How to install Emby Server on Ubuntu

Creating your own multimedia streaming server for your house may be accomplished with ease with an Emby Server. It comes pre-packaged with all of the capabilities that are essential for a multimedia streaming service. In this post, I will demonstrate how to install Emby Server on Ubuntu 20.04 operating system. Please visit the official website listed below if you would like further information on Emby.

https://emby.media/

Installing Emby Server on Ubuntu: Step-by-Step Instructions

For the sake of this post, I have Ubuntu 20.04 server set up and running on a separate server. Therefore, most of the time I will connect to the server via SSH.

Step 1. Update Ubuntu

Before we can install Emby, we need to make sure our Ubuntu system is up to date.

sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade

Step 2. Install Emby Server

We’ll need to download and install the Emby package.

Wget https://github.com/MediaBrowser/Emby.Releases/releases/download/4.7.5.0/emby-server-deb_4.7.5.0_amd64.deb
sudo dpkg -i emby-server-deb_4.7.5.0_amd64.deb

Check to see whether the Emby service is now active.

sudo systemctl status emby-server.service

Step 2.1 Install Emby Server Beta

If you want to install the beta version of Emby, you should do it in the following manner:

Wget https://github.com/MediaBrowser/Emby.Releases/releases/download/4.8.0.21/emby-server-deb_4.8.0.21_amd64.deb
sudo dpkg -i emby-server-deb_4.8.0.21_amd64.deb

If you prefer to use curl:

curl -O https://github.com/MediaBrowser/Emby.Releases/releases/download/4.8.0.21/emby-server-deb_4.8.0.21_amd64.deb
sudo dpkg -i emby-server-deb_4.8.0.21_amd64.deb

Step 3. Configure Emby

Go to another computer on your network and open a web browser to find the IP address of the server. The IP address should look like this:

http://x.x.x.x:8096

The first step is to pick a language of preference.

Create a new user by pressing Next.

After that, we may begin building our media collections. For the time being, you may just click the next button.

Next, set up remote access. Emby can be accessed remotely in this scenario.

Finally, we’re all set.

There is now a working Emby on the network. Adding your music and movies is all we need to do.

TIPS

Better performance

If you want better performance, I would highly suggest you use HTTPS when connecting externally. HTTP is not able to use HTTP/2 and is limited to http1.1. HTTPS on the other hand is able to provide better bandwidth and better performance due to the support of HTTP1.1 and most importantly, HTTP/2.

See here for more information about HTTP/2

HTTP/2 is able to handle multiple streams in a single connection while http1.1 sends them 1 by 1 and can have a hold up.. In the newer versions, emby has been confirmed having support for it

Reverse Proxying

If you can avoid using a reverse proxy and let emby through the firewall using Port forward, 1:1 NAT, or any of the other ways described above, that would be the best way to use emby.

Otherwise, head into your reverse proxy server and open up either /etc/nginx/nginx.conf or /etc/apache2/sites-enabled/*.conf

Replace x.x.x.x with your emby machine ip and port if it applies.

NGINX

Bash

proxy_pass http://x.x.x.x:8096/;

Apache / HTTPD

Bash

ProxyPreserveHost On
proxypass / http://x.x.x.x:8096/
ProxyPassReverse / http://x.x.x.x:8096/