Multiple Instances on QNAP

[rmcbarnet]

Hi Simon

First off a big thank you for developing and continuing to develop Minim. It is by far the best DNLA server I have tried. I will be happy to continue contributing to your ongoing efforts.

I maintain two music libraries - Classical and Everything Else - and use Minim for the Classical. I have tried Twonky, QNAP's service and Asset uPNP for the second server but none match up to Minim.

I use a single QNAP as my storage platform and do not want to add a second if I can avoid it. My ideal outcome is to run two instances of Minim on the QNAP, one for each library.

I have read the previous threads both on running Docker images and the challenges with other DNLA servers with regards to Various Artist CDs and how they are displayed in my Cambridge Audio CXN (issue of Album Artist and Track Artist).

I can add multiple instances of Asset uPNP but would really like the same option in Minim. Do you see this in your roadmap?

Thanks and regards

Richard

[simoncn]

If your QNAP model can run Container Station, the following will create a Docker container running an additional MinimServer instance:

Edit: The following instructions don't apply to MinimServer 2. Instead, use the instructions in this section.

1) Create a folder Docker in the QNAP Public shared folder
2) Under this folder, create subfolders 'build' and 'run'
3) Download the file MinimServer-0.8.5.2-linux-intel.tar.gz from the Downloads page and copy it to the 'build' folder
4) Download the file Dockerfile.bin from this link
5) Rename the file Dockerfile.bin to Dockerfile and copy it to the 'build' folder
6) Download the file docker.sh from this link and copy it to the 'run' folder
7) Login to the NAS using SSH
8) Run the command: cd /share/Public/Docker/build
9) Run the command: sh ../run/docker.sh build -t minimserver:0.8.5.2 .
10) Start and open Container Station
11) Under Images, you should see an image with Name minimserver and Version 0.8.5.2
12) Click the + icon in the Actions column for this image
13) On the Advanced Settings page, select Network and change the network mode to Host (ignoring the warning message)
14) On the Advanced Settings page, select Shared Folders and create a mapping for your MinimServer library folder to a mount point in the Docker container (for example, /Music)
15) Click the Create button
16) The MinimServer Docker container should start and be visible as a red minim icon in MinimWatch
17) Select Properties from the red icon. On the System tab, change http.port from 9790 to 9792 and change ohnet.port from 9791 to 9793, then click Apply
18) On the Server tab, put the mount point for your MinimServer library folder (see step 14) in the contentDir field, then click Apply
19) On the Server tab, change the default displayName value to something else so that you can easily identify this instance when using MinimWatch, then click OK
20) From the MinimWatch minim icon, select Restart

Please let me know if you have any questions about this or if any of the steps don't work correctly.

I would like to add support for multiple instances into MinimServer so that the setup process is simpler and works on all platforms. However, this is unlikely to happen in the short to medium term.

[rmcbarnet]

Hi Simon

Thank you for your detailed instructions. Sadly my QNAP is too old to support a container so I will more than likely now bite the bullet and upgrade to a newer model (ironically this will in fact leave me with two units and the prospect of just running Minim on each but there will be an increase in my utility costs)

I'll let you know if I have any trouble.

Once again many thanks.

Richard

[simoncn]

I have an HS251+ and I am very pleased with it (silent, low power consumption, very quick and supports Container Station).

[steamfan]

Hello,

you also could go another approach: buy a Raspberry Pi 3. Here you can run 4 instances without problems. This gives you 5 instances of MinimServer (1 on QNAP and 4 and Raspberry Pi). I go this approach and are very happy with it.

Regards
Michael

[daedlo]

Simon
Excellent description of how to create a minimserver container. I recently bought a QNAP TS451+ and decided to split my classical and modern music files. I have no Linux skills but I was able to (eventually) produce a working container which is now successfully running.
I did have two issues which may be down to my inexperience. In Step 3 above I found that when downloading the file my system decided to truncate the name and chop of the .gz file type. I had to manually add this before the installation worked. FYI my system is an iMac running the latest operating system. In step 5 I had great difficulty in removing the .bin from the docker image file. I could only do that by using GET INFO and changing it there.
As I also stream internet radio via my original copy of minimserver I wondered if you could point me in the right direction in how to access the ffmpeg file located on my QNAP so that I could do the same via my newly created container?
Many thanks again
Dave

[simoncn]

To rename a .bin file in Mac Finder, you can click on the filename in a Finder window. This makes the filename editable and you can use the keyboard to delete .bin from the end of the filename, then press the Enter key to make the change permanent.

The .gz problem is a "feature" of Safari on the Mac. To stop this happening, you need to first configure Safari so it won't unpack the downloaded .tar.gz file into a .tar file. To do this, in your Safari preferences (General page), you need to uncheck the box at the bottom of the page (Open "safe" files after downloading). When the file has been downloaded, check to make sure it has a .tar.gz extension, and delete the downloaded file if it doesn't have this extension.

To install ffmpeg in the container, you can't copy the QNAP version of the ffmpeg executable because this depends on shared libraries that aren't available to the container. You need to download a Linux x64 ffmpeg static binary and copy this into the container's /opt/minimserver/opt/bin directory.

[chip]

Hi all,

(07-02-2018 00:07)simoncn Wrote:  To install ffmpeg in the container, you can't copy the QNAP version of the ffmpeg executable because this depends on shared libraries that aren't available to the container. You need to download a Linux x64 ffmpeg static binary and copy this into the container's /opt/minimserver/opt/bin directory.

I have setup a QNAP Container for MinimServer on my TVS-463.
I would like to add ffmpeg to my MinimServer Container to transcode music files.

I searched for ffmpeg download with Google and found many sites with this file to download.
Does anyone have expereince with downloading and installing ffmpeg in the container?
Can someone recommend a site to download from that they know works in the container?

Thanks for any help and advice,
Chip

[simoncn]

You can use either of the amd64 builds from this page. You only need the ffmpeg executable, nothing else in the downloaded package.

[chip]

(23-06-2019 18:43)simoncn Wrote:  You can use either of the amd64 builds from this page. You only need the ffmpeg executable, nothing else in the downloaded package.

Hi Simon,
Found it, downloaded and extracted.

This brings two more questions.
a) Where do I add this file in the MinimServer container? Specific folder?

b) How can I add this to my MinimServer Container?
I can not seem to find a way to access the file system of the container.

You continued assistance is greatly appreciated,
Chip