Emby Media Server Docker Service

This is an easy to manage service which runs Emby Media Server within Docker.

By running Emby as a system service using Docker and docker-compose, this ensures Emby can be portably run in any X86_64 system which has systemd and Docker available.

Prerequisites

• Docker
• docker-compose

Try out Emby

Trying out Emby is easy. You can start Emby with the following command.

docker-compose up -d

Then, visit http://localhost:8096.

To stop Emby without deleting Emby data run the following.

docker-compose down

To stop Emby, delete all data, and the Emby image built run the following.

docker-compose down -v --rmi all

Running as a service

When you have Emby configured the way you want, you can easily install your current Emby service as a systemd service. This will use all existing docker-compose configuration and Emby data configured within this service. It simply uses systemd to control docker-compose on start, stop, and restart.

Note: Before controlling the Emby systemd service it is recommended to shut down Emby if you started it outside of systemd. Simply run:

docker-compose down

Install emby service

Install Emby as a service.

./install-emby-service.sh

Control emby service

Start the service.

systemctl start emby.service

Stop the service.

systemctl stop emby.service

Ensure the service autostarts on reboot.

systemctl enable emby.service

Stop the service from autostarting on reboot.

systemctl disable emby.service

Debug emby service

View the current service status.

systemctl status emby.service

View the systemd logs for the service.

journalctl -u emby.service

Customizing Emby version

Modify the emby service in docker-compose.yml with an environment section to customize the version of Emby.

services:
  emby:
    environment:
      EMBY_VERSION: 3.5.2.0

Adding media to Emby

Modify the emby service in docker-compose.yml and update the volumes section. Do not delete the emby-data volume or your emby service will lose its configuration every time the service is restarted.

It is recommended to attach your media as read-only to Emby so that your media isn't accidentally deleted through Emby. Mounting as read-only adds an extra layer of security.

services:
  emby:
    volumes:
      - emby-data:/var/lib/emby
      - /path/to/Movies:/media/Movies:ro
      - /path/to/Music:/media/Music:ro
      - /path/to/Photos:/media/Photos:ro

You might want to still be able to upload photos to Emby. For this, you can mount a read-write photos directory in which Emby can access.

- /path/to/Emby-Uploaded-Photos:/media/Emby-Uploaded-Photos

In the above example, Emby will need write access to /media/Emby-Uploaded-Photos. To grant Emby write access do the following:

# Enter the running Emby container as root
docker-compose exec -u root emby /bin/bash
# Now inside of the container change permissions
chown -R emby: /media/Emby-Uploaded-Photos

See also

• my_internal_ca which is a certificate authority management solution for managing an internal CA. This can be used to secure Emby with your own CA to gain ultimate trust.