How to build the best Servarr Server

Lidarr, Prowlarr, Radarr, Readarr, Sonarr & Prowlarr

Intro

This post will use the official documentation that can be found here: Servarr

For my build, I wanted a small, quiet but powerful server. A good place to look is eBay and search for a Small Form Factor (SFF) Computer. The more memory and drive space you can afford, the more you will be able to do. CPU and RAM will help with speed. Hard drives will allow you to save and retain more items than you could with a smaller drive.

For my setup, I will be placing all the containers on the main drive which is an SSD. I installed a second drive that will house all my media files and will be shared with all the containers. This will reduce the amount of wasted space that normally happens with Virtual machines or Containers.

My Build info:

• Case

  • Small Form Factor (SFF)

• Processor

  • 6 x Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-9500 CPU @ 3.00GHz

• Display Adapter

  • Intel Onboard

• Memory

  • 8GB but plan on upgrading to 32GB

• Hard Drives

  • NVME - 256GB [PROXMOX & Containers installed here]

  • SDA - 12TB SATA Drive [Shared Space for downloaded MEDIA on all Containers]

One of the most important pages you will need is the installer script page. This page can be found here.

Create Containers in ProxMox

It is easiest to create a “Template” and then build out the rest of your containers. Each of the containers should be pretty obvious what each one will do:

Before creating the containers you should know what IP addresses each one of these programs will use.

Making the default “Ubunutu” Template

Not a lot needs to go into the template. One thing I do recommend that you do is to add any scripts or configuration items that will be needed on all containers. It is best to keep the container as bare-bones as possible. One item I do recommend having as part of the container is a bash script that will automatically update and clean up everything each time it is run. See the next section on how to make it.

Keeping Containers Up to Date with patching

Let’s make sure all the containers are up to date. You can do this easily by making a script to do this for you!

This can be done in the template or you can do this on each server. To start, we will create a script file called:

• update.sh

To create this file type:

nano update.sh

The contents of the file are:

#Update Script
apt-get update -y
apt-get full-upgrade -y
apt-get autoremove -y
apt-get clean -y
apt-get autoclean -y
#END

Note - To save it hit “CTRL+S” and then “CTRL+X”

To run the update script type:

bash update.sh

Now your container will check for updates, apply updates, upgrade your OS, auto-remove items that are no longer compatible, and clean up orphaned files and folders.

Servarr Install Script (as of 12/27/2023)

This script will need to be run on each of the containers that will house the applications that you want to install.

The server install script will install all but one of the “Arr” applications. The application it doesn’t install is Sonarr. Sonarr is a TV search application. It also doesn’t install “FlareSolverr” which helps the “Arr” programs but is not made by the same teams.

• Once SSHed in type the below to create the installation script in your current directory

nano ArrInstall.sh

Copy

• Copy (top right corner of the script) and Paste it into your SSH console. Review the variables with comments and update if necessary.

  • If you are in a GUI OS such as Windows or MacOS (OSX): pasting could be as simple as 'right clicking' in your SSH client.

#!/bin/bash
### Description: \*Arr .NET Debian install
### Originally written for Radarr by: DoctorArr - doctorarr@the-rowlands.co.uk on 2021-10-01 v1.0
### Version v1.1 2021-10-02 - Bakerboy448 (Made more generic and conformant)
### Version v1.1.1 2021-10-02 - DoctorArr (Spellcheck and boilerplate update)
### Version v2.0.0 2021-10-09 - Bakerboy448 (Refactored and ensured script is generic. Added more variables.)
### Version v2.0.1 2021-11-23 - brightghost (Fixed datadir step to use correct variables.)
### Version v3.0.0 2022-02-03 - Bakerboy448 (Rewrote script to prompt for user/group and made generic for all \*Arrs)
### Version v3.0.1 2022-02-05 - aeramor (typo fix line 179: 'chown "$app_uid":"$app_uid" -R "$bindir"' -> 'chown "$app_uid":"$app_guid" -R "$bindir"')
### Version v3.0.3 2022-02-06 - Bakerboy448 fixup ownership
### Version v3.0.3a Readarr to develop
### Version v3.0.4 2022-03-01 - Add sleep before checking service status
### Version v3.0.5 2022-04-03 - VP-EN (Added Whisparr)
### Version v3.0.6 2022-04-26 - Bakerboy448 - binaries to group
### Version v3.0.7 2023-01-05 - Bakerboy448 - Prowlarr to master
### Version v3.0.8 2023-04-20 - Bakerboy448 - Shellcheck fixes & remove prior tarballs
### Version v3.0.9 2023-04-28 - Bakerboy448 - fix tarball check
### Version v3.0.9a 2023-07-14 - DoctorArr - updated scriptversion and scriptdate and to see how this is going! It was still at v3.0.8.
### Additional Updates by: The \*Arr Community

### Boilerplate Warning
#THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND,
#EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF
#MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND
#NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE
#LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION
#OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION
#WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.

scriptversion="3.0.9a"
scriptdate="2023-07-14"

set -euo pipefail

echo "Running \*Arr Install Script - Version [$scriptversion] as of [$scriptdate]"

# Am I root?, need root!

if [ "$EUID" -ne 0 ]; then
    echo "Please run as root."
    exit
fi

echo "Select the application to install: "

select app in lidarr prowlarr radarr readarr whisparr quit; do

    case $app in
    lidarr)
        app_port="8686"                                          # Default App Port; Modify config.xml after install if needed
        app_prereq="curl sqlite3 libchromaprint-tools mediainfo" # Required packages
        app_umask="0002"                                         # UMask the Service will run as
        branch="master"                                          # {Update me if needed} branch to install
        break
        ;;
    prowlarr)
        app_port="9696"           # Default App Port; Modify config.xml after install if needed
        app_prereq="curl sqlite3" # Required packages
        app_umask="0002"          # UMask the Service will run as
        branch="master"          # {Update me if needed} branch to install
        break
        ;;
    radarr)
        app_port="7878"           # Default App Port; Modify config.xml after install if needed
        app_prereq="curl sqlite3" # Required packages
        app_umask="0002"          # UMask the Service will run as
        branch="master"           # {Update me if needed} branch to install
        break
        ;;
    readarr)
        app_port="8787"           # Default App Port; Modify config.xml after install if needed
        app_prereq="curl sqlite3" # Required packages
        app_umask="0002"          # UMask the Service will run as
        branch="develop"          # {Update me if needed} branch to install
        break
        ;;
    whisparr)
        app_port="6969"           # Default App Port; Modify config.xml after install if needed
        app_prereq="curl sqlite3" # Required packages
        app_umask="0002"          # UMask the Service will run as
        branch="nightly"          # {Update me if needed} branch to install
        break
        ;;
    quit)
        exit 0
        ;;
    *)
        echo "Invalid option $REPLY"
        ;;
    esac
done

# Constants
### Update these variables as required for your specific instance
installdir="/opt"              # {Update me if needed} Install Location
bindir="${installdir}/${app^}" # Full Path to Install Location
datadir="/var/lib/$app/"       # {Update me if needed} AppData directory to use
app_bin=${app^}                # Binary Name of the app

if [[ $app != 'prowlarr' ]]; then
    echo "It is critical that the user and group you select to run ${app^} as will have READ and WRITE access to your Media Library and Download Client Completed Folders"
fi

# Prompt User
read -r -p "What user should ${app^} run as? (Default: $app): " app_uid
app_uid=$(echo "$app_uid" | tr -d ' ')
app_uid=${app_uid:-$app}
# Prompt Group
read -r -p "What group should ${app^} run as? (Default: media): " app_guid
app_guid=$(echo "$app_guid" | tr -d ' ')
app_guid=${app_guid:-media}

echo "${app^} selected"
echo "This will install [${app^}] to [$bindir] and use [$datadir] for the AppData Directory"
if [[ $app == 'prowlarr' ]]; then
    echo "${app^} will run as the user [$app_uid] and group [$app_guid]."
else
    echo "${app^} will run as the user [$app_uid] and group [$app_guid]. By continuing, you've confirmed that that user and group will have READ and WRITE access to your Media Library and Download Client Completed Download directories"
fi
echo "Continue with the installation [Yes/No]?"
select yn in "Yes" "No"; do
    case $yn in
    Yes) break ;;
    No) exit 0 ;;
    esac
done

# Create User / Group as needed
if [ "$app_guid" != "$app_uid" ]; then
    if ! getent group "$app_guid" >/dev/null; then
        groupadd "$app_guid"
    fi
fi
if ! getent passwd "$app_uid" >/dev/null; then
    adduser --system --no-create-home --ingroup "$app_guid" "$app_uid"
    echo "Created and added User [$app_uid] to Group [$app_guid]"
fi
if ! getent group "$app_guid" | grep -qw "$app_uid"; then
    echo "User [$app_uid] did not exist in Group [$app_guid]"
    usermod -a -G "$app_guid" "$app_uid"
    echo "Added User [$app_uid] to Group [$app_guid]"
fi

# Stop the App if running
if service --status-all | grep -Fq "$app"; then
    systemctl stop "$app"
    systemctl disable "$app".service
    echo "Stopped existing $app"
fi

# Create Appdata Directory

# AppData
mkdir -p "$datadir"
chown -R "$app_uid":"$app_guid" "$datadir"
chmod 775 "$datadir"
echo "Directories created"
# Download and install the App

# prerequisite packages
echo ""
echo "Installing pre-requisite Packages"
# shellcheck disable=SC2086
apt update && apt install $app_prereq
echo ""
ARCH=$(dpkg --print-architecture)
# get arch
dlbase="https://$app.servarr.com/v1/update/$branch/updatefile?os=linux&runtime=netcore"
case "$ARCH" in
"amd64") DLURL="${dlbase}&arch=x64" ;;
"armhf") DLURL="${dlbase}&arch=arm" ;;
"arm64") DLURL="${dlbase}&arch=arm64" ;;
*)
    echo "Arch not supported"
    exit 1
    ;;
esac
echo ""
echo "Removing previous tarballs"
# -f to Force so we fail if it doesnt exist
rm -f "${app^}".*.tar.gz
echo ""
echo "Downloading..."
wget --content-disposition "$DLURL"
tar -xvzf "${app^}".*.tar.gz
echo ""
echo "Installation files downloaded and extracted"

# remove existing installs
echo "Removing existing installation"
# If you happen to run this script in the installdir the line below will delete the extracted files and cause the mv some lines below to fail.
rm -rf "$bindir"
echo "Installing..."
mv "${app^}" $installdir
chown "$app_uid":"$app_guid" -R "$bindir"
chmod 775 "$bindir"
rm -rf "${app^}.*.tar.gz"
# Ensure we check for an update in case user installs older version or different branch
touch "$datadir"/update_required
chown "$app_uid":"$app_guid" "$datadir"/update_required
echo "App Installed"
# Configure Autostart

# Remove any previous app .service
echo "Removing old service file"
rm -rf /etc/systemd/system/"$app".service

# Create app .service with correct user startup
echo "Creating service file"
cat <<EOF | tee /etc/systemd/system/"$app".service >/dev/null
[Unit]
Description=${app^} Daemon
After=syslog.target network.target
[Service]
User=$app_uid
Group=$app_guid
UMask=$app_umask
Type=simple
ExecStart=$bindir/$app_bin -nobrowser -data=$datadir
TimeoutStopSec=20
KillMode=process
Restart=on-failure
[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target
EOF

# Start the App
echo "Service file created. Attempting to start the app"
systemctl -q daemon-reload
systemctl enable --now -q "$app"

# Finish Update/Installation
host=$(hostname -I)
ip_local=$(grep -oP '^\S*' <<<"$host")
echo ""
echo "Install complete"
sleep 10
STATUS="$(systemctl is-active "$app")"
if [ "${STATUS}" = "active" ]; then
    echo "Browse to http://$ip_local:$app_port for the ${app^} GUI"
else
    echo "${app^} failed to start"
fi

# Exit
exit 0

Copy

• Press Ctrl+O (save) then Enter

• Press Ctrl+X (exit) then Enter

• Then in your console type and follow the prompts

sudo bash ArrInstall.sh

This installer will need to be run on each of the containers you make. The installer will be essentially identical minus the selection of the software you want to install. To install “Prowlarr” you will need to type “2” and hit enter. For “Lidarr” you would type “1” and hit enter. The script will do the rest as long as the container has internet access. You will be asked a few more questions. Just select the defaults.

After the installation, you will see something similar:

Installation files downloaded and extracted
Removing existing installation

Installing...
App Installed
Removing old service file
Creating service file
Service file created. Attempting to start the app.

Install complete

Browse to http://192.168.1.101:9696 for the Prowlarr GUI. 

Please note the IP Address above will most likely be different. The Port will be dependent on what app is installed. Here are the default PORTS per application:

1. Prowlarr - 9696

2. Radarr - 7878

3. Readarr - 8787

4. Lidarr - 8686

5. Sonarr - 8989

6. FlareSolverr - 8888

Install Sonarr (Manual)

Create an install script file:

nano Radarr.sh

Add the following code to an install script. Hit “Ctrl + X” to close and tell the software to save and confirm the file name.

# Add Mono Repo (20.04)
sudo apt install gnupg ca-certificates
sudo gpg --homedir /tmp --no-default-keyring --keyring /usr/share/keyrings/mono-official-archive-keyring.gpg --keyserver hkp://keyserver.ubuntu.com:80 --recv-keys 3FA7E0328081BFF6A14DA29AA6A19B38D3D831EF
echo "deb [signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/mono-official-archive-keyring.gpg] https://download.mono-project.com/repo/ubuntu stable-focal main" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/mono-official-stable.list
# Get MediaInfo
wget https://mediaarea.net/repo/deb/repo-mediaarea_1.0-19_all.deb && sudo dpkg -i repo-mediaarea_1.0-19_all.deb
# Add the Sonarr Repo
sudo gpg --homedir /tmp --no-default-keyring --keyring /usr/share/keyrings/sonarr-keyring.gpg --keyserver hkp://keyserver.ubuntu.com:80 --recv-keys 2009837CBFFD68F45BC180471F4F90DE2A9B4BF8
echo "deb [signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/sonarr-keyring.gpg] https://apt.sonarr.tv/ubuntu focal main" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/sonarr.list

# Apt Update
sudo apt update
# Install Sonarr
sudo apt install sonarr

Please run this command:

sudo cert-sync /etc/ssl/certs/ca-certificates.crt

Install FlareSolverr (Manual)

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