Running it

EmberStorm is meant to be installed by somebody who has never opened a terminal, and kept running by the same person. This section covers the whole life of an install: setting it up, updating it, moving it, reaching it away from home, and what to check when something is wrong.

The shape of an install

An install is a folder holding a docker-compose.yml, a .env file of settings, and a library/ folder with the media. Docker runs EmberStorm and its media servers as containers; their own data (accounts, databases, credentials) lives in Docker volumes. Two rules follow from that layout and run through every page here:

EmberStorm has no access to Docker itself. That is deliberate: if EmberStorm were compromised, it could not reach the host. The price is that anything which drives Docker - updating, moving the library to another drive, uninstalling - lives in the installer scripts, not in the app.

In this section

InstallingThe Windows setup file, Docker and WSL, the setup code, Mac and Linux, compose alone, the starter library. Updating, moving, removingUpdates, moving to another computer, backup and restore, a forgotten password, uninstalling. Moving to a new computerStep by step: pack it up on the old computer, install it from the folder on the new one, keeping everything. Away from homeThe secure name, remote access with port mapping, Tailscale, and slow links. TroubleshootingOrganised by symptom: what you see, what causes it, what to check.

Everyday commands

Run in the install folder. None of them are needed day to day; the installer and the app cover the common cases.

docker compose logs -f soundstorm   # what it is doing right now
docker compose down                 # stop (nothing is lost)
docker compose up -d                # start
docker compose pull && docker compose up -d   # update by hand