2 Emby servers on the same network (new guide in 2025)

[AndreiP 33]

Hi the community, 

I would like to run 2 Emby servers on the same Internet network and make it so that I can access both from outside my home. I want that one will be basic and the second one will be use as a test server.

After reading all the information found on the forum I would like to publish here to be sure that I have understood how to configure the second server. I also hope that my message will be useful for all users with the same situation.

In general, if I understand correctly, I have to manually open two ports (secure and insecure) on my router that will be different from the one used by my first server and to put it in network configuration of the second server, is that right?

So, currently, my first server has this configurations in the network menu: 

 

In my router I have (I did not created it manually, I suppose Emby did it for me): 

If I undersdand correctly, here are the steps to follow:
1. I install my second server on another PC.
2. I remove "Enable automatic port mapping".

3. Then in Emby configurations I have to change 8096 and 8920 to other numbers, for example 8097 and 8921 (for the local and for the public port number).
4. In my router settings I open 2 ports and give them the values 8097 and 8921 respectively and I add the IP adress of the PC where is installed the seond Emby server

Please confirm or correct my understanding of the configuration. I apologize in advance if I wrote nonsense because I am not very good in networking configuration.

 

P.S. Also, btw, could you please explain to me why there are 2 ports (8096 and 8920) that are open and not just one currently. I thought that Emby force always to use an insecure connection... 

Thanks,

Edited January 28, 2025 by AndreiP

[Happy2Play 9780]

29 minutes ago, AndreiP said:

Please confirm or correct my understanding of the configuration.

Yes that is correct.

 

30 minutes ago, AndreiP said:

P.S. Also, btw, could you please explain to me why there are 2 ports (8096 and 8920) that are open and not just one currently. I thought that Emby force always to use an insecure connection... 

Depends on your setup if you are providing a ssl cert or not so in reality you only need to forward the method you will be using.

[AndreiP 33]

@Happy2Play 

Thank you for your reply, Happy2Play! 

I will set a second server soon: I hope will be able to do it.

That would be wonderful if Emby could generate itself 2 other ports like it did for the first server in order to avoid this manually setup. 

[Happy2Play 9780]

1 minute ago, AndreiP said:

That would be wonderful if Emby could generate itself 2 other ports like it did for the first server in order to avoid this manually setup. 

It would but run into the same issue with Jellyfin as they never changed default ports when they forked Emby years ago so we get post of issue on Emby client failing to connect of saying they need to update their server because the clients are connecting to the wrong server.

Then you run into the platforms there require somewhat hardcoded setups.

[pwhodges 2012]

5 hours ago, AndreiP said:

In general, if I understand correctly, I have to manually open two ports (secure and insecure) on my router that will be different from the one used by my first server and to put it in network configuration of the second server, is that right?

Yes.  Basically, the two servers must be running with different ports, and you need port forwarding for both sets of ports so that you can access them independently.

There is a somewhat different approach for the external access, though.  The way I do this is to have a reverse proxy which is accessed only using https (I recommend Caddy, as that does all the setup of the certificates for you).  Define two subdomains in the DNS of your chosen domain name (e.g. emby1.<mydomain> and emby2.<mydomain).  In the reverse proxy define separate virtual servers for these two names and forward them to the two local servers using their local ports.  The proxy can be set up to respond on the default https port of 443 for both subdomains - simplifying the router setup, and removing the need to specify a port when accessing Emby.

Paul

[AndreiP 33]

Thanks, pwhodges, for your reply. I'm afraid I'm not good enough to succeed in your second paragraph.

I hope that by following the steps in my first post I will be able to configure my second server on the same network.

[ebr 16169]

9 hours ago, AndreiP said:

if I understand correctly, I have to manually open two ports (secure and insecure) on my router that will be different from the one used by my first server and to put it in network configuration of the second server, is that right?

As Happy alluded to, you would only have to open two ports to the outside if you needed to provide both secure and insecure access.  If you have secure access setup for your server, then you would only want to open the secure port.

[AndreiP 33]

Hi ebr, 

 

Quote

If you have secure access setup for your server, then you would only want to open the secure port.

This secure access it's done automatically for the first server? Sorry for my noob questions. 

[Happy2Play 9780]

26 minutes ago, AndreiP said:

Hi ebr, 

 

This secure access it's done automatically for the first server? Sorry for my noob questions. 

Sorry no as this all requires user intervention and applies to https ports. 

Secure Your Server | Emby Documentation | Using-secure-https-connections

[Lessaj 467]

Technically you don't need to change the ports for your second instance since you said it's on another computer, you could leave it with the default ports, and as part of your port forwarding is when you change the port. So for example 8096 on the outside would be sent to the first computer on 8096 and 8097 on the outside would be sent to the second computer on 8096.

Similar to pwhodges I'm using a reverse proxy so I only need to open 443 and then within my reverse proxy config I have multiple domains specified, the web server looks at your requested domain and decides where to send it based on that. You could run hundreds of services behind a single reverse proxy.

[AndreiP 33]

Thank you for all posts here!

I did exactly as it's wrote in the first message and I can acces to the second server from inside the network and remotely. Thank you. 

I have one suggestion to the developers: to configure in the future the option to merge the 2 servers in just one visible from the home screen: the user will see only one media library, let's say "Movies", even if the source come from 2 different servers ("movies" folder from server 1 and "movies" folder from server 2). 

 

[Happy2Play 9780]

Personally, don't see it happening as to me there would be to many legal issues but would fall under this request.