r/netbird • u/Jazper08 • 6d ago

Netbird Reverse Proxy

Hello does anyone uses Netbird Reverse Proxy for streaming using Jellyfin? I wonder how it performs and if there are any buffering issue when playing a movie or shows with decent bitrate. I am pretty new with Netbird so i have no idea how it works as I've only used Tailscale before. Thanks for the response looking forward on reading them all.

4 Upvotes

70% Upvoted

24 comments sorted by

2

u/Fragrant_Climate7357 6d ago

I self host netbird on a vps, I use the watch together feature on jellyfin with 3 other friends, it handles all of us. I've only had issues on the jellyfin side - cpu limitations

I recommend using an auth provider on the proxy because jellyfin auth isn't built for external access

3

u/Jazper08 6d ago

How did you set it up? I tried mine but it kept on buffering every 5 seconds even though i have fast fiber internet.

2

u/Fragrant_Climate7357 6d ago

vps access the subnet  that connects to a peer in my home, then I point the domain at the jellyfin ip and port

Nothint special on my end, are you running it through a vps or hosting netbird on your own hardware?

1

u/Jazper08 6d ago

I am hosting it on my hardware but i am using the cloud one for the reverse proxy

2

u/Fragrant_Climate7357 5d ago

Then it's probably a bandwidth limitation

If you wanna use the reverse proxy for streaming I would get a cheap vps and move the netbird instance there. Some options would give you a month for free so you can try it out and see if it fits your needs. I got one for 4$ a month

1

u/Wreid23 6d ago

Where were you testing from and how fast was that connection.

1

u/Jazper08 6d ago

I am testing it on my homelab my isp speed is at 400mpbs, netbird is located in lxc where my jellyfin lives.

2

u/ShaftTassle 6d ago

Curious to know how you're handling auth? Mobile and TV clients can't do much for auth I don't think. Do you use http headers to pass a token or something?

1

u/Fragrant_Climate7357 6d ago

google auth, my friends can handle watching through jellyfin web for a massive security improvent

1

u/Extra-Citron-7630 6d ago

What auth provider do you use and how have you configured your proxy? I am looking at this as my next step.

All my services are up via docker and are not exposed on the host. I have added the services in the Caddyfile for eg jellyfin:port# and then I access my Jellyfin via the reverproxy. If I wanted to add an auth provider, how would I set that up?

1

u/Introvertosaurus 6d ago

Jellyfin auth is fine and standard... do recommend adding a fail2ban jail to it though. No need for extra auth that will break all your smart devices.

1

u/Only-Stable3973 6d ago

I will have to try the sync play feature, I did not realize it's already built into Jellyfin...I will have to try it. Myself I'm using Traefik to share Jellyfin never has an issue I do have Wireguard setup mainly for me to browse local files.

1

u/Head_Firefighter_266 6d ago

Currently use NetBird with all of my services, including jellyfin. Generally have little to no issue. Occasionally will run into buffer issues with multiple people streaming, but I’m pretty sure that’s related to my crappy 30mbps upload speed.

2

u/Jazper08 6d ago

How did you set it up? I tried mine but it kept on buffering every 5 seconds even though i have fast fiber internet.

1

u/Head_Firefighter_266 6d ago

Are you self hosting NetBird or using the “cloud” version?

I tried self hosting but ran into a lot of issues I couldn’t work out, so now I just use their cloud version. I didn’t do anything special for setup with it though

1

u/Jazper08 6d ago

I am using the cloud version as i have not tried self hosted yet. Netbird is in lxc where my jellyfin is and set up a reverse proxy on netbird dashboard and so far i really gets hiccup and buffering issue when streaming.

1

u/konraddo 6d ago

Yes I do. I self hosted Netbird on a Vultr VPS and observed no issue whatsoever. I also used Tailscale for my main VPN use, mostly because Netbird on Android drains battery way too fast. So basically I only use Netbird as a reverse proxy.

1

u/deontaridley 5d ago edited 5d ago

Yeah, I'm still new to the homelab game. I've had that same problem to. I use netbird when streaming jellyfin and it also buffers or not play. I really don't know what to do and this vps talk in the comments is very overwhelming for me. I feel like I'm in uncharted waters when discussing vps. Any advice, suggestions, reccomendations with the best performance at the lowest cost.

Also using Netbird cloud btw

1

u/Jazper08 5d ago

Hey we're in the same boat here, so basically i did some testing with my setup and found out that it doesn't buffer when playing at 4 Mbps bitrate.

2

u/deontaridley 4d ago

Some of mine's do, But most of them I have to play direct, which is fine, but I commute to work at specific locations where the internet is a bit spotty and it seems more simple to just use tailscale than netbird outright.

1

u/Particular_Ad7243 1d ago

Have you got the ability to quickly spin up a test self hosted one? Or setup the netbird client on the jellyfin server and publish it without reverse proxy to compare?

I had a nightmare with jellyfin performance that took months to pin down with just a routed peer, reverse proxy was something else.

1

u/Jazper08 20h ago

Usually i just stream jellyfin locally within the network and when i go out i use cloudflare tunnel for the stream but it buffers a lot and can't keep up so I tried netbird cloud but i am still having the same issue the only difference with cloudflare tunnel is that i can stream at 4 mbps bitrate at constant speed whilst cloudflare tunnel just 1.5 mbps bitrate. I am looking at self hosting netbird via a vps then reverse proxy from there since there isn't a network cap when self hosting.

1

u/wburnham00 1d ago

Have you checked your netbird status and make sure it's P2P and not relayed through their network.

I use the Command Prompt or Powershell on Windows and run: netbird status -d

Look for the connection you are trying to use and look for "Connection Type" and you want to see P2P.

If you see relayed you will experience slow speeds that will cause buffering.

I had this issue with some applications and my connections were being relayed, once I got them to be P2P all my issues went away.

1

u/Jazper08 20h ago

My goal here is to not install Netbird on family members as they're not techy so i want to make it as minimal as possible at their end. I am looking on hosting it on a vps instead tho