Emby as a Service - Updating Procedure Question

[Erik 124]

Hi,

As per the support documents I have to manually update Emby (which is fine as I did let it auto update/restart anyways). However, I just wanted to confirm the intended procedure.

1) Stop the Emby Service

2) Run the Emby Server Installer

3) Let Emby boot (as it auto-launches after installing)

4) Shutdown Emby

5) Start the Emby Service

 

Is that the correct/intended procedure for updating Emby when using the NSSM and running as a service?

Side Question: Is there any harm in stopping the service in step 1 vs shutting down emby and then stopping the service?

(I would normally just let it run, but windows 10 updates and restarts when I am not around sometimes and have to RDP just to login and get Emby started again)

Thanks!

[pwhodges 2012]

I stop the service using nssm, rename the old Emby system directory to save it (I just add its version number to the end), copy the new system directory into place from the file I downloaded from Github, restart using nssm.  It takes about a minute, including the RDP connection.

Paul

[Erik 124]

5 hours ago, pwhodges said:

I stop the service using nssm, rename the old Emby system directory to save it (I just add its version number to the end), copy the new system directory into place from the file I downloaded from Github, restart using nssm.  It takes about a minute, including the RDP connection.

Paul

Are you using the "Portable" version to download? I have been using the Installer and maybe that explains the additional steps for me at the moment.

[pwhodges 2012]

Portable isn't actually different from what the installer installs - it just leaves you free to put it where you want.  I just download from Github, and copy the system directory from the download  to replace the old one; as all the rest of Emby is already in place, there's no need to run the installer again.

I have shortcuts to the Emby directory and the download directory on the desktop, so I can go straight there without thinking (the portable installs you can see are for testing):

Paul

[rbjtech 5284]

12 hours ago, Erik said:

Side Question: Is there any harm in stopping the service in step 1 vs shutting down emby and then stopping the service?(

It's a good question.

When Emby is running - and you shutdown (via the GUI or API), it gracefully closes all the connections, closes the http listener, flushes the db etc - there are approx ~100 odd log entry points for a proper shutdown.

If you just stop (or restart) the service - it does none of that - but it does not appear to cause any issues.   It likely just does the clean up during the restart process instead.

Ideally, before you restart/stop the service - you should send an API shutdown command first, give it a few seconds and then stop the service ... 

http://<your_emby_name_or_ip_plus_port>/emby/System/Shutdown?api_key=<your_api_key>

 

Edited January 19, 2024 by rbjtech