Setting up the multimedia (BT, DLNA/uPnP, iTunes) bits in 8.0.3-RELEASE_MULTIMEDIA

[joeschmuck]

He's building Beta-2 again, forgot the MM switch. Should be out again soon.

 

[gcooper]

what happened to beta2, I notice it doesn't have and of the multimmedia ports and you've gone back to beta1 on sourceforge .. ?

From the 8.0.4 coming soon thread:

Grr.. made a rookie mistake and forgot to enable MULTIMEDIA support in BETA2 -_-.. I'm going to yank the dang builds because they're no different from the regular ones.

 

[fka]

From the 8.0.4 coming soon thread:

missed that ..

D

 

[gcooper]

missed that ..

No worries! It's easy to miss simple things like that. I was originally going to jump straight to RC1 because I hadn't heard anything negative [so far], but I'm fine with spinning a short-lived -BETA2_MULTIMEDIA.

 

[gcooper]

No worries! It's easy to miss simple things like that. I was originally going to jump straight to RC1 because I hadn't heard anything negative [so far], but I'm fine with spinning a short-lived -BETA2_MULTIMEDIA.

-BETA2_MULTIMEDIA has been posted with a newer version of transmission and other improvements.

 

[joeschmuck]

Updated MM Instructions

iTunes (Firefly) instructions updated for BETA2_MULTIMEDIA (see posting #64) http://forums.freenas.org/showthrea...LEASE_MULTIMEDIA&p=20427&viewfull=1#post20427


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DLNA (minidlna) instructions work as is for BETA2 (see posting #15) http://forums.freenas.org/showthrea...LEASE_MULTIMEDIA&p=19831&viewfull=1#post19831

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Bit Torrent (Transmission) instructions are updated (see posting #45) http://forums.freenas.org/showthrea...LEASE_MULTIMEDIA&p=20055&viewfull=1#post20055

I don't use Bit Torrent at all so all I can say is the service runs but if there are changes which need to be made, please let me know.

 

[fka]

Hi

The iTunes guide looks spot on. sorry but i've been up to my eyeballs recently and haven't had time to play around with this.
will try and find some time and let you know how it goes ..

D

 

[Z300M]

Logitech Media Server

Any chance of getting the Logitech Media Server (for Squeezebox radio, etc.) to run in this or a not-too-distant version? They have a version for FreeBSD that worked with FreeNAS 7.x, but all the reports say it doesn't work in FreeNAS 8.x.

 

[joeschmuck]

Any chance of getting the Logitech Media Server (for Squeezebox radio, etc.) to run in this or a not-too-distant version? They have a version for FreeBSD that worked with FreeNAS 7.x, but all the reports say it doesn't work in FreeNAS 8.x.

I doubt it will be incorporated into a MM release. You should locate the Plug-In request thread and ensure your request is listed, this way it can be built and included in the 8.2 release of plug-ins.

The other thing you might try is to add it yourself.

Good Luck,
Mark

 

[Z300M]

I doubt it will be incorporated into a MM release. You should locate the Plug-In request thread and ensure your request is listed, this way it can be built and included in the 8.2 release of plug-ins.

The other thing you might try is to add it yourself.

Good Luck,
Mark

I'd need a lot more than luck to be able to add it myself: I wouldn't know where to start.

 

[toxxygen]

2) MiniDLNA currently does not automatically update the database when you add a file. This is a FreeBSD limitation. To recognize new files you can reboot the system, restart minidlna manually, or set up a CRON job to restart the service periodically. This goes beyond this How-To. With any luck there will be a fix but I'm not holding my breath.

BUILD: 8.0.4-RELEASE_MULTIMEDIA

-You can create a shell script, save it to an easily accessible location (like top level of a persistent volume) and use it every time you add or remove items to your minidlna server to update the db file.

-To create the shell script, navigate to any of your persistent volume.

Code:

mount -uw /
cd /mnt/pool/

-Create the script with an editor.

Code:

ee whatever.sh

-Input the following into your script.

Code:

#!/bin/sh
pkill -9 minidlna
rm /mnt/pool/dlna/var/db/minidlna/files.db
service minidlna start

*The script above kills the minidlna process, deletes the .db file, and the starts minidlna again. Minidlna creates a new and updated db file every time it starts.

-Esc to leave editor and Save.

Code:

mount -o ro /

-Run /mnt/pool/whatever.sh to update your minidlna server.

 

[toxxygen]

Bit Torrent (Transmission) Instructions

I Don't use Bit Torrent at all but the service appears to run after this setup. If you see changes which need to be made, please post or PM me.

Minimum Requirements: FreeNAS 8.0.4-MULTIMEDIA.

...
...

The above instructions didn't work for me. I couldn't access transmission with transmission-gui programs. So I tweaked the instructions a bit.

To get Transmission working:
Build: 8.0.4-RELEASE_MULTIMEDIA
/mnt/pool : your mounted volumes


-Login as root through PuTTy (or any SSH equivalent)

-Enter the following commands

Code:

mount -uw /

-Make new directories on your persistent volumes where downloads will be placed.

Code:

mkdir -p "/mnt/pool/downloads"
cd /mnt/pool/downloads
mkdir transmission finished watch

-Give permissions for user www to those folders

Code:

chown -R www:www transmission finished watch

-Copy important settings files

Code:

cp /usr/local/etc/transmission/home/settings.json /mnt/pool/downloads/transmission/.
cp /usr/local/etc/rc.d/transmission /conf/base/etc/rc.d

-Edit rc.conf to enable transmission on startup

Code:

ee /conf/base/etc/rc.conf

-Change the following towards the end of rc.conf:

Code:

transmission_enable="YES"
transmission_conf_dir="/mnt/pool/downloads/transmission"
transmission_watch_dir="/mnt/pool/downloads/watch"
transmission_download_dir="mnt/pool/downloads/finished"
transmission_user="www"

-Esc and Save

Code:

mount -o ro /

To access transmission with transmission-remote-gui:

-On Your WINDOWS PC via Explorer (NOT via PuTTy) or any OS you might be using, find settings.json on /mnt/pool/downloads/transmission and edit with notepad.

-Find "rpc-whitelist-enabled": true, and change it to "rpc-whitelist-enabled": false

-Reboot

 

[joeschmuck]

BUILD: 8.0.4-RELEASE_MULTIMEDIA

-You can create a shell script, save it to an easily accessible location (like top level of a persistent volume) and use it every time you add or remove items to your minidlna server to update the db file.

-To create the shell script, navigate to any of your persistent volume.

Code:

mount -uw /
cd /mnt/pool/

-Create the script with an editor.

Code:

ee whatever.sh

-Input the following into your script.

Code:

#!/bin/sh
pkill -9 minidlna
rm /mnt/pool/dlna/var/db/minidlna/files.db
service minidlna start

*The script above kills the minidlna process, deletes the .db file, and the starts minidlna again. Minidlna creates a new and updated db file every time it starts.

-Esc to leave editor and Save.

Code:

mount -o ro /

-Run /mnt/pool/whatever.sh to update your minidlna server.

Vice doing all this you can run the command 'service minidlna restart' and it will stop, then start the service. Upon starting it will perform a scan of media directories you defined during the initial setup and create the database all over again. It's always worked for me.

 

[joeschmuck]

The above instructions didn't work for me. I couldn't access transmission with transmission-gui programs. So I tweaked the instructions a bit.

Thanks, I posted a link to your instructions in my posting. Once I get confirmation from other users how well your instructions work then I'll delete the instructions I posted.

 

[toxxygen]

Vice doing all this you can run the command 'service minidlna restart' and it will stop, then start the service. Upon starting it will perform a scan of media directories you defined during the initial setup and create the database all over again. It's always worked for me.

Oh, I guess that would work too. I tried that before on 8.0.2 and somehow it didn't refresh the database file. That's why I went with the shell script.

 

[punkl]

I'm brand-spankin' new to FreeNAS as of today. I'm happy to report that I not only installed 8.0.4-RELEASE, but also updated to 8.0.4-MULTIMEDIA via GUI (when I found out mt-daapd/firefly wasn't included) without any issues. I'm running the 64-bit image as well.

Quick specs:

HP MicroServer N40L
4GB DDR3 PC3-10600 ECC
6TB RAIDZ (8TB actual, 2x 2TB Samsung EcoGreen F4 HD204UI, 2x 2TB Seagate Barracuda Green ST2000DL003)

I was able to get firefly up and running without too much trouble and confirmed that it could stream audio without any issues. However, it appears to have a problem with video. I can scan and share my .m4v files just fine, but they don't play. From what I understand, there could two reasons for this:

1) Firefly has issues with video streaming - period. As in it will not work no matter how much I threaten it with the roofing hammer downstairs.
2) General incompatibility with iTunes 10.5.2+ and firefly in general. This seems to be directed more toward audio.

To make life difficult, I've found various accounts where people claim firefly works just fine for streaming video.

I read (probably on these forums) that there were plans to include forked-daapd in FreeNAS 8 at some point. Is this still on the table? Does it have better video streaming support?

 

[gcooper]

I'm brand-spankin' new to FreeNAS as of today. I'm happy to report that I not only installed 8.0.4-RELEASE, but also updated to 8.0.4-MULTIMEDIA via GUI (when I found out mt-daapd/firefly wasn't included) without any issues. I'm running the 64-bit image as well.

...

I wouldn't assume that firefly works with video. It's outdated, but it works extremely well for audio (so far) with the latest version. forked-daapd is definitely the wave of the future though, so we should cut over to that eventually.

1. It needs to be ported to FreeBSD (shouldn't be hard, but still needs to be done).
2. It needs to have a plugin created for it in a post-8.2.0 world.
3. If the configuration differs between firefly and forked-daapd, that will need to be reworked eventually as well.

 

[fka]

FireFly (iTunes Server) Setup (Joe's version)

Finnaly got round to testing this, and it works just fine mate. Thanks ...

Now shame I can't get the firefly plugin to install on 8.2.0 !! but that's for another thread I think ..

D

 

[joeschmuck]

Finnaly got round to testing this, and it works just fine mate. Thanks ...

Now shame I can't get the firefly plugin to install on 8.2.0 !! but that's for another thread I think ..

D

I haven't played with 8.2 yet but I doubt it will be a difficult configuration. Odds are I will soon but I'm going to need to be bored around the house to make me want to sit in front of the computer for half a day. I get plenty of computer work with my day job, no need to torture myself when I come home too. I'm downloading 8.2-Beta1 and I'll give it a shot if I got time tonight. When I figure out the configuration I'll post it.

 

[gcooper]

I haven't played with 8.2 yet but I doubt it will be a difficult configuration. Odds are I will soon but I'm going to need to be bored around the house to make me want to sit in front of the computer for half a day. I get plenty of computer work with my day job, no need to torture myself when I come home too. I'm downloading 8.2-Beta1 and I'll give it a shot if I got time tonight. When I figure out the configuration I'll post it.

Please wait on downloading 8.2.0-BETA1. We're working out some kinks with -BETA1 and going to release in the next day or so.