Installing a torrent setup

13 minute read

Applications used

Transmission

Tranmission logo Transmission is a torrent download client.

Jackett

Jackett logo Jackett works as a proxy server: it translates queries from apps (Sonarr, Radarr, SickRage, CouchPotato, Mylar, DuckieTV, qBittorrent, etc) into tracker-site-specific http queries, parses the html response, then sends results back to the requesting software. This allows for getting recent uploads (like RSS) and performing searches. Jackett is a single repository of maintained indexer scraping & translation logic - removing the burden from other apps.

Sonarr

Sonarr logo Sonarr is a personal video recoreder for Usenet and BitTorrent users. It can monitor multiple RSS feeds for new episodes of your favorite shows and will grab, sort and rename them. It can also be configured to automatically upgrade the quality of files already downloaded when a better quality format becomes available.

Radarr

Radarr logo Radarr is an independent fork of Sonarr reworked for automatically downloading movies via Usenet and BitTorrent.

Lidarr

Lidarr logo Lidarr is a music collection manager for Usenet and BitTorrent users. It can monitor multiple RSS feeds for new tracks from your favorite artists and will grab, sort and rename them. It can also be configured to automatically upgrade the quality of files already downloaded when a better quality format becomes available.

Summary

graph LR A[Jackett] == Feeds torrent files ==> B(Radarr) A -- Feeds torrent files --> C(Sonarr) A -- Feeds torrent files --> D(Lidarr) B == Asks for downloads ==> E[Transmission] C -- Asks for downloads --> E D -- Asks for downloads --> E E == Downloads torrents ==> F{NAS}

Tranmission logo Transmission setup

Organizing mounts

Transmission will need three main folders :

  • config : to store Transmission’s configuration
  • downloads : to store downloads
  • watch : where the torrents will be put. Transmission will watch for new torrent file addition and start downloading when one is added. This is called a torrent blackhole in Jackett.

Mapping

Local Container
./transmission_config /config
../NAS/Downloads/ /downloads
./transmission_watch /watch

Setting up the IP address

I chose to reserve the IP address 10.0.7.0 for Transmission. To do so, I went into my router DHCP dashboard and set a static DHCP address. The rule maps the MAC address 02:42:0A:00:07:00 to the IP address 10.0.7.0 and also sets the hostname to TRANSMISSION.

Jackett logo Jackett setup

Organizing mounts

Jackett will need two main folders :

  • config : to store its configuration
  • downloads : path to the torrent blackhole

Mapping

Local Container
./jackett_config /config
../NAS/Downloads /downloads
/etc/localtime /etc/localtime:ro

Setting up the IP address

I chose to reserve the IP address 10.0.7.1 for Jackett. To do so, I went into my router DHCP dashboard and set a static DHCP address. The rule maps the MAC address 02:42:0A:00:07:01 to the IP address 10.0.7.1 and also sets the hostname to Jackett.

Radarr logo Radarr setup

Organizing mounts

Radarr will need three main folders :

  • config : to store Radarr’s configuration
  • downloads : to store downloads
  • movies : where the movies will be moved when downloaded. Also the directory where you currently store your already existing movies.

Mapping

Local Container
./radarr_config /config
../NAS/Downloads/ /downloads
../NAS/Multimedia/Videos/Movies /movies

Setting up the IP address

I chose to reserve the IP address 10.0.7.5 for Radarr. To do so, I went into my router DHCP dashboard and set a static DHCP address. The rule maps the MAC address 02:42:0A:00:07:05 to the IP address 10.0.7.5 and also sets the hostname to Radarr.

Sonarr logo Sonarr setup

Organizing mounts

Radarr will need three main folders :

  • config : to store Radarr’s configuration
  • downloads : to store downloads
  • tv : where the tv shows will be moved when downloaded. Also the directory where you currently store your already existing tv shows.

Mapping

Local Container
./radarr_config /config
../NAS/Downloads/ /downloads
../NAS/Multimedia/Videos/TV.Shows /tv

Setting up the IP address

I chose to reserve the IP address 10.0.7.6 for Sonarr. To do so, I went into my router DHCP dashboard and set a static DHCP address. The rule maps the MAC address 02:42:0A:00:07:06 to the IP address 10.0.7.6 and also sets the hostname to Sonarr.

Lidarr logo Lidarr setup

Organizing mounts

Radarr will need three main folders :

  • config : to store Radarr’s configuration
  • downloads : to store downloads
  • music : where the music will be moved when downloaded. Also the directory where you currently store your already existing music.

Mapping

Local Container
./radarr_config /config
../NAS/Downloads/ /downloads
../NAS/Multimedia/Audio/Music /music

Setting up the IP address

I chose to reserve the IP address 10.0.7.7 for Lidarr. To do so, I went into my router DHCP dashboard and set a static DHCP address. The rule maps the MAC address 02:42:0A:00:07:07 to the IP address 10.0.7.7 and also sets the hostname to Lidarr.

Docker logo Docker-compose

Here is the content of the docker-compose file

version: "2.2"
services: 
  lidarr: 
    container_name: "lidarr"
    image: "linuxserver/lidarr:latest"
    hostname: "lidarr"
    restart: "unless-stopped"
    environment:
      - TZ="Europe/Paris"
      - PGID=1004
      - PUID=1000
    networks:
      host-macvlan-net:
        ipv4_address: 10.0.7.7
    ports: 
      - "8686:8686"
    volumes: 
      - "./lidarr_config:/config"
      - "../NAS/Downloads/:/downloads"
      - "../NAS/Multimedia/Audio/Music:/music"
      - "/etc/localtime:/etc/localtime:ro"
    depends_on:
      - transmission
      - jackett
  sonarr: 
   container_name: "sonarr"
   image: "linuxserver/sonarr:90"
   hostname: "sonarr"
   restart: "no"
   environment:
     - TZ="Europe/Paris"
     - PGID=1004
     - PUID=1000
   networks:
     host-macvlan-net:
       ipv4_address: 10.0.7.5
   ports: 
     - "8989:8989"
   volumes: 
     - "./sonarr_config:/config"
     - "../NAS/Downloads/:/downloads"
     - "../NAS/Multimedia/Videos/TV.Shows:/tv"
     - "/etc/localtime:/etc/localtime:ro"
   depends_on:
     - transmission
     - jackett
  radarr: 
    container_name: "radarr"
    image: "linuxserver/radarr:latest"
    hostname: "radarr"
    restart: "unless-stopped"
    environment:
      - TZ="Europe/Paris"
      - PGID=1004
      - PUID=1000
    networks:
      host-macvlan-net:
        ipv4_address: 10.0.7.6
    volumes: 
      - "./radarr_config:/config"
      - "../NAS/Downloads/:/downloads"
      - "../NAS/Multimedia/Videos/Movies:/movies"
      - "/etc/localtime:/etc/localtime:ro"
    depends_on:
      - transmission
      - jackett
  transmission: 
    container_name: "transmission"
    image: "linuxserver/transmission"
    hostname: "transmission"
    restart: "unless-stopped"
    environment:
      - TZ="Europe/Paris"
      - PGID=1004
      - PUID=1000
    networks:
      host-macvlan-net:
        ipv4_address: 10.0.7.0
    volumes: 
      - "./transmission_config:/config"
      - "../NAS/Downloads/:/downloads"
      - "./transmission_watch:/watch"
  jackett:
    image: "linuxserver/jackett"
    container_name: "jackett"
    hostname: "jackett"
    environment:
      - PUID=1000
      - PGID=1004
      - TZ="Europe/Paris"
    volumes:
      - "./jackett_config:/config"
      - "../NAS/Downloads:/downloads"
      - "/etc/localtime:/etc/localtime:ro"
    networks:
      host-macvlan-net:
        ipv4_address: 10.0.7.1
networks:
  host-macvlan-net:
    external:
      name: host-macvlan-net

Now that the docker-compose file is complete, start up the containers with docker-compose up -d. This will create the containers and populate the configuration files.

Tranmission logo Transmission configuration

Navigate to http://transmission:9091 to make sure that transmission is up and running.

You should get the following error the first time your access it through this URL.

Transmission initial error

This is a security feature that verifies from which address transmission was accessed. To allow access from http://transmission, we have to edit the file ~/Torrent/transmission_config/settings.json.

But first we have to stop the container with docker-compose stop.

Then, in ~/Torrent/transmission_config/settings.json, we can replace the line :

"rpc-host-whitelist": "",

by

"rpc-host-whitelist": "transmission, transmission.home",

We also need to ensure that rpc-host-whitelist-enabled is set to true.

"rpc-host-whitelist-enabled": true,

I would love to change the port to 80. This is a personal preference that allows me to access the service with the address http://transmission. However I can’t (see this thread).

Once this is done, we can restart the containers with docker-compose up -d and try to access to the service through http://transmission.

Jackett logo Jackett configuration

We access the Jackett configuration interface through http://jackett.home:9117. We can add indexers with + Add indexer, we just need to click the + button to add an indexer.

The configuration is as simple as this, so start adding your indexers !

Radarr logo Radarr configuration

Now comes the complicated part. We access Radarr through http://radarr.home:7878/.

Radarr configuration is composed of the following parts

  1. Adding a download client
  2. Adding indexers
  3. Adding lists
  4. Configuring profiles
  5. Configuring media management
  6. Connecting to Kodi
  7. Adding your existing movies

Adding a download client

The download client will manage download from torrents or Usenet for Radarr. Here we only configure a torrent client (Transmission).

Go to Settings > Download Client and click on the big + button to start configuring your first download client.

Configuration Value
Name Transmission
Enable yes
Host transmission
Port 9091
Category movies

Click on Test to ensure that everything is set up properly and then Save.

This download client will be used to download Torrents.

Adding indexers

The indexers gives Radarr the ability to search for torrent which will be passed to the download client. Here we use Jackett to format popular sites such as KickassTorrent so that Radarr knows how to search them.

Open http://jackett.home:9117 on another window so that you can configure easily your indexers.

Go to Settings > Indexers and click on the big + button to start configuring your first indexer.

Configuration Value
Name Whatever, this is just so that you can recognize it easily
Enable RSS Sync Yes
Enable Search Yes
URL In Jackett, click Copy Torznab feed and paste it here
API Key In Jackett copy the API Key and paste it here

Don’t forget to test the indexer before adding it.

For anime indexers, you will have to enable the hidden options and add the category 5070 in the hidden categories field.

You can add all the indexers you added in Jackett.

Configuring lists

Lists gives Radarr the ability to know which films are about to be released, which ones are already released, the IMDB score, and other information. This is basically the discovery feature of Radarr.

Radarr comes with predefined lists. In Settings > Lists click the big + button to add your first list.

Choose Presets under Radarr Lists to add a predefined list. Here are some recommended values for the configuration

Configuration Value
Minimum availability Announced
Quality Profile HD-1080p
Folder /movies/
Enable Automatic Sync Yes

Configuring profiles

Profiles lets Radarr know how you would like your movie to be downloaded in terms of quality and language.

In Settings > Profiles a number of profiles already exist.

Radarr will keep searching for better qualities for already downloading films until the quality configured in the Cutoff option is found.

When you will add Lists or Movies you will have the opportunity to select a profile.

For instance, you might want to create a Japanese Anime profile so that animes are downloaded in Japanese and at least in 720p.

Configuring media management

In Settings > Media management you can decide how your movies will be named.

My personal configuration is :

Configuration Value
Rename movies Yes
Replace illegal characters Yes
Colon replacement format Delete
Standard Movie Format {Movie.Title}.{Release.Year}.{Quality.Title}
Movie folder format {Movie.Title}.({Release Year})
Create empty movie folders Yes

Connecting to Kodi

If you use Kodi, you can connect Radarr to one or multiple instances so that :

  • Kodi receives notification when a movie is grabbed or downloaded
  • Kodi updates its library when a movie is downloaded

Coupled with Kodi “Recently imported” view, you can now only rely on Kodi to know what’s new in your library.

To add a Kodi instance go to Settings > Connect. Click on the + button and choose Kodi.

Configuration Value
Name Kodi
On Grab Yes
On Download Yes
Host kodi hostname
Port kodi port
Username kodi username
Password kodi password

Test and save.

Adding your existing movies

In Add movies select Bulk Import Movies. Choose the path /movies where you should have mapped your NAS directory from the docker-compose file.

Click on the green tick and save. Now Radarr will scan this folder to find your existing movies and add them to your library.

Sonarr logo Sonarr configuration

The configuration for Sonarr is basically the same as for Radarr.

Lidarr logo Lidarr configuration

The configuration for Lidarr is basically the same as for Radarr.

Backup script

#!/bin/zsh
#
#This script backs up the jdownloader2 config
#It must be executed by the root user to work properly
#
TORRENT_DIR=/home/sammy/Torrent
declare -a CONFIGS=("jackett" "transmission" "lidarr" "sonarr" "radarr")
SHARED_BACKUP_DIR=/home/sammy/backup/Torrent
NEW_BACKUP_NAME=$(echo -n "$(date +%s)_$(date -I | tr - _)")
NEW_BACKUP_DIR="$SHARED_BACKUP_DIR/$NEW_BACKUP_NAME"


# Create a new directory on the shared folder
echo "Creating new directory $NEW_BACKUP_DIR"
mkdir -p $NEW_BACKUP_DIR
# Backup the config dir
for conf in "${CONFIGS[@]}"
do
    echo "Backing up $conf  config..."
    cp -r "$TORRENT_DIR/$conf""_config" $NEW_BACKUP_DIR
done

# Create tar from backed up directories
echo "Creating tar file"
tar -cvzf "$NEW_BACKUP_DIR.tar" -C "$NEW_BACKUP_DIR" .

rm -r "$NEW_BACKUP_DIR"

echo "Torrent backup finished"

Tranmission logo Advanced transmission container

When running a torrent client, you will probably want to be doing it behind a VPN. You can do it directly on your router but what if you change it one day and forget that you had transmission running ?

Another option is to run it directly in the transmission docker container. A developer named Haugene has made a container that does just that.

In my setup I do both options, you’re never too safe !

Transmission with integrated VPN

Below is the docker-compose configuration that we will use for this container :

  transmission: 
    container_name: "transmission"
    image: "haugene/transmission-openvpn"
    hostname: "transmission"
    restart: "unless-stopped"
    cap_add:
      - NET_ADMIN
    environment:
      - TZ="Europe/Paris"
      - PGID=1004
      - PUID=1000
      - CREATE_TUN_DEVICE=true
      - OPENVPN_PROVIDER=PROTONVPN
      - OPENVPN_CONFIG=CA\ Toronto
      - OPENVPN_USERNAME=user
      - OPENVPN_PASSWORD=pass
      - WEBPROXY_ENABLED=false
      - LOCAL_NETWORK=10.0.0.0/24
      - HEALTH_CHECK_HOST=our_site.com
      - TRANSMISSION_SPEED_LIMIT_UP=0
      - TRANSMISSION_SPEED_LIMIT_UP_ENABLED=true
    networks:
      host-macvlan-net:
        ipv4_address: 10.0.7.0
    volumes: 
      - "./transmission_config:/config"
      - "../NAS/Downloads/:/downloads"
      - "./transmission_watch:/watch"
      - "./protonvpn:/etc/openvpn/protonvpn"

Let’s take a look at the options available here :

  • PGID and PUID set the user id and group id for the transmission user. We set it to our server user so that the files can be read by radarr and sonarr…
  • CREATE_TUN_DEVICE creates /dev/net/tun device inside the container, mitigates the need mount the device from the host
  • LOCAL_NETWORK lets us access to transmission from our local network
  • HEALTH_CHECK_HOST is the host pinged to check if the network connection still works
  • TRANSMISSION_SPEED_LIMIT_UP and TRANSMISSION_SPEED_LIMIT_UP_ENABLED lets us override transmission options
  • OPENVPN_PROVIDER defines the openvpn provider from the preconfigured list
  • OPENVPN_CONFIG defines the .ovpn file to use according to the OpenVPN Provider chosen
  • OPENVPN_USERNAME and OPENVPN_PASSWORD are your VPN credentials

We also have a new volume mounted : ./protonvpn. This folder will contain all of our VPN server configurations. Since the docker container might not contain all of our configurations we mount this volume.

The configurations needs to be slightly modified to work with our containers. To apply to proper modifications we just have to run the script adjustConfigurations.sh <path_to_folder_with_configuration> on our folder. It will add some additional configuration to our files.

Once we have updated our docker-compose file we can check the IP address of our container with :

docker exec -it transmission curl ifconfig.io

Router kill switch

Now that our container has a VPN configured, we will add an extra layer of security on our router.

The objective is to prevent the container from communicating with the outside world if the VPN is not working.

In order to do that, we will restrict the addresses the container can communicate to.

In my setup I use a router with Tomato Advanced installed. In the menu Administration > Scripts > Firewall I am able to add iptables rules.

I add the following rules :

# First we forbid all communication from / to the container
iptables -I FORWARD -s 10.0.7.0 -j DROP
iptables -I FORWARD -d 10.0.7.0 -j DROP
# Then we allow selectively each of the VPN configured 
# in the list OPENVPN_CONFIG
iptables -I FORWARD -s 185.100.2.2 -d 10.0.7.0 -j ACCEPT
iptables -I FORWARD -s 10.0.7.0 -d 185.100.2.2 -j ACCEPT
# First VPN backup server
iptables -I FORWARD -s 194.2.100.19 -d 10.0.7.0 -j ACCEPT
iptables -I FORWARD -s 10.0.7.0 -d 194.2.100.19 -j ACCEPT
# Second VPN backup server
iptables -I FORWARD -s 194.100.2.21 -d 10.0.7.0 -j ACCEPT
iptables -I FORWARD -s 10.0.7.0 -d 194.100.2.21 -j ACCEPT
# Finally we allow the container to communicate inside the 
# local network
iptables -I FORWARD -s 10.0.0.0/20 -d 10.0.7.0 -j ACCEPT
iptables -I FORWARD -s 10.0.7.0 -d 10.0.0.0/20 -j ACCEPT

To get the IP addresses of our VPN server we look in the given .ovpn files :

cat protonvpn/pt-01.protonvpn.com.udp.ovpn | grep remote
185.100.2.2

Once we have added our rules to our iptable we reboot the router.

Source

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