# Verify installation
transmission --version

bash

# Using Chocolatey
choco install transmission

# Or using Scoop
scoop install transmission

# Verify installation
transmission --version

bash

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

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

# Test configuration
transmission --version

bash

# Enable service
sudo systemctl enable transmission

# Start service
sudo systemctl start transmission

# Stop service
sudo systemctl stop transmission

# Restart service
sudo systemctl restart transmission

# Check status
sudo systemctl status transmission

# View logs
sudo journalctl -u transmission -f

bash

# Enable service
rc-update add transmission default

# Start service
rc-service transmission start

# Stop service
rc-service transmission stop

# Restart service
rc-service transmission restart

# Check status
rc-service transmission status

bash

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

# Start service
service transmission start

# Stop service
service transmission stop

# Restart service
service transmission restart

# Check status
service transmission status

bash

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

# Check status
brew services list | grep transmission

powershell

# Start service
net start transmission

# Stop service
net stop transmission

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

# Check status
Get-Service transmission

json

{
    "alt-speed-down": 50,
    "alt-speed-enabled": false,
    "alt-speed-time-begin": 540,
    "alt-speed-time-day": 127,
    "alt-speed-time-enabled": false,
    "alt-speed-time-end": 1020,
    "alt-speed-up": 50,
    "speed-limit-down": 100,
    "speed-limit-down-enabled": false,
    "speed-limit-up": 100,
    "speed-limit-up-enabled": false,
    "peer-limit-global": 200,
    "peer-limit-per-torrent": 50
}

json

{
    "download-queue-enabled": true,
    "download-queue-size": 5,
    "queue-stalled-enabled": true,
    "queue-stalled-minutes": 30,
    "seed-queue-enabled": true,
    "seed-queue-size": 10
}

json

{
    "idle-seeding-limit": 30,
    "idle-seeding-limit-enabled": true,
    "ratio-limit": 2.0,
    "ratio-limit-enabled": true
}

json

{
    "blocklist-enabled": true,
    "blocklist-url": "http://john.bitsurge.net/public/biglist.p2p.gz"
}

json

{
    "dht-enabled": true,
    "lpd-enabled": true,
    "pex-enabled": true,
    "utp-enabled": true
}

json

{
    "encryption": 2
}

Where: 0 = Prefer unencrypted, 1 = Prefer encrypted, 2 = Require encrypted

json

{
    "script-torrent-done-enabled": true,
    "script-torrent-done-filename": "/opt/transmission/scripts/complete.sh"
}

Example completion script:

bash

#!/bin/bash
# /opt/transmission/scripts/complete.sh
# Called when download completes
# Environment variables:
# TR_TORRENT_DIR, TR_TORRENT_NAME, TR_TORRENT_ID, TR_TORRENT_HASH

logger "Transmission: Download completed - $TR_TORRENT_NAME"

# Send notification
if command -v notify-send &> /dev/null; then
    notify-send "Download Complete" "$TR_TORRENT_NAME"
fi

# Move to media library
if [[ "$TR_TORRENT_DIR" == *"/downloads/movies"* ]]; then
    mv "$TR_TORRENT_DIR/$TR_TORRENT_NAME" "/media/movies/"
elif [[ "$TR_TORRENT_DIR" == *"/downloads/tv"* ]]; then
    mv "$TR_TORRENT_DIR/$TR_TORRENT_NAME" "/media/tv/"
fi

nginx

upstream transmission_backend {
    server 127.0.0.1:9091;
}

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

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

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

    location / {
        proxy_pass http://transmission_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 transmission.example.com
    Redirect permanent / https://transmission.example.com/
</VirtualHost>

<VirtualHost *:443>
    ServerName transmission.example.com
    
    SSLEngine on
    SSLCertificateFile /etc/ssl/certs/transmission.example.com.crt
    SSLCertificateKeyFile /etc/ssl/private/transmission.example.com.key
    
    ProxyRequests Off
    ProxyPreserveHost On
    
    ProxyPass / http://127.0.0.1:9091/
    ProxyPassReverse / http://127.0.0.1:9091/
</VirtualHost>

haproxy

frontend transmission_frontend
    bind *:80
    bind *:443 ssl crt /etc/ssl/certs/transmission.pem
    redirect scheme https if !{ ssl_fc }
    default_backend transmission_backend

backend transmission_backend
    balance roundrobin
    server transmission1 127.0.0.1:9091 check

bash

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

# Configure firewall
sudo firewall-cmd --permanent --add-port=9091/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 transmission

# View logs
sudo journalctl -u transmission -f

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

bash

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

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

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

bash

# Stop service
sudo systemctl stop transmission

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

# Start service
sudo systemctl start transmission

1. Service won't start:

bash

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

# Check configuration
transmission --version

# Check permissions
ls -la /etc/transmission

2. Connection issues:

bash

# Check if service is listening
sudo ss -tlnp | grep 9091

# Test connectivity
telnet localhost 9091

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

3. Performance issues:

bash

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

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

# Check connections
ss -an | grep 9091

yaml

version: '3.8'
services:
  transmission:
    image: transmission:latest
    ports:
      - "9091:9091"
    volumes:
      - ./config:/etc/transmission
      - ./data:/var/lib/transmission
    restart: unless-stopped

Maintenance

bash

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

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

# Arch Linux
sudo pacman -Syu transmission

# Alpine Linux
apk update && apk upgrade transmission

# openSUSE
sudo zypper update transmission

# FreeBSD
pkg update && pkg upgrade transmission

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

# Restart after updates
sudo systemctl restart transmission

Regular Maintenance

bash

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

---

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

Speed and Connection Limits

Queue Management

Bandwidth Scheduling

Blocklist Configuration

DHT and Peer Exchange

Encryption Settings

Script Hooks

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

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