TrueNAS Apps: Tutorials
Application maintenance is independent from TrueNAS version release cycles.
App versions, features, options, and installation behavior at time of access might vary from documented tutorials and UI reference.
Emby
19 minute read.
Emby manages personal media libraries of home videos, movies, TV shows, photos, books, and music files. Emby has two parts with at least one client and server. The client or apps play back media files stored in the Emby server, and the server stores the media library. TrueNAS Emby app provides the server function. The Emby service uses a Web UI to manage user profiles that are allowed to access your media files and allows you to manage the media library of files. Emby naming conventions for media files are important. Pay close attention to the instructions Emby provides to correctly configure the TrueNAS Emby app storage volumes, and when adding any labels to apply to media files.
Before you install the Emby app:
- Read the Emby Support documentation. Emby instructions in the Media Preparation and Library Setup sections influence how you set up storage volume types and labels used in the TrueNAS Install Emby app wizard. Organize media files into folders by type, movies, photos, music, etc. Emby instructions say to include the release date of movies in the folder name as follows, movieName (year).
Set a pool for applications to use if not already assigned.
You can use either an existing pool or create a new one. TrueNAS creates the ix-apps (hidden) dataset in the pool set as the application pool. This dataset is internally managed, so you cannot use this as the parent when you create required application datasets.
After setting the pool, the Installed Applications screen displays Apps Service Running on the top screen banner.
Locate the run-as user for the app.
Take note of the run-as user for the app, shown on the app information screen in the Run As Context widget and in the Application Metadata widget on the Installed applications screen after the app fully deploys. The run-as user(s) get added to the ACL permissions for each dataset used as a host path storage volume.
(Optional) Create a new TrueNAS user account to manage this application. When creating a new user account to manage this application or using an existing TrueNAS administrator account, enable sudo permissions for that TrueNAS user account, select Create New Primary Group, and add the appropriate group in the Auxiliary Group for the type of user you want to create. Make note of the UID for the new user to add in the installation wizard.
Add the user ID to the dataset ACL permissions when setting up app storage volumes in the Install app wizard.
The Emby run-as user ID is 0. The app also includes the default apps user ID 568.
If you create a new TrueNAS user to serve as the administrator for the app, make note of the UID, and add it to the ACL permissions for each dataset created for and used by the app.
Create datasets for the storage volumes for the app.
Do not create encrypted datasets for apps if not required! Using an encrypted dataset can result in undesired behaviors after upgrading TrueNAS when pools and datasets are locked. When datasets for the containers are locked, the container does not mount, and the apps do not start. To resolve issues, unlock the dataset(s) by entering the passphrase/key to allow datasets to mount and apps to start.Go to Datasets and select the pool or dataset where you want to place the dataset(s) for the app. For example, /tank/apps/appName.
Create the dataset(s) before beginning the app installation process.
Emby expects only one host path dataset storage volume, config, but you can create more datasets if you want to add additional storage volumes for the app to use, such as for a library, logs, or an SMB share.
These extra storage volumes are not required and can be added after installing the app.
(Optional) Create a new TrueNAS user account to manage this application. When creating a new user account to manage this application or using an existing TrueNAS administrator account, enable sudo permissions for that TrueNAS user account, select Create New Primary Group, and add the appropriate group in the Auxiliary Group for the type of user you want to create. Make note of the UID for the new user to add in the installation wizard.
Add the user ID to the dataset ACL permissions when setting up app storage volumes in the Install app wizard.
This basic procedure covers the required Emby app settings. For optional settings, see Understanding App Installation Wizard Settings.
You can have multiple deployments of the same app (for example, two or more from the stable or enterprise trains, or a combination of the stable and enterprise trains).
Go to Apps, click on Discover Apps, and locate the app widget by either scrolling down to it or begin typing the name into the search field. For example, to locate the MinIO app widget, begin typing minIO into the search field to show app widgets matching the search input.
If this is the first application installed, TrueNAS displays a dialog about configuring apps.
If not the first time installing apps the dialog does not show, click on the widget to open the app information screen.
Click Install to open the app installation wizard.
Application configuration settings are grouped into several sections, each explained below in Understanding App Installation Wizard Settings. To find specific fields begin typing in the Search Input Fields search field to show the section or field, scroll down to a particular section, or click on the section heading in the list of sections on the upper-right of the wizard screen.
Accept the default value or enter a name in Application Name field. In most cases use the default name, but if adding a second deployment of the application you must change this name.
Accept the default version number in Version. When a new version becomes available, the application shows an update badge and the Application Info widget on the Installed applications screen shows the Update button.
Enter the Emby Configuration settings.
The TrueNAS app is configured with all the required environment variables required to deploy the app. If you want to customize the container, click Add to the right of Additional Environment Variables for each to enter the variable(s) and values(s).
Accept the default values in User and Group Configuration and Network Configurations. (Optional) If you created a new user to administer the app, enter that user ID in the user and group fields. See User and Group Configuration and Network Configuration for more details. Leave Host Network unselected.
Add your Storage Configuration settings.
For Emby Configuration Storage, set the Type to Host Path (Path that already exists on the system). Select Enable ACL then enter or browse to and select the config dataset to populate the Host Path field.
Click Add to the right of ACL Entries for each user or group entry you want to add. For Emby, click twice to add the 568 and 0 user IDs. Give each FULL_CONTROL Access.
Select Force Flag.
Repeat the steps above for each storage volume you plan to add, for example, library for media data storage or embysmb for an SMB share volume. See Storage Configuration Settings below for more information.
Accept the defaults in Resources Configuration, and select the GPU option if applicable.
Click Install. A progress dialog displays before switching to the Installed applications screen. The Installed screen displays with the Emby app in the Deploying state. Status changes to Running when ready to use.
{{< trueimage src="/images/SCALE/Apps/EmbyAppRunning.png" alt=“Emby App Installed and Running” id=“Emby App Installed and Running” >}}
Select the Emby app row, and click Web Portal on the Application Info widget to open the Emby web portal sign-in screen or if adding a new Emby account, to show the Emby account creation screens.
Select the language from the Preferred display language dropdown list, then click Next to advance to the Create Your First User screen.
Click Next to show the Emby Setup Libraries Screen where you can add your media libraries.
Click Next to continue setting up your Emby server account. Advance through the setup screens until complete, then click Finish.
The following section provides more detailed explanations of the settings in each section of the Install Emby installation wizard.
Accept the default value or enter a name in Application Name field. In most cases use the default name, but if adding a second deployment of the application you must change this name.
Accept the default version number in Version. When a new version becomes available, the application shows an update badge and the Application Info widget on the Installed applications screen shows the Update button.
Select the timezone where your TrueNAS system is located. Begin typing the location into the Timezone field to filter the list until the location shows, then select it.
Emby does not use environment variables to customize client or server settings in their Web UI. The TrueNAS Emby app is preconfigured with all environment variables required to deploy the application.
Some TrueNAS apps have predefined run-as user and group IDs. These assignments vary based on the app train and other variables such as installing but not running as the root user.
Default user and group IDs are:
- 473 for the MinIO stable train app.
- 568 (apps user), used in some community apps and all apps in the enterprise train
- 999 (netdata user), used for all postgres storage volumes
- 0 (root user).
Accept the default user and group ID in the User and Group Configuration section or enter the user ID for a new TrueNAS user created to serve as the administrator for this app.
Create any app administrator user before installing the application, and take note of the UID. Enter this user ID when configuring the user for the app and as the user when setting up storage volume permissions.
The default web port for the TrueNAS Emby app is 9096. Emby automatically maps port number assignments that do not match their port numbers, 8096 for HTTP, and 8920 for HTTPS usage and connections.
All TrueNAS apps are assigned default port numbers. Accept the default port numbers, but if changing port number assignments, enter a number within the range 1-65535, however, 0-1024 might require the application to have elevated privileges. Before changing default ports, refer to the TrueNAS default port list for a list of assigned and available port numbers.
We do not recommend selecting Host Network unless required for the specific application or workload. When required or strongly recommended for an application, TrueNAS typically enables host networking by default.
When host networking is disabled, specific ports from the container are exposed on the local network and mapped to a host port. This is the default Docker networking behavior. This approach provides better isolation, flexibility in port assignments, and improved security compared to enabling host networking.
Select Host Network to bypass port mapping, granting the container direct access network interfaces on the host. This can improve performance, especially in deployments with many users, and simplify network configuration, but compromises isolation and introduces the risk of port conflicts, limiting the ability to run multiple instances of the same app. For most deployments, default port mapping is more secure and versatile.
The app does not require configuring advanced DNS options. Accept the default settings or click Add to the right of DNS Options to enter the option name and value.
TrueNAS provides two options for storage volumes: ixVolumes and host paths. Emby only expects one host path storage volume, config to hold app configuration data, but you can add additional storage volumes for media library, or log storage if you choose.
If you organize the config dataset under a parent dataset named emby, configure the ACL permissions for this parent dataset and add an ACE entry for the root user.
You can add extra storage volumes during the app installation, or edit the application after it deploys. Stop the app before editing settings.
You can configure ACL permissions for the required dataset in the Install Emby wizard, or from the Datasets screen any time after adding the datasets.
Select Enable ACL to show the ACL and ACE Entries options. Configure ACE entries for each UID and/or GID you recorded from the Run As Context widget in Before You Begin.
Configuring ACE Entries
Enter or browse to select the dataset and populate Host Path.
Next, click Add to the right of ACL Entries to show the permissions settings. Set ID Type to Entry is for a USER or Entry is for a GROUP. If you configured a group in TrueNAS that you want to give access to instead of a single user, set the ID to the group option and enter the GID for that group.
Enter the UID and/or GID as one of the following:
- The default app user:
- 568 for apps in all trains if the app can run as any non-root user.
- 999 for all postgres storage volumes.
- 0 if running as root.
- 473 for MinIO app in the stable train.
- The run-as-user UID set as a default for the app.
The run-as user shows on the app details screen in the Run As Content widget, and on the Installed application screen after the app deploys.
You can refer to the tutorial for the app, or look in the
questions.yaml file found in the GitHub repository for the application to find this UID/GID. - The user ID for the new or existing TrueNAS user added to serve as the administrator for the app.
If the app shows User and Group Configuration settings, the default UID shows on the screen. If not, choose the run-as user ID found in the Run As Content widget.
Use the default user ID 999 for all postgres storage volumes, not the run-as user.
If you created a new TrueNAS user to serve as the app administration user, add an entry record and enter the UID for this user in addition to the run-as user ID.
When adding the ACL entry for the run-as user, default user, and/or optional TrueNAS app administrator user, and postgres user ID, set the Access permissions level to FULL CONTROL.
Select Force Flag to apply the ACL even if the path has existing data. This allows you to update the app when an update is available.
TrueNAS Additional Storage options include the ability to mount an SMB share inside the container pod.
If adding an SMB share as an additional storage volume, create the SMB dataset and share user(s), and add the user ID for the share user(s) to the dataset ACL.
Set Type an SMB/CIFS Share (Mounts a volume to a SMB share) to add an SMB share storage volume.
Select Read Only to make the storage volume read only.
Enter the path inside the container to mount the storage for the share volume in Mount Path.
Enter the server address for the SMB share in Server, the path to mount the SMB share in Path, and the share authentication user credentials in User and Password. (Optional) enter the share domain name in domain.
Permissions are currently limited to the permissions of the user that mounted the share.
Use the SMB option for data synchronization between a share and the app if the option shows on the screen. A present, only the Syncthing app includes this option.
Emby uses metadata to add information to media files, such as where media files are saved, the language used, and parental controls. Emby uses tags to add identification information to media files.
The Labels Configuration settings allow users to configure Docker object labels to add metadata to containers. Docker object labels attach key-value metadata to various Docker objects, such as containers, images, volumes, and networks. Labels are useful for organization, automation, and providing additional context for Docker resources. They can store information such as environment details, ownership, service role, or custom tags for automation tools.
Click Add to display a set of label configuration fields.
Use Key to define the identifier that categorizes and filters resources, for example com.example.owner. Use Value to enter the associated data for the container, for example team-a.
Select the target container from the Containers dropdown list to apply the label(s). Apps with multiple containers list each container as an option on the dropdown.
Click Add again to configure additional labels.
Tips for Labels:
- Docker recommends using reverse-DNS notation to prevent conflicts with other objects.
- Use a consistent naming convention for labels applied across all containers, for example, com.example.owner=team-a, com.example.owner=team-b, com.example.env=production, com.example.env=testing.
- Use in groupings, for example, when applying configuration changes where labels define or group related database resources (com.example.role=db).
- Use reverse-DNS notation to prevent conflicts with other objects, as recommended by Docker.
- Use a consistent naming convention for labels applied across all containers, for example, com.example.owner=team-a, com.example.owner=team-b, com.example.env=production, com.example.env=testing.
- Use in groupings, for example, when applying configuration changes where labels define or group related database resources (com.example.role=db).
- Combine labels for more granular control, for example, using com.example.env=prod and com.example.tier=frontend to distinguish frontend from backend services in production environments.
Accept the default values in Resources Configuration or enter new CPU and memory values. By default, this application is limited to use no more than 2 CPU cores and 4096 megabytes available memory. The application might use considerably less system resources.
To customize the CPU and memory allocated to the container the app uses, enter new CPU values as a plain integer value (letter suffix is not required). The default is 4096.
Accept the default value (4 Gb) allocated memory or enter a new limit in bytes. Enter a plain integer without the measurement suffix, for example, 129 not 129M or 123MiB.
GPU Configuration provides the option to enable GPU passthrough. Select Passthrough available (non-NVIDIA) GPUs or, if your system has an NVIDIA GPU device, select Use this GPU.
For more information on GPU passthrough, see TrueNAS Apps.