Advice on setting up some of the *arrs (Radarr, Sonarr, and Bazarr) to work with media already present on the server only (aka, no bittorrent integration)?

[Zenophilious]

I'm hoping to use pretty much only the indexing and sorting features of Radarr and Sonarr for the media files I transfer there myself, and then use Bazarr to grab different subtitles for them as needed.  Basically, I don't want to use any of the *arrs to fetch any kind of media for me at all, and all I want from Bazarr is to use the *arr indexes to get subtitle tracks for me.  Are the basic installation instructions still enough to get this done, or would it require a bit of modifications for things to work the way I want?

 

I tried a bit of googling about doing this, but either it's not a popular question, or just poorly indexed.  Any advice on properly setting up and using Docker services that connect to the internet would be helpful, too, since I have yet to set up a reverse proxy or other measures meant to limit the risk of connecting to the web.  Since i just have Plex working on my local network at present, I haven't really had to bother.

 

Just to clarify, I'm hoping to use Bazarr to pull anime fansubs from indexes (if possible) and then basically add them to my MakeMKV rips.  Chief example, I'm hoping to rip the English BluRay release of Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt, get my hands on the Underwater English fansubs with Bazarr, and then use MKVToolNix to embed them into my legally-sourced BDR.  Any other uses, like the auto-sorting and naming of my media, are just extra cherries on top, as far as I'm concerned.

Edited December 11, 2023 by Zenophilious
Clarification

[ConnerVT]

Install Sonarr and Radarr.  But don't set any Indexer or Download Client in the settings.   Bazarr downloads subs itself from the providers configured.

 

I have not tested this, but it should work.  You may need to do a refresh in Sonarr/Radarr after adding it to your media library, as Sonarr/Radarr would be unaware of any files added which they do not download themself.

[Zenophilious]

26 minutes ago, ConnerVT said:

Install Sonarr and Radarr.  But don't set any Indexer or Download Client in the settings.   Bazarr downloads subs itself from the providers configured.

Part of what I'm confused about is what to set for the /downloads path.  I don't currently have a download manager, or a download folder.  The path for /tv is obvious, and I'm assuming I can just copy the /tv path setup for my anime folder and make it work properly later in the settings.

[MrGrey]

2 hours ago, Zenophilious said:

I'm hoping to use pretty much only the indexing and sorting features of Radarr and Sonarr for the media files I transfer there myself, and then use Bazarr to grab different subtitles for them as needed.

What are you using to download?

 

MrGrey.

[ConnerVT]

8 hours ago, Zenophilious said:

Part of what I'm confused about is what to set for the /downloads path. 

 

For Sonarr/Radarr it does not matter, you can point it anywhere as you wont be downloading anything without a Download Client specified in the settings.

[Zenophilious]

On 12/10/2023 at 8:57 PM, MrGrey said:

What are you using to download?

Nothing, at the moment.  I'm transferring rips of DVDs and Blu-Rays from my ripping PC to my server manually via an external drive and Krusader.  I currently have nothing in the way of a download manager, and I don't plan to give my server a BitTorrent client anytime soon.  My intention is to limit my server's overall exposure to the internet as much as possible (basically just allowing Plex streams outside my network), I'm fine with having to do anything else on my own.

 

On 12/11/2023 at 4:10 AM, ConnerVT said:

 

For Sonarr/Radarr it does not matter, you can point it anywhere as you wont be downloading anything without a Download Client specified in the settings.

Yeah, I ended up discovering that myself.  I just created an empty 'download' folder myself and pointed to it when installing the Docker images.  Everything seems to work properly, at least in terms of how I want it to.  I'm still learning to use Linux in general, so I just wanted to make sure that creating folders myself to be used with Docker containers would work properly and not interfere with anything.  I'm mostly used to Windows and its file system, so I'm just trying to prevent myself from making major mistakes haha