A stack of self-hosted media managers and streamer along with VPN.

Stack include VPN, Radarr, Sonarr, Prowlarr, qBittorrent and Jellyfin.

• Docker version 24.0.5 and above
• Docker compose version v2.20.2 and above
• It may also work on some of lower versions, but its not tested.

There are two ways this stack can be deployed.

1. With a VPN (Recommended)
2. Without a VPN

Before we deploy the stack, We must create docker network first

docker network create mynetwork

Deploy the stack with VPN

If VPN is enabled, qBittorrent and Prowlarr will be put behind VPN.

By default, NordVPN is used in docker-compose.yml file. This can be updated to use ExpressVPN, SurfShark, ProtonVPN, Custom OpenVPN or Wireguard VPN. It uses OpenVPN type for all the providers.

Check respective document of your VPN provider to generate OpenVPN username and password.

By default, VPN is disabled in docker-compose.yml. We just need to comment and uncomment few lines in docker-compose.yml file to enable and use VPN. Go through the comment messages in docker-compose.yml file to update them accordingly. Its very well guided in the compose file itself.

Update the docker-compose.yml file as guided per instructions in commit messsages in same file and follow below commands to deploy the stack.

To deploy the stack with VPN (with nordvpn):

VPN_SERVICE_PROVIDER=nordvpn OPENVPN_USER=openvpn-username OPENVPN_PASSWORD=openvpn-password SERVER_COUNTRIES=Switzerland RADARR_STATIC_CONTAINER_IP=radarr-container-static-ip SONARR_STATIC_CONTAINER_IP=sonarr-container-static-ip docker compose --profile vpn up -d

# docker compose -f docker-compose-nginx.yml up -d # OPTIONAL to use Nginx as reverse proxy

Static container IP address is needed when prowlarr is behind VPN. This is because in this case Prowlar can reach out to Radarr and Sonarr only with their container IP addresses. With static IPs of both, We can configure them in Prowlarr without need of changing it everytime container restarts.

This is set using RADARR_STATIC_CONTAINER_IP and SONARR_STATIC_CONTAINER_IP variables.

Deploy the stack without VPN

To deploy the stack without VPN (highly discouraged), Run below command.

docker compose up -d
# docker compose -f docker-compose-nginx.yml up -d # OPTIONAL to use Nginx as reverse proxy

• Open qBitTorrent at http://localhost:5080. Default username:password is admin:adminadmin
• Go to Tools --> Options --> WebUI --> Change password
• Run below commands on the server

docker exec -it qbittorrent bash # Get inside qBittorrent container

# Above command will get you inside qBittorrent interactive terminal, Run below command in qbt terminal
mkdir /downloads/movies /downloads/tvshows
chown 1000:1000 /downloads/movies /downloads/tvshows

• Open Radarr at http://localhost:7878
• Settings --> Media Management --> Check mark "Movies deleted from disk are automatically unmonitored in Radarr" under File management section --> Save
• Settings --> Download clients --> qBittorrent --> Add Host (qbittorrent) and port (5080) --> Username and password --> Test --> Save Note: If VPN is enabled, then qbittorrent is reachable on vpn's service name. In this case use vpn in Host field.
• Settings --> General --> Enable advance setting --> Select Authentication and add username and password
• Indexer will get automatically added during configuration of Prowlarr. See 'Configure Prowlarr' section.

Sonarr can also be configured in similar way.

Add a movie (After Prowlarr is configured)

• Movies --> Search for a movie --> Add Root folder (/downloads/movies) --> Quality profile --> Add movie
• All queued movies download can be checked here, Activities --> Queue
• Go to qBittorrent (http://localhost:5080) and see if movie is getting downloaded (After movie is queued. This depends on availability of movie in indexers configured in Prowlarr.)

• Open Jellyfin at http://localhost:8096
• When you access the jellyfin for first time using browser, A guided configuration will guide you to configure jellyfin. Just follow the guide.
• Add media library folder and choose /data/movies/

• Open Prowlarr at http://localhost:9696
• Settings --> General --> Authentications --> Select Authentication and add username and password
• Add Indexers, Indexers --> Add Indexer --> Search for indexer --> Choose base URL --> Test and Save
• Add application, Settings --> Apps --> Add application --> Choose Radarr --> Prowlarr server (http://prowlarr:9696) --> Radarr server (http://radarr:7878) --> API Key --> Test and Save
• Add application, Settings --> Apps --> Add application --> Choose Sonarr --> Prowlarr server (http://prowlarr:9696) --> Sonarr server (http://sonarr:8989) --> API Key --> Test and Save
• This will add indexers in respective apps automatically.

Note: If VPN is enabled, then Prowlarr will not be able to reach radarr and sonarr with localhost or container service name. In that case use static IP for sonarr and radarr in radarr/sonarr server field (for e.g. http://172.19.0.5:8989). Prowlar will also be not reachable with its container/service name. Use http://vpn:9696 instead in prowlar server field.

• Get inside Nginx container
• cd /etc/nginx/conf.d
• Add proxies for all tools.

docker cp nginx.conf nginx:/etc/nginx/conf.d/default.conf && docker exec -it nginx nginx -s reload

• Close ports of other tools in firewall/security groups except port 80 and 443.

• Open port 80 and 443.
• Get inside Nginx container and install certbot and certbot-nginx apk add certbot certbot-nginx
• Add URL in server block. e.g. server_name localhost mediastack.example.com; in /etc/nginx/conf.d/default.conf
• Run certbot --nginx and provide details asked.

• Settings --> General --> URL Base --> Add base (/radarr)
• Add below proxy in nginx configuration

location /radarr {
    proxy_pass http://radarr:7878;
    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_http_version 1.1;
    proxy_set_header Upgrade $http_upgrade;
    proxy_set_header Connection $http_connection;
  }

• Restart containers.

• Settings --> General --> URL Base --> Add base (/sonarr)
• Add below proxy in nginx configuration

location /sonarr {
    proxy_pass http://sonarr:8989;
    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_http_version 1.1;
    proxy_set_header Upgrade $http_upgrade;
    proxy_set_header Connection $http_connection;
  }

• Settings --> General --> URL Base --> Add base (/prowlarr)
• Add below proxy in nginx configuration

This may need to change configurations in indexers and base in URL.

location /prowlarr {
    proxy_pass http://prowlarr:9696; # Comment this line if VPN is enabled.
    # proxy_pass http://vpn:9696; # Uncomment this line if VPN is enabled.
    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_http_version 1.1;
    proxy_set_header Upgrade $http_upgrade;
    proxy_set_header Connection $http_connection;
  }

• Restart containers.

Note: If VPN is enabled, then Prowlarr is reachable on vpn's service name

location /qbt/ {
    proxy_pass         http://qbittorrent:5080/; # Comment this line if VPN is enabled.
    # proxy_pass         http://vpn:5080/; # Uncomment this line if VPN is enabled.
    proxy_http_version 1.1;

    proxy_set_header   Host               http://qbittorrent:5080; # Comment this line if VPN is enabled.
    # proxy_set_header   Host               http://vpn:5080; # Uncomment this line if VPN is enabled.
    proxy_set_header   X-Forwarded-Host   $http_host;
    proxy_set_header   X-Forwarded-For    $remote_addr;
    proxy_cookie_path  /                  "/; Secure";
}

Note: If VPN is enabled, then qbittorrent is reachable on vpn's service name

• Add base URL, Admin Dashboard -> Networking -> Base URL (/jellyfin)
• Add below config in Ngix config

 location /jellyfin {
        return 302 $scheme://$host/jellyfin/;
    }

    location /jellyfin/ {

        proxy_pass http://jellyfin:8096/jellyfin/;

        proxy_pass_request_headers on;

        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;
        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Host $http_host;

        proxy_set_header Upgrade $http_upgrade;
        proxy_set_header Connection $http_connection;

        # Disable buffering when the nginx proxy gets very resource heavy upon streaming
        proxy_buffering off;
    }

• Restart containers