Frank
949d3cb6f4
The page carries the deploy-time shape: which four providers are core plugins in Jellyfin 12, which one is not, the exact XML each key lives in, the host file the keys come from and its 600 rule, the three-way pin on the TVDB artifact with its rollback, and what the deployer does when the keys file is absent. OMDb is recorded as deliberately unconfigured -- keyed by email, 1000 req/day, and a ToS that forbids storing what it returns. index.md's row carries the same locator.
186 lines
10 KiB
Markdown
186 lines
10 KiB
Markdown
---
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type: reference
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title: Jellyfin
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description: "Jellyfin on Dankserver: quadlet unit, overlay metadata view, provider keys, ports, access, transcode status."
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tags: [jellyfin, dankserver, media-server]
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timestamp: 2026-10-30T00:00:00Z
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---
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# Jellyfin
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Jellyfin is the free media server on Dankserver — a podman quadlet service
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(`jellyfin.service`, generated from `dankserver/jellyfin/quadlet/jellyfin.container`)
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serving music, movies, and shows over LAN. It replaced the earlier research
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brief; it runs alongside [[Plex]], which remains the primary server for some
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clients.
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**Host:** Dankserver (192.168.0.235) — **Access:** `http://192.168.0.235:8096`
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public vhost `jelly.franksdank.cloud` behind the [[Anubis]] guard chain →
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[[Authentik]] outpost (post-auth route proxies `localhost:8096`).
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## Facts (verified from the live unit, 2026-09-03)
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| Item | Value |
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|------|-------|
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| Unit | `~/.config/containers/systemd/jellyfin.container` → `jellyfin.service` (user manager), `Restart=always`, `RestartSec=5` |
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| Image | `ghcr.io/jellyfin/jellyfin:latest` |
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| Network | `dankserver_appnet`; publishes 8096/tcp, 8920/tcp, 7359/udp, 1900/udp |
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| Data roots | `/home/dank/Containers/jellyfin/config:/config`, `/home/dank/Containers/jellyfin/cache:/cache` |
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| Media | `Volume=/var/lib/media-meta/view:/data` — the [[Media Metadata View]] overlay, **writable**; sidecars land on the NVMe, the [[Entropy Volume]] array underneath stays read-only and untouched |
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| GPU | none — no `AddDevice`; CPU decode only (jellyfin-ffmpeg path) |
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| Env quirks | `DOTNET_SYSTEM_IO_DISABLEFILELOCKING=true`, `LD_PRELOAD=libjemalloc.so.2`, `MALLOC_TRIM_THRESHOLD_=131072` kept verbatim from the compose-era container (zero-drift cutover) |
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| Health | `curl -f http://localhost:8096/health` every 30 s |
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## Data layout
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```
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/home/dank/Containers/jellyfin/config -> /config (JELLYFIN_DATA_DIR)
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/home/dank/Containers/jellyfin/cache -> /cache (JELLYFIN_CACHE_DIR, XDG_CACHE_HOME)
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/var/lib/media-meta/view -> /data (the SSD-backed overlay view)
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```
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Library folders point at `/data` paths, which are the view's paths: stable
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across container recreation, and identical to the raw array layout below it.
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`Local metadata` — save metadata to media folders — is enabled, and it works
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because `/data` is the [[Media Metadata View]] rather than the read-only array:
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`movie.nfo`, `tvshow.nfo`, `episode.nfo` and artwork are written once, on the
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NVMe upper layer, and [[Plex]] reads the same files. Jellyfin is the fleet's
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only metadata writer.
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**Failure signature:** `System.IO.IOException: Read-only file system :
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'/data/Movies/<film>/movie.nfo'` means the container is binding the raw array
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instead of the view — the view is unmounted or the quadlet drifted. That used to
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be the expected state (pre-view, every item update logged it); today it is a
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fault. Run `scripts/media-view.sh status`.
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## Ports & access
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| Port | Proto | Purpose |
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|------|-------|---------|
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| 8096 | TCP | Web UI + API (`JELLYFIN_PublishedServerUrl=http://192.168.0.235:8096`) |
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| 8920 | TCP | DLNA/UPnP root device control |
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| 7359 | UDP | service discovery (client auto-discovery) |
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| 1900 | UDP | SSDP discovery |
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Client access paths and the public-exposure policy (auth wall required before
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any public vhost; Plex-style claim tokens do not exist here — Jellyfin uses its
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own users/API keys) follow the fleet [[Authentik]]/[[Anubis]] chain pattern.
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## Authentik LDAP authentication (2026-09-25)
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Jellyfin has no native external-auth, so it authenticates users through the
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**LDAP-Auth plugin** (`jellyfin-plugin-ldapauth`) against an [[Authentik]] LDAP
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provider. A user logs in with their **authentik username + password**; the
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plugin binds as a service account, searches the directory, and rebinds as the
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user to verify the password.
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**authentik side** (on Dankclaw):
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- LDAP provider `Jellyfin LDAP` (Base DN `dc=franksdank,dc=cloud`, bind/search
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mode `direct`) + application `Jellyfin`.
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- LDAP outpost `Jellyfin LDAP Outpost` → container `authentik-outpost-ldap`
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(quadlet `dankclaw/authentik/quadlet/authentik-outpost-ldap.container`)
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publishing `389`/`636` on the Dankclaw host for cross-host binds.
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- Service account `svc-jellyfin-ldap` (DN
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`cn=svc-jellyfin-ldap,ou=users,dc=franksdank,dc=cloud`).
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- Access groups `jellyfin_users` (search filter
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`(memberOf=cn=jellyfin_users,ou=groups,dc=franksdank,dc=cloud)`) and
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`jellyfin_admins` (admin filter `(cn=jellyfin_admins)`). Add a user to
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`jellyfin_users` to grant them Jellyfin access; `jellyfin_admins` grants
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the Jellyfin admin role.
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**Jellyfin side** (plugin config, set via admin → Plugins → LDAP-Auth):
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- Server `192.168.0.143:389` (plain LDAP over the trusted LAN), Base DN
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`dc=franksdank,dc=cloud`, bind user = the service-account DN, search
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attributes `uid,cn,mail,displayName`, uid attr `uid`, username attr `cn`
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`CreateUsersFromLdap=true`, all folders enabled.
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**Gotcha — the bind credential is a PASSWORD, not a token.** The LDAP bind is
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verified by authentik's default authentication flow (standard-password
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backend). The service account must have a password set (admin → user →
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Recovery → Set password); an API/app token is *not* accepted as the bind
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password and the bind fails with `flow error password: Invalid`. The
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service-account password is stored only in the Jellyfin plugin config (the
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`LdapBindPassword` field) — it is never committed to this repo.
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**Verification (2026-09-25):** `ldapsearch` bind + the `jellyfin_users`
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search both succeed from Dankclaw; a real user (`alex`, in `jellyfin_users`)
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logged into the web UI with their authentik password and the plugin created
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the matching Jellyfin user.
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**Gotcha — the login endpoint changed in Jellyfin 12.1.** The legacy
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`POST /Users/Auth/Password` route (and its `LegacyEmbyRouteRewriteMiddleware`)
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was removed; probing it now returns a silent 401 with no plugin log, which
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reads like an auth failure but is just a dead route. The web UI and modern
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clients use `POST /Users/AuthenticateByName` (with the `Authorization:
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MediaBrowser Client=…, DeviceId=…, Device=…, Version=…` header), which is
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where the LDAP plugin runs. Verified 2026-09-25: `alex` authenticates over
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`AuthenticateByName` (HTTP 200; full plugin flow logged — service bind,
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search, `ldapUid`, user bind, token).
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## Metadata providers and their keys (2026-10-30)
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TMDb, OMDb, StudioImages and MusicBrainz are **core plugins** in Jellyfin 12 —
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no DLL, just a configuration file the running container owns under the data
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root. TVDB is not core (its metadata provider was removed in 10.9), so it is an
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official-catalog plugin.
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| Provider | Shape on disk | Key lives in |
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|---|---|---|
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| TMDb | `config/plugins/configurations/Jellyfin.Plugin.Tmdb.xml` → `<TmdbApiKey>` | `/home/dank/Containers/jellyfin/provider-keys` → `TMDB_API_KEY=` (mode 600) |
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| TVDB | `config/plugins/thetvdb_24.0.0.0/` + `…Jellyfin.Plugin.Tvdb.xml` → `<ApiKey>` | the same file → `TVDB_API_KEY=` |
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| OMDb | `…Jellyfin.Plugin.Omdb.xml` | **not configured** — its key is issued by email, 1 000 req/day, and its ToS forbids storing the returned data; ratings stay Jellyfin's own lookup |
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**None of it is tracked in git.** Those XML files belong to the container and
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hold credentials, and `tests/jellyfin_providers.bats` fails the suite if one is
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ever committed. The keys themselves sit in the per-service host env file that is
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the fleet's convention for container credentials (grafana, caddy, pihole,
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copyparty, romm, seerr): `provider-keys`, mode 600, beside the data root.
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`scripts/jellyfin-providers.sh` is the only thing that writes the XML:
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```
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scripts/jellyfin-providers.sh plan # what would change; prints no key
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scripts/jellyfin-providers.sh install # plugin + keys, previous copy to trash
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scripts/jellyfin-providers.sh verify # plugin + key LENGTHS, never key bytes
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```
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- **A key never enters git, argv, or the tool's output.** The installer reads
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that 600-perm file itself (a value in argv is world-readable through
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`/proc/<pid>/cmdline`) and refuses it when it is group- or world-readable —
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an exposed key is an error, not a warning. A key that shows up in a transcript
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or `ps` output has leaked: rotate it with the provider, rewrite
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`provider-keys`, re-run `install`.
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- **The TVDB artifact is pinned three ways**: sha256
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`6302fba3857bdde8d186dd099fac09ca43247041f531a528a2c788add70a5319`, the
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official plugin guid `a677c0da-fac5-4cde-941a-7134223f14c8`, and version
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`24.0.0.0` (`targetAbi 12.0.0.0`, which fits the deployed 12.4.0). A sha
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match alone only proves the bytes are the bytes fetched — the guid check is
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what says it is the official plugin. Rollback: move `thetvdb_24.0.0.0/` into
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the trash and revert the pin; a second `thetvdb_*` directory is a refusal,
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never a quiet second copy.
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- **The homelab TVDB key is a licensed key** (its JWT claims say
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`community_supported: false`), so it needs **no PIN** — the optional
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`TVDB_PIN=` line exists only for a subscriber-shaped key.
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- **TVDB is installed and keyed but is not a metadata agent**: TMDb still
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identifies everything. Enabling TVDB as a provider would re-fetch show
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metadata across the library, so it is a deliberate, separate change.
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- **The deployer places the keys before it restarts jellyfin**
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(`ensure_provider_keys` in `scripts/deploy-remote.sh`) and warns instead of
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failing when `provider-keys` is absent, so a host without it still deploys.
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- **Keys and plugins are read at start-up**: after a manual `install` the
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change is inert until `./scripts/deploy.sh dankserver --service jellyfin`.
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- TMDb's terms are the reason this stays narrow: attribution required, no
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caching beyond 6 months, no derivative works. Fine for a personal homelab,
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and the reason no bulk enrichment pass runs against it.
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## Configuration workflow
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1. Create libraries pointing at `/data` folders (movies, shows, audio).
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2. Set metadata/language preferences (`LANG=en_US.UTF-8` pinned in the unit).
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3. Configure clients to use `http://192.168.0.235:8096` or the guarded vhost.
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## See Also
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- [[Plex]] — co-resident media server on the same volume
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- [[Entropy Volume]] — the 91 T array mounted read-only at `/data`
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- [[Caddy]] · [[Anubis]] · [[Authentik]] — edge chain for `jelly.franksdank.cloud`
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