Docker and Emby on Ubuntu Server LTS

  2025/06/30

Posted Tag: #Linux
Other Tags: #Windows, #Personal, #All

I use Ubuntu Server LTS for data storage, Docker containers and visualization. I have written about the data storage so now Docker containers. I use Emby Server in a Docker container to manage all my videos and music on the servers. Mainly because if one of my servers crashes or for any other reason where I need to reinstall Ubuntu Server LTS, I can easily restore Emby Server. The following is preformed on the server.

Installing Docker

sudo su
cd /

apt install ca-certificates curl gnupg

install -m 0755 -d /etc/apt/keyrings

curl -fsSL https://download.docker.com/linux/ubuntu/gpg | gpg --dearmor -o /etc/apt/keyrings/docker.gpg 

chmod a+r /etc/apt/keyrings/docker.gpg

echo \
  "deb [arch="$(dpkg --print-architecture)" signed-by=/etc/apt/keyrings/docker.gpg] https://download.docker.com/linux/ubuntu \
  "$(. /etc/os-release && echo "$VERSION_CODENAME")" stable" | \
  tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/docker.list > /dev/null

apt update

apt install docker-ce docker-ce-cli containerd.io docker-buildx-plugin docker-compose-plugin

systemctl enable --now docker.service
systemctl status docker.service - to check it is running

CTRL + C

exit - exit root

We are setting the user server as a Docker user.

sudo usermod -aG docker ${USER}
sudo su - ${USER}
docker info

Client: Docker Engine - Community
 Version:    28.3.0
 Context:    default
 Debug Mode: false
 Plugins:
  buildx: Docker Buildx (Docker Inc.)
    Version:  v0.25.0
    Path:     /usr/libexec/docker/cli-plugins/docker-buildx
  compose: Docker Compose (Docker Inc.)
    Version:  v2.37.3
    Path:     /usr/libexec/docker/cli-plugins/docker-compose

That is a little of what you get but it means docker is available for the current user being server.

Installing Docker Compose

sudo curl -SL https://github.com/docker/compose/releases/download/v2.20.3/docker-compose-linux-x86_64 -o /usr/local/bin/docker-compose

sudo chmod +x /usr/local/bin/docker-compose

docker-compose version

Docker Compose version v2.20.3 - This what you get

Emby Server Container

Do this in a notepad type editor on Windows or Linux.

version: "3.8"

services:
  emby:
    image: emby/embyserver
    container_name: emby
    environment:
      PUID: '1000'
      PGID: '1000'
      TZ: 'America/New_York'
    volumes:
      - "/tank/config/emby:/config"
      - "/dozer/media/tv:/data/tvshows"
      - "/tank/media/movies:/data/movies"
      - "/dozer/media/music:/data/music"
    ports:
      - "8096:8096"
    restart: always

The spacing and everything is important and save it as docker-compose.yml. I do not concern myself with updates because it can be done in the Emby HTML interface. The next thing to do is get the docker-compose.yml file where I like to put it on the servers.

On the server we need to create some directories.

cd ~

mkdir -p ~/bin/docker/

First open terminal in Windows or a Bash window in Linux in the directory where the docker-compose.yml is. In Windows or Linux the commands are the same.

scp docker-compose.yml [email protected]:~/bin/docker/ Using your server IP address.

Connect to the server again and type this to start Emby and then it will start whenever the server boots. The -d starts it in the background.

docker-compose -f ~/bin/docker/docker-compose.yml up -d

Setup Emby at http://192.168.00.00:8096 with your server IP address.

Some information about Emby. Emby is free unless to use Emby Theater or if you have a TV tuner like a HD Homerun on your network and want TV scheduling. Either will cost you $4.95 a month.