Immich: Easy Self-Hosted Photo Management Server Setup Guide

Immich is a self-hosted, open-source solution for storing and managing photos and videos. It offers an alternative to cloud services like Google Photos and iCloud, focusing on privacy and user control. In this article, I’ll show you how to install Immich on various servers, whether it’s a Synology NAS, a Ugreen NAS, or another computer.

Why Immich?

In an era where privacy is becoming increasingly important, Immich offers the ability to maintain control over your own photos and videos. Without relying on third-party providers, images can be securely stored and managed within your own network. Immich provides a simple and intuitive user interface that allows you to organize and share photos and videos.

Prerequisites

Immich can be installed using Docker on most Linux systems. The following is required:

• Server with Docker: A server with Docker installed.
• Hardware Requirements: 6 GB RAM and 4 CPU cores are recommended. However, 4 GB RAM and 2 CPU cores are usually sufficient.
• Storage Space: Sufficient storage space for photos and videos.
• Optional:
  • Reverse Proxy: A reverse proxy (e.g., Nginx Proxy Manager, Caddy, Traefik) for external access and domain usage.
  • DNS-Server: A DNS server (e.g., Adguard Home, Pi-Hole, Technitium) for internal forwarding.
  • VPN-Server: If the server is not on your own network, setting up a VPN server like WireGuard or OpenVPN is recommended.
  • SMTP EMail Address: An SMTP address can be used for notifications, e.g., a shared web hosting plan from Netcup.

Preparation

Create Folder Structure

First, we’ll create a folder structure for Immich on the server. These folders will be used for the database and storage of photos and videos.

Required Folders:

• data
• db
• db-backup.

Beispiele:

cd ~
mkdir immich
cd immich
mkdir db db-backup data

/home/user/immich
├── db
├── db-backup
└── data

touch docker-compose.yml

/volume1/docker/
└── immich
    |── db
    └── db-backup

/volume2/dockerhdd/
└── immich
    └── data

/volume1/docker/
└── immich
    |── db
    |── db-backup
    └── data
# or
/volume1/docker/
└── immich
    |── db
    └── db-backup

/volume2/dockerhdd/
└── immich
    └── data

Firewall

To ensure that the created containers can communicate with each other, it is recommended to either allow the entire internal IP range or check the IP addresses used by the containers after installation if you have a restrictive firewall. Otherwise, the containers may not be able to communicate with each other.

Installation

Immich requires the following Docker containers:

• Redis-Brocker
• PostgreSQL Database with pgvecto.rs extension
• Immich Server
• Immich Machine (for machine learning)

Docker Compose File

First, we need the container commands to perform the installation.

1
2networks:
3  internal:
4    name: internal
5    external: false
6  
7
8volumes:
9  model-cache:
10
11services:
12  redis:
13    container_name: immich_redis
14    image: redis:7-alpine
15    restart: unless-stopped
16    networks:
17      - internal
18    healthcheck:
19      test: redis-cli ping || exit 1
20
21  db:
22    container_name: immich_db
23    image: tensorchord/pgvecto-rs:pg16-v0.3.0
24    restart: unless-stopped
25    networks:
26      - internal
27    volumes:
28      - /volume1/docker/immich/db:/var/lib/postgresql/data
29    environment:
30      POSTGRES_DB: immich
31      POSTGRES_USER: immich
32      POSTGRES_PASSWORD: changeMeIamAPassword
33      POSTGRES_INITDB_ARGS: '--data-checksums'
34    healthcheck:
35      test: pg_isready --dbname='immich' --username='immich' || exit 1; Chksum="$$(psql --dbname='immich' --username='immich' --tuples-only --no-align --command='SELECT COALESCE(SUM(checksum_failures), 0) FROM pg_stat_database')"; echo "checksum failure count is $$Chksum"; [ "$$Chksum" = '0' ] || exit 1
36      interval: 5m
37      start_interval: 30s
38      start_period: 5m
39    command:
40      [
41        'postgres',
42        '-c',
43        'shared_preload_libraries=vectors.so',
44        '-c',
45        'search_path="$$user", public, vectors',
46        '-c',
47        'logging_collector=on',
48        '-c',
49        'max_wal_size=2GB',
50        '-c',
51        'shared_buffers=512MB',
52        '-c',
53        'wal_compression=on',
54      ]
55
56  db_backup:
57    container_name: immich_db_backup
58    image: prodrigestivill/postgres-backup-local:16
59    restart: unless-stopped
60    environment:
61      POSTGRES_HOST: db
62      POSTGRES_CLUSTER: 'TRUE'
63      POSTGRES_USER: immich
64      POSTGRES_PASSWORD: changeMeIamAPassword
65      POSTGRES_DB: immich
66      SCHEDULE: "@daily"
67      POSTGRES_EXTRA_OPTS: '--clean --if-exists'
68      TZ: Europe/Berlin
69    volumes:
70      - /volume1/docker/immich/db-backup:/backups
71    depends_on:
72      - db
73    networks:
74      - internal
75
76  immich:
77    container_name: immich
78    image: ghcr.io/immich-app/immich-server:v1.118.2
79    restart: unless-stopped
80    depends_on:
81      - db
82      - redis
83    networks:
84      - internal
85      
86    ports:
87      - 2283:2283
88    volumes:
89      - /etc/localtime:/etc/localtime:ro
90      - /volume1/docker/immich/data:/usr/src/app/upload
91    environment:
92      DB_HOSTNAME: db
93      DB_USERNAME: immich
94      DB_DATABASE_NAME: immich
95      DB_PASSWORD: changeMeIamAPassword
96      TZ: Europe/Berlin
97    healthcheck:
98      disable: false
99
100  immich-machine-learning:
101    container_name: immich-machine-learning
102    image: ghcr.io/immich-app/immich-machine-learning:v1.118.2
103    restart: unless-stopped
104    depends_on:
105      - db
106      - redis
107    networks:
108      - internal
109    volumes:
110      - model-cache:/cache
111    environment:
112      DB_HOSTNAME: db
113      DB_USERNAME: immich
114      DB_DATABASE_NAME: immich
115      DB_PASSWORD: changeMeIamAPassword
116      TZ: Europe/Berlin
117    healthcheck:
118      disable: false
119    
📋

The images can be customized, but I advise against using latest or release as it can lead to problems if a new incompatible image is published. Especially while Immich is in beta, you should not simply specify other tags. You can check on the container page to see which image is currently the newest.

Reverse Proxy

To make Immich accessible via a domain like immich.domain.com, we set up a reverse proxy in the meantime.

client_max_body_size 50000M;
proxy_redirect off;

{
    acme_ca https://acme-v02.api.letsencrypt.org/directory
    email   mail@domain.com
}

immich.domain.de {
    @blocked not remote_ip private_ranges
    respond @blocked 403
    reverse_proxy 192.168.1.123:8010
    client_max_body_size 50G
}

{
    acme_ca https://acme-v02.api.letsencrypt.org/directory
    email   mail@domain.de
}

immich.domain.de {
    reverse_proxy 192.168.1.123:8010
    client_max_body_size 50G
}

First Login

Immich should now be accessible under the domain or the IP address of the server (with port 2283).

The first user is an admin user. This user can add additional users and change settings.

The setup is self-explanatory. In the administration, you can now add new users and assign them a storage quota. Users can then log in with their email address and a password.

If you have an SMTP address, you can also set up notifications. This is particularly useful if multiple users access Immich and share images. For example, a web hosting plan from Netcup with an email inbox can be used here. Costs start at €2.17 per month.

Apps

Immich also offers apps for Android and iOS. These can be downloaded from the respective app stores. The apps are free and allow photos and videos to be uploaded directly from devices.

Immich App Android

Immich App iOS

Features:

• Automatic Upload: New photos and videos are automatically uploaded.
• Sharing and Collaboration: Albums can be shared with family and friends.

Create Backup

For a complete backup, the folders db-backup (database) and data (images and videos) should be secured. This can be done manually. Alternatively, it can be automated with a script or a backup tool like rsync or Duplicati.

An advantage (and simultaneously a disadvantage) of Immich is that the images are stored in a normal file system. This means that if something goes wrong and Immich no longer works, you can simply copy the images and restore them on another system (provided the images have not been deleted).

Conclusion

Immich should now be running. I appreciate any comments. Enjoy managing your images!