MPD satellite setup

MPD satellite setup#

The mpd satellite setup consists of following components:

  • A central server hosting:

    • music collection

    • playlists

    • MPD database

    • MPD sticker database

    • myMPD images

    • myMPD webradio favorites

  • A few embedded devices running mpd and myMPD to play and control the music locally

  • Discussion

  • MPD documentation

We use the same directory structure on each device.

  • Music directory: /srv/mpd/music

  • Playlist directory: /srv/mpd/playlists

  • Images directory: /srv/mpd/images

  • Webradio favorites directory: /srv/mpd/webradios

Setup the central server#

  • Name: central.lan

Setting up the central server involves following steps:

  1. Configure MPD

  2. Export directories for

    • music files

    • playlists

    • images

Configure MPD#

/etc/mpd.conf#

music_directory "/srv/mpd/music"
playlist_directory "/srv/mpd/playlists"
database {
    plugin "simple"
    path "/var/lib/mpd/tag_cache"
    cache_directory "/var/lib/mpd/cache"
}
sticker_file "/var/lib/mpd/sticker.sql"
bind_to_address "0.0.0.0"

Export#

We use NFS, but CIFS is also possible.

/etc/exports#

/srv/mpd  *(ro,sync,no_subtree_check)

Create directories for central myMPD images.

mkdir /srv/mpd/images/backgrounds /srv/mpd/images/thumbs

Setup a satellite#

Setting up the satellite involves following steps:

  1. Mount the exported directories

  2. Configure MPD

  3. Configure myMPD

1. Mount#

We mount the exported directories at the os level. myMPD requires access to the music directory also. Ths music directory path should be the same on the central server and on the satellite.

/etc/fstab#

central.lan:/srv/mpd /srv/mpd nfs soft,_netdev 0 0

2. Configure MPD#

/etc/mpd.conf#

music_directory "/srv/mpd/music"
playlist_directory "/srv/mpd/playlists"
database {
    plugin "proxy"
    host "central.lan"
    keepalive "yes"
}
bind_to_address "/run/mpd/socket"

3. Configure myMPD#

There is no special myMPD configuration required, if each instance should work autonomously.

Central playback statistics#

Configure myMPD to use the central MPD server for stickers. You find this setting in the connection dialog.

Shared images#

Replace the /var/lib/mympd/pics directory with a link to /srv/mpd/images.

rm -r /var/lib/mympd/pics
ln -s /srv/mpd/images /var/lib/mympd/pics

Shared webradio favorites#

Replace the /var/lib/mympd/webradios directory with a link to /srv/mpd/webradios.

rm -r /var/lib/mympd/webradios
ln -s /srv/mpd/webradios /var/lib/mympd/webradios

Not working#

Following functions are currently not supported with the satellite setup.

  • Shared smart playlists across all myMPD instances

    • At the moment each myMPD instance creates it’s MPD playlists and could overwrite MPD playlists from other instances. To prevent this set a different smart playlist prefix on each myMPD instance.

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