Docker Calibre book manager in Docker

[Telos]

I edited this resource to describe how to import additional books to the Calibre library. Enjoy!

 

[Tlsa]

Any idea why setting the automatic adding feature from a folder in preferences doesn't work? Only does when you restart the docker.

 

[Telos]

Any idea why setting the automatic adding feature from a folder in preferences doesn't work?

I turned on auto-import and used the folder I referred to in my post before yours, and everything worked.

Of course, calibre had to be restarted once after invoking auto-import, but it works fine.

 

[Sharkhusky]

Hi Telos.
Im new into Synology. I have the DS218+ and trying to run the steps you have provided. Accept my apologies in advance as am also new in Linux.
Currently Calibre library sits in my PC.
Id like to transfer it to my NAS (So the whole family has access to it)
The first step you mention is to have the library in the NAS. I created a share folder following the same names you provided, and initially copied several books into it (for testing purposes). I got to the stage where i type my xxx.xxx.x.100:27880 and is not opening.
May I ask your support and perhaps, guide me more in detail?
Thanks

 

[Telos]

Open the Docker app, select your running Calibre container; click the "Details" button, and provide screenshots of the Port Settings/Volume tabs in the lower-left corner. Your "Links" tab should be blank, and your "Network" tab should look like:

Be sure the Calibre URL you are using is http (not https) and the IP is your current NAS IP (you should be using a "fixed" IP on your NAS.

One thing to note... When starting the Calibre container, it may take a minute or so before the URL will respond, as Calibre is busy upon launch. If the URL doesn't work after 5 minutes, something is broken.

 

[Sharkhusky]

Hi Telos.
Im new into Synology. I have the DS218+ and trying to run the steps you have provided. Accept my apologies in advance as am also new in Linux.
Currently Calibre library sits in my PC.
Id like to transfer it to my NAS (So the whole family has access to it)
The first step you mention is to have the library in the NAS. I created a share folder following the same names you provided, and initially copied several books into it (for testing purposes). I got to the stage where i type my xxx.xxx.x.100:27880 and is not opening.
May I ask your support and perhaps, guide me more in detail?
Thanks

Hi. I aso noted I couldn't use port 8080 as it was already in use, hence why I changed it for 8081, is it ok?

 

[Telos]

I aso noted I couldn't use port 8080 as it was already in use, hence why I changed it for 8081, is it ok?

Perhaps you should re-read the setup instructions more closely. You should not use port 8080 (or 8081). The only reference to those ports involved the container port (defined by the image):

See more

This is why I asked for the screenshots.

 

[Sharkhusky]

Perhaps you should re-read the setup instructions more closely. You should not use port 8080 (or 8081). The only reference to those ports involved the container port (defined by the image):

See more

This is why I asked for the screenshots.

Hi Telos
NAS has a fixed IP address.
I stopped the package and took screenshots.
I modified 27880 with container port: 9080
and 27881 with container port: 9081.
I have also attached screenshots. I am very new into Linux and configurations
Looking forward for your comments
Dear Telos. I just realized something, when I http://192.168.1.XXX:32774, it opens the caibre

 

[Sharkhusky]

Hi Telos
Also the NAS has a fixed IP address :XXX.XXX.X.100
I modified 27880 with container port: 9080
and 27881 with container port: 9081.
I have also attached screenshots. I am very new into Linux and configurations
Looking forward for your comments

 

[Telos]

Thank you for the screenshots... 2 obvious comments that point to errors in your setup.
1. Your port mappings do not match the procedure write-up. You cannot edit the container port numbers. Also, you show four port mappings... the write-up shows three, and you are using container ports which are unrecognized by this image.
2. Your volume mapping for your Calibre library seems odd... you show share folder "Ebooks" in your Docker volume mappings, but your file system screenshot also shows a shared folder called "Calibre_Library" along with another folder of that same name under the "Ebooks" shared folder. I don't know where your book library exists but the local path should match the folder under which all your calibre book folders reside. There is no need to create "Calibre_Library" folders unless that is where your book folders reside (and there would be only one folder for your Calibre books).

I cannot offer much help more than this since it seems that you are not following the prescribed steps.

 

[Sharkhusky]

Thank you for the screenshots... 2 obvious comments that point to errors in your setup.
1. Your port mappings do not match the procedure write-up. You cannot edit the container port numbers. Also, you show four port mappings... the write-up shows three, and you are using container ports which are unrecognized by this image.
2. Your volume mapping for your Calibre library seems odd... you show share folder "Ebooks" in your Docker volume mappings, but your file system screenshot also shows a shared folder called "Calibre_Library" along with another folder of that same name under the "Ebooks" shared folder. I don't know where your book library exists but the local path should match the folder under which all your calibre book folders reside. There is no need to create "Calibre_Library" folders unless that is where your book folders reside (and there would be only one folder for your Calibre books).

I cannot offer much help more than this since it seems that you are not following the prescribed steps.

Hi Telos
Shall I re-start from scratch then?

 

[Sharkhusky]

i fixed it, what I did is I exported the library from my PC, and added it to the Calibre, only difference was that my library is within "docker" folder, it all went smooth, I will do the server bit tomorrow, so each person will have their own access, is a huge library

Thank u

Thank you for the screenshots... 2 obvious comments that point to errors in your setup.
1. Your port mappings do not match the procedure write-up. You cannot edit the container port numbers. Also, you show four port mappings... the write-up shows three, and you are using container ports which are unrecognized by this image.
2. Your volume mapping for your Calibre library seems odd... you show share folder "Ebooks" in your Docker volume mappings, but your file system screenshot also shows a shared folder called "Calibre_Library" along with another folder of that same name under the "Ebooks" shared folder. I don't know where your book library exists but the local path should match the folder under which all your calibre book folders reside. There is no need to create "Calibre_Library" folders unless that is where your book folders reside (and there would be only one folder for your Calibre books).

I cannot offer much help more than this since it seems that you are not following the prescribed steps.

 

[Sharkhusky]

Thank you for the screenshots... 2 obvious comments that point to errors in your setup.
1. Your port mappings do not match the procedure write-up. You cannot edit the container port numbers. Also, you show four port mappings... the write-up shows three, and you are using container ports which are unrecognized by this image.
2. Your volume mapping for your Calibre library seems odd... you show share folder "Ebooks" in your Docker volume mappings, but your file system screenshot also shows a shared folder called "Calibre_Library" along with another folder of that same name under the "Ebooks" shared folder. I don't know where your book library exists but the local path should match the folder under which all your calibre book folders reside. There is no need to create "Calibre_Library" folders unless that is where your book folders reside (and there would be only one folder for your Calibre books).

I cannot offer much help more than this since it seems that you are not following the prescribed steps.

Hi Telos
If ok, could you please support on the server bit: I tried and is giving me the following error:
Could not start the content server. Error:
No socket could be created ~ (('172.17.0.2’:8080):[Errnno98] Address already in use)

Please let me know if you need some other screenshots, or info

Thanks a lot for the support!

 

[Telos]

If ok, could you please support on the server bit: I tried and is giving me the following error:
Could not start the content server. Error:
No socket could be created ~ (('172.17.0.2’:8080):[Errnno98] Address already in use)

To connect to the Calibre server, you must use the local port mapped to 8081. From the write-up...

See more

If you followed the write-up, the server link would be
http://192.168.1.10:27881 (presuming your NAS fixed IP is 192.168.1.10)

 

[Sharkhusky]

To connect to the Calibre server, you must use the local port mapped to 8081. From the write-up...

See more

If you followed the write-up, the server link would be
http://192.168.1.10:27881 (presuming your NAS fixed IP is 192.168.1.10)

Hi Telos

My apologies on not replying earlier, I thought I did, it worked!!!!

THANKS a LOT !

May I ask, when a newer Calibre version becomes available, as it is now 5.0.0, how does the update?

Again THANKS! the whole family has access to the library online

 

[Telos]

May I ask, when a newer Calibre version becomes available, as it is now 5.0.0, how does the update?

You would update it as you would any Docker container. This post describes the process...

Activate hardware transcoding on Plex Docker Container?

I'll try this.. How will this work when I want to update the docker-image later on with a newer Plex etc.? Do I need to do this again(?)

www.synoforum.com

Does that help?

But a caveat... I have not tested v5.x (though the docker image is now available), and I would not recommend doing so at this time, unless you create a parallel container (basically a second calibre instance), by selecting the specific image release (not "latest", which will replace your v4.x image). For example.

And then... re-entering all the same info you entered on your v4.x container.

I say this as v5.x users are reporting numerous bugs, and notably, v4.x plugins are incompatible with v5.x. Unless their developers have released v5.x plugins, you will lose their capabilities.

If you choose to try v5.x, I'd love to hear about your experience.

 

[Telos]

I have Calibre v5.1 running in Docker and all seems well (I used the linuxserver.io image). I have not yet activated the server portion. FWIW, the 5.1 Docker volume mappings were changed on Docker Hub, but the changes were inconsequential.

As I built this as a separate container (not upgrading from v4.x), I can't say with absolute assurance that the normal container upgrade process is problem-free, but I would not anticipate issues.

However... as all Calibre plug-ins need to be rewritten for v5.x (Calibre now uses Python v3), not all plug-ins are v5 ready. Notably, the DRM plugin is presently unavailable (if you need this plug-in you should remain with Calibre 4.2.3), or... if you upgrade, run a portable Calibre v4.2.3 instance on your PC for your DRM removal needs.

 

[Didam]

First, thank you very much for your detailed instructions! This was very simple to get going.

I do have a question. I've noticed that as long as the docker container is running, I can hear the HDD in my NAS every 10-15 seconds. Whether I'm accessing the calibre container or not, all day long. It stops when I stop the container. I only have one container at the moment.

Does anyone else have this? Any recommendations on where to look? This is my first container so I'm out of ideas.

 

[Telos]

Is Calibre the only container running? Otherwise, this could be Docker at work. I have no difference in drive noise with many containers active.

 

[Didam]

Yeah, I guess I dont have enough to go on. I did hear some of the same sounds (like the disk is being accessed) even with Docker off. The odd thing is that the resource monitor is showing 0% disk activity. Oh well, I'll have to keep my ear on it.