Homelab Part 7 — Jellyfin Self-Hosted Media Server

What Jellyfin Is

Jellyfin is a free, open-source media server. I point it at a folder of movies and TV shows, it scans the files, downloads metadata and cover art from the internet, and presents a Netflix-like interface I can access from any device on my home network — phone, iPad, laptop, TV.

No subscriptions. No sending data to a third party. My movies, my server, my data.

The alternative most people know is Plex. Plex requires a cloud account and sometimes a Plex Pass subscription for certain features. Jellyfin is completely self-contained — it runs offline if it needs to.

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Storage Architecture for Jellyfin

Jellyfin needs two kinds of storage:

1. Config volume (Longhorn) — user accounts, library database, watch history, transcoding cache. Small (5GB), but important. Needs to survive pod restarts.

2. Media directory (hostPath) — the actual .mkv, .mp4, .avi files. These live in /media/movies on the VM’s filesystem. I don’t put them in Longhorn because video files are huge and Longhorn is better suited for structured data. A hostPath mount gives the pod direct access to the VM’s disk.

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Adding Movies to the VM

Before deploying Jellyfin, I copy my movies to the media directory on the K3s VM.

From Windows, I use SCP:

# Copy a single movie
scp "D:\Movies\The.Matrix.1999.mkv" homelab@192.168.1.51:/media/movies/

# Copy an entire folder
scp -r "D:\Movies\" homelab@192.168.1.51:/media/movies/

Or I use a file manager that supports SFTP (like WinSCP or Filezilla) and drag-and-drop.

Once they’re on the VM:

# Verify on the K3s VM
ls -lh /media/movies/
# Should show your movie files

[SCREENSHOT] — Terminal showing movie files listed in /media/movies with their sizes

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Deploying Jellyfin

I create a single manifest file with all the Kubernetes resources Jellyfin needs:

# jellyfin.yaml
apiVersion: v1
kind: Namespace
metadata:
  name: media
---
apiVersion: v1
kind: PersistentVolumeClaim
metadata:
  name: jellyfin-config
  namespace: media
spec:
  accessModes:
    - ReadWriteOnce
  resources:
    requests:
      storage: 5Gi
---
apiVersion: apps/v1
kind: Deployment
metadata:
  name: jellyfin
  namespace: media
spec:
  replicas: 1
  selector:
    matchLabels:
      app: jellyfin
  template:
    metadata:
      labels:
        app: jellyfin
    spec:
      containers:
        - name: jellyfin
          image: jellyfin/jellyfin:latest
          ports:
            - containerPort: 8096
          env:
            - name: JELLYFIN_DATA_DIR
              value: /config
            - name: JELLYFIN_CACHE_DIR
              value: /config/cache
          volumeMounts:
            - name: config
              mountPath: /config
            - name: movies
              mountPath: /media/movies
              readOnly: true
            - name: shows
              mountPath: /media/shows
              readOnly: true
      volumes:
        - name: config
          persistentVolumeClaim:
            claimName: jellyfin-config
        - name: movies
          hostPath:
            path: /media/movies
            type: Directory
        - name: shows
          hostPath:
            path: /media/shows
            type: Directory
---
apiVersion: v1
kind: Service
metadata:
  name: jellyfin
  namespace: media
spec:
  selector:
    app: jellyfin
  ports:
    - port: 8096
      targetPort: 8096
---
apiVersion: networking.k8s.io/v1
kind: Ingress
metadata:
  name: jellyfin
  namespace: media
  annotations:
    cert-manager.io/cluster-issuer: homelab-ca-issuer
    nginx.ingress.kubernetes.io/proxy-body-size: "0"
    nginx.ingress.kubernetes.io/proxy-read-timeout: "600"
    nginx.ingress.kubernetes.io/proxy-send-timeout: "600"
spec:
  ingressClassName: nginx
  tls:
    - hosts:
        - jellyfin.home.lab
      secretName: jellyfin-tls
  rules:
    - host: jellyfin.home.lab
      http:
        paths:
          - path: /
            pathType: Prefix
            backend:
              service:
                name: jellyfin
                port:
                  number: 8096

Two things to note about the Ingress annotations:

• proxy-body-size: "0" removes the upload size limit — needed if you ever upload media through the UI
• proxy-read-timeout: "600" and proxy-send-timeout: "600" give 10-minute timeouts — important for video streaming

kubectl apply -f jellyfin.yaml

Watch the pod start:

kubectl get pods -n media -w
# jellyfin-xxx    0/1   ContainerCreating   ...
# jellyfin-xxx    1/1   Running             ...

[SCREENSHOT] — kubectl get pods -n media showing jellyfin pod Running

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Verifying the PVC Bound

kubectl get pvc -n media
# NAME              STATUS   VOLUME             CAPACITY   ACCESS MODES
# jellyfin-config   Bound    pvc-xxx-xxx-xxx    5Gi        RWO

The STATUS must be Bound before Jellyfin can start. If it stays Pending, check Longhorn is healthy:

kubectl get pods -n storage
kubectl describe pvc jellyfin-config -n media

[SCREENSHOT] — kubectl get pvc -n media showing jellyfin-config as Bound

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First-Time Jellyfin Setup

Open https://jellyfin.home.lab in a browser.

The setup wizard runs:

1. Create Admin Account

Set a username and strong password. This is your admin account for managing the server.

[SCREENSHOT] — Jellyfin initial setup — create admin user screen

2. Set Up Media Libraries

Click Add Media Library:

For Movies:

• Content type: Movies
• Display name: Movies
• Folder: click + → type /media/movies
• Language: your preference
• Country: your preference

For TV Shows:

• Content type: TV Shows
• Display name: Shows
• Folder: /media/shows

[SCREENSHOT] — Jellyfin Add Library screen with /media/movies folder selected

3. Metadata Language

Set your preferred language for titles, descriptions, and metadata.

4. Finish Setup

Click through the remaining screens (allow remote access: yes, streaming port: keep default). Log in with your admin account.

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The Jellyfin Dashboard

After setup, Jellyfin scans the library. For a few hundred movies, this takes 2–5 minutes. It downloads:

• Movie posters and backdrops
• Cast and crew information
• Synopsis, ratings, genres
• Trailers (if enabled)

Once done, the dashboard shows your library with full artwork — exactly like Netflix or Apple TV.

[SCREENSHOT] — Jellyfin dashboard showing movie library with poster art

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Streaming to Devices

Jellyfin has clients for everything:

Device	How to Access
Browser	https://jellyfin.home.lab
iPhone/iPad	Jellyfin app (App Store) → Add Server → https://jellyfin.home.lab
Android	Jellyfin app (Play Store)
Apple TV	Infuse app → Add Jellyfin server
Smart TV	Jellyfin app (some Samsung/LG TVs)
Windows	Jellyfin Media Player app

For iPhone/iPad — since I’m using a self-signed certificate (the homelab CA), I need the CA cert installed first. I did that in Part 5. Without it, the app will refuse the HTTPS connection.

[SCREENSHOT] — Jellyfin app on iPhone showing the movie library and a movie detail page

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Transcoding

Jellyfin can transcode video on-the-fly — converting from a format your device can’t play (like some .mkv H.265 files) to something it can. This is CPU-intensive.

With 8 cores allocated to the K3s VM, software transcoding works fine. If you have issues with high CPU during playback, check the Jellyfin admin panel:

Dashboard → Playback → Transcoding:

• Check which codec is being used
• Consider using Direct Play/Direct Stream when possible (no transcoding needed)

For most modern devices (iPhone, iPad, Chromebook), H.264/AAC in an MP4 container plays natively without transcoding. H.265 files will transcode on iOS unless you use an app like Infuse, which has its own hardware decoder.

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Useful Jellyfin Admin Operations

# Check Jellyfin logs for errors
kubectl logs -n media deployment/jellyfin

# Restart Jellyfin (preserves config — it's in Longhorn)
kubectl rollout restart deployment/jellyfin -n media

# Scale down (stop Jellyfin temporarily)
kubectl scale deployment jellyfin -n media --replicas=0

# Scale back up
kubectl scale deployment jellyfin -n media --replicas=1

In the Jellyfin web UI, Dashboard → Library lets you:

• Scan for new media (after adding movies)
• Refresh metadata for a specific movie
• View recent activity and active streams

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Where I Am Now

At the end of Part 7 I have:

• ✅ Jellyfin deployed in the media namespace
• ✅ Config stored in a Longhorn PVC (survives pod restarts)
• ✅ Movies and shows mounted directly from the VM’s /media/ directory
• ✅ HTTPS access at https://jellyfin.home.lab
• ✅ Media library scanning and streaming working
• ✅ iPhone/iPad app connected and streaming

Next: Nextcloud — my personal cloud storage, so I can sync and access files from anywhere on the network.

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You can find me online at:

• X (Twitter): Md3omer
• GitHub: Mhdomer
• LinkedIn: mhd3omar
• Tryhackme: nonlouy