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after almost 15yrs my plex server is no more. jellyfin behind nginx with authentik is running very nicely.
my only issue is how user friendly it isn't compared to Plex.
i genuinely want to leave Plex (especially the more and more they enshittify) but I just could not figure out how to set up jellyfin. i use Linux every day, and know I'm at least a tiny bit more tech smart than your average PC user, but I can't imagine trying to explain to my family how to set jellyfin up.
Host Jellyfin either by running their easy setup script or by hosting it on docker, in order for it to be publicly accessible you will need to either port forward and give people your external IP or you need to have your own website. It's very easy with a docker container to get it running locally, you literally just spin it up, the same as Plex.
The only thing that plex has over jellyfin at the moment (in my opinion) is the simple sign on and user options that allow users to have their own usernames and not have to know anything about reverse-proxying a domain for jellyfin access. It's that little bit of back-end that you have to set up that's the problem for the 'normie' users that a lot of plex admins cater to. That, and there's some holes in where the jellyfin app is available.
plex is still definitely easier to get started on. i don't begrudge anyone still going that route, i had a lifetime plexpass the last 8yrs i think. jellyfin is a great option if you either already know how to set things up and want full control. Or you're looking for an opportunity to learn more about reverse proxy, dns and authentication/access systems. plex is still i nice gateway drug.
Long ago I ran a Windows Media Center PC in the living room and used the hell out of it. When WMC finally went EOL, I look for alternatives and found Plex. I never got around to setting up a Plex box, and now I see it too is ready for the scrap heap. I think this is what getting old is. You plan on doing something and never get around to it. Time passes much faster up here in age.
How did you set up Jellyfin with Authentik? Are you using SSO or is it only through LDAP?
i ended up doing both. ldap for the apps. oidc for web based users and the apps that support the quick connect feature. the local user account system works fine too, and ldap would be enough. i just wanted an excuse to play round with sso systems, and it was fun figuring out how to connect all my servers.
authenik has a good docs site for both it's docker container and connecting it to jellyfin. Authelia looked interesting too.
I have been running in parallel both jelly and plex and jelly is good.
Congrats. I'm super particular about covers and naming and the conversion of file names that Plex needed to jellyfin is intensive.
I finally got got JF up and running but still working on adding edition names to each item that is special. I really wish there was an editions field so it wasn't a manual title update. At least I can lock the field afterwards.
Anyone have experience hosting a server for non-technical parents? Plex is just so plug and play and they have clients for even the shittiest old smart TVs.
What is authentik and could I use it on podman with compose?
The best and most versatile system is having domains and a reverse proxy that has internal and external domains. Ie jelly.example.com and Vaultwarden.internal.example.com
Then you add authentik which does SSO for many app like nextcloud, immich, linkwarden etc. For apps that don't integrate, you can still use his with reverse proxy authentication (sonarr).
Naturally this is more complex to setup but nothing beats the versatility.
I can choose extra protection for things like vaultwarden (need to connect via wiregaurd). Make things external for other users to access easily (immich, jellyfin, etc). Everything is based on users that are made in authenticatik and they all have the same password with single sign on.
You would approach this is pieces. get the domain and reverse proxy working first. Then authentik. this is only realistic with docker compose.
authentik is an identity server. theres a couple free ones available, this one just worked for me. it provides oauth and ldap fallback for the jellyfin server. along with login for most of the other servers i host like nextcloud/calibre-web/lychee etc. it has a nice easy log in process along with a 'homepage' kinda thing for everything my users can access with their account. makes it easier to support the non technical friends and family.
Its a pre-authentication gateway and SSO provider for OAuth/SAML. So if you dont trust a random docker container to be secure it requires you to authenticate and then it automatically passes a token to the app for SSO if it supports OAuth/SAML.