Raspberry Pi 2 Media Server Image 2015 Released •

Somebody on reddit requested a Raspberry Pi 2 Media Server image. I have put together a ready to go image so you can test drive a Raspberry Pi 2 NAS media server. It is packed with programs and features made entirely from guides on this site. It is for those of you who are too pressed for time or just too lazy to install the software yourself. I used a minimal Raspbian base Minibian as the foundation for the media server. There are no WiFi drivers included because WiFi is unreliable and lowers throughput, however if you must use WiFi, you will need a keyboard or ethernet connection to install the drivers.

If you haven't heard of usenet read this and consider a UsenetServer account. If you are comfortable with torrents use Private Internet Access or PureVPN for safety and then make sure you can access Transmission outside your home network.

Image updated to version 10 May 18, 2015 now with HTPC Manager and nginx

You can now customize your own media server image on Minibian with the HTPC Guides Installer and ready made image

If you are trying to figure out which hardware would work best for you, consider reading the Pi benchmarks.

Pi Unit	Processor	RAM	RAM Bus	Network	WiFi	USB	SATA	Cost
Raspberry Pi 3	1.2 GHz ARMv8 Quad Core	1 GB DDR2	450 MHz	100 Mbit	Yes	4	No	$35
Raspberry Pi 2	900 MHz ARMv7 Quad Core	1 GB DDR2	450 MHz	100 Mbit	No	4	No	$35.00
Raspberry Pi	700 MHz ARMv6 Single Core	512 MB SDRAM	400 MHz	100 Mbit	No	4	No	$25
Banana Pi	1 GHz ARMv7 Dual Core	1 GB DDR3	432 MHz	Gigabit	No	2	Yes	$36.99
Banana Pi Pro	1 GHz ARMv7 Dual Core	1 GB DDR3	432 MHz	Gigabit	Yes	2	Yes	$45.00

Raspberry Pi 2 Media Server Image

Here is a list of features, each link redirects you to a guide to configure each service

vsftpd for FTP Server
NFS included in v6
Samba for creating samba shares
SickRage for periodic show downloading
CouchPotato for feature length video downloading
Transmission as BitTorrent client
NZBGet for usenet downloading
Plex Media Server for streaming video – update using this ODROID guide
HTPC Manager for managing all services
nginx to set up reverse proxies for convenience and secure remote management

I recommend dynamic DNS for extra remote access ease and reverse proxies for security.

NTFS-3G is already installed as is the current tweak so you can power a 2.5″ external hard drive and mount it properly.

All software is running as the pi user to avoid permission conflicts except for Plex which has its own user that generally causes no issues. Plex is accessed at http://ip.address:32400/web where ip.address is the Pi 2's IP address.

Software	Purpose	Credentials Login/Password	Port
Plex Media Server	Streaming your media collection	none	32400
NZBGet	Usenet Downloader	nzbget:tegbzn6789	6789
Sabnzbd	Usenet Downloader	none	8080
Transmission	BitTorrent Client	transmission:transmission	9091
SickRage	Periodic Show Assistant	none	8081
CouchPotato	Feature Length Video Assistant	none	5050
Mylar	Comic finder	none	8090
Headphones	Audo file finder	none	8181
Sonarr	Periodic Show Assistant	none	8989
Jackett	Add custom torrents	none	9117
HTPC Manager	Managing Services	none	8085
vsftpd	FTP Server	pi/htpcguides	21
SAMBA	Sharing files over network	pi/htpcguides	none
NFS	Sharing files	pi/htpcguides	none
Webmin	Administer server	pi/htpcguides	10000
nginx	Reverse Proxy	none	80

The image is currently in testing phase, in order to get the download link share this post using the unlocker below.

Turn off Adblock if you can't see the unlocker.

Expand the sd card with raspi-config after you log in, the image will fit on a 2 GB sd card. Follow the initial setup after the locker. The HTPC NAS Combo Image includes Kodi as well.

Note: SickRage has been updated so the /etc/default/ file needs to be changed, see the updated guide to make the changes.

Initial Raspberry Pi 2 Media Server Setup

The default password for the root login and pi login is htpcguides. Use PuTTY or an SSH client to log in to avoid getting wrong password errors because you use a non-US keyboard.

Expand your SD card first by choosing expand file system

sudo raspi-config

Change your password while logged in as the root and pi user

sudo passwd

Regenerate your SSH keys

rm /etc/ssh/ssh_host*
dpkg-reconfigure openssh-server

Regenerate all the API keys in SickRage, CouchPotato and Sonarr
If you don't want to use both SickRage and Sonarr you can disable either service with these commands

The same logic appiles to NZBGet and transmission-daemon

sudo update-rc.d nzbdrone disable
sudo update-rc.d sickbeard disable
sudo update-rc.d nzbget disable
sudo update-rc.d transmission-daemon disable
sudo update-rc.d htpcmanager disable

If you regret disabling any of the services you can re-enable them so they start on boot again

sudo update-rc.d nzbdrone defaults
sudo update-rc.d sickbeard defaults
sudo update-rc.d nzbget defaults
sudo update-rc.d transmission-daemon defaults
sudo update-rc.d htpcmanager defaults

If you unlucky enough to need wifi tools then install these packages

sudo apt-get install wireless-tools wpasupplicant -y

I would like hear if the image works for you and suggestions to improve the image.

If you are installing extra software you may need to use this syntax if you get dependency errors

sudo apt-get install -t jessie packagename -y