Multiple content-server instances possible ?

[Tuxracer]

Hello,

as a first time thank you very much for the great program.

I use the Calibre-content-server in an Ubuntu Linux container on a Proxmox environment, it works wonderfully.
Integrated are some libraries on different topics.

My question:
Is it possible to start several content-server instances in parallel on the Linux server, which should then be accessible from external via different ports + login user ?

Background: I want to reduce the access for individual users to single or multiple libraries, so that they can not all see or access.

Thanks in advance

Thomas

[kovidgoyal]

You can define library limits per user account no need for multiple server instances.

[Tuxracer]

Hello,

thanks for the tip.
I have set it up with the help of the documentation, it works quite well, if the accesses of different users from different computers.

However, from the same computer it only works reliably if you clear the browser cache in the meantime - but that's not a problem so far.

[martianrock]

Not sure if it is ok to hijack this thread, but I'd still like to know how to run more than one instance of service on a single machine. I tried to separate them by giving 2 instances each different --port's, different library directories and even different --pidfile's and one of them still detects that the other instance is running and fails to start. What else should I configure to keep them both running?

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by martianrock

Not sure if it is ok to hijack this thread, but I'd still like to know how to run more than one instance of service on a single machine. I tried to separate them by giving 2 instances each different --port's, different library directories and even different --pidfile's and one of them still detects that the other instance is running and fails to start. What else should I configure to keep them both running?

Two different computers with two different libraries.

[theducks]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Two different computers with two different libraries.

https://manual.calibre-ebook.com/gen...re-server.html
I believe You can STILL use the CLI to start multiple instances if you specify With Library.
I used to do the way back around Calibre 2 where server (instance) could only do 1 Library

[martianrock]

Originally Posted by theducks

https://manual.calibre-ebook.com/gen...re-server.html
I believe You can STILL use the CLI to start multiple instances if you specify With Library.
I used to do the way back around Calibre 2 where server (instance) could only do 1 Library

There's no --with-library option but I did provide distinct path to different libraries for each instance. And yet I still got an error on startup of one of the instances saying another instance is running. No idea why, I suspect this error is a bug.

I got around that by having Environment="CALIBRE_NO_SI_DANGER_DANGER=Y" in systemd config for each since I am pretty sure that separate instances talk to separate libraries. That and one of them is intended as read-only. So I hope actual danger is not that big, though it would be nice if I didn't have to use this override.

[theducks]

Look at the example at the top.
( My bad. this does not use the actual --withlibrary phase as part of the argument)

[martianrock]

Originally Posted by theducks

Look at the example at the top.
( My bad. this does not use the actual --withlibrary phase as part of the argument)

Right, so 1st server is started as

/usr/bin/calibre-server --port=80 --pidfile="/tmp/calibre-server-prod.pid" /calibre/library/

2nd as:

/usr/bin/calibre-server --pidfile="/tmp/calibre-server-staging.pid" /calibre/staging/

And somehow only one of them starts and other fails with error saying there's another instance running (that's w/o CALIBRE_NO_SI_DANGER_DANGER override) Different ports, pid files and library directories.

[gbm]

You need to assign them different ports--one on port 80 the other on say port 85.

bernie

Originally Posted by martianrock

Right, so 1st server is started as


2nd as:


And somehow only one of them starts and other fails with error saying there's another instance running (that's w/o CALIBRE_NO_SI_DANGER_DANGER override) Different ports, pid files and library directories.

[martianrock]

Originally Posted by gbm

You need to assign them different ports--one on port 80 the other on say port 85.

bernie

one is set to 80, other is not set so default 8080 is used. They _are_ on different ports and I can see web UIs on 80 and 8080 accordingly.

[theducks]

I always specified the port as well as the library.
BTW I would use the full path to the Library
Some systems want you to avoid Port 80

[kovidgoyal]

If for some reason you really want to run two different servers on a single machine and dont want to use the env var, use different user accounts. Though the single instance mutex is there for your protection, working around it is not a good idea. It doesnt just prevent multiple instances of the server, it also prevents other tools such as calibredb and the GUI from running. You basically cannot have more than one thing that can alter a database running.

[martianrock]

Originally Posted by theducks

I always specified the port as well as the library.
BTW I would use the full path to the Library
Some systems want you to avoid Port 80

isn't /calibre/library/ a full path to library directory? Or should I have specified metadata file as well?

And I have elevated CAP_NET_BIND_SERVICE capability in systemd .service file to allow non-root account bind to port <1024, and in fact verified both ports 80 and 8080 were properly bound by respective instances.

Originally Posted by kovidgoyal

If for some reason you really want to run two different servers on a single machine and dont want to use the env var, use different user accounts. Though the single instance mutex is there for your protection, working around it is not a good idea. It doesnt just prevent multiple instances of the server, it also prevents other tools such as calibredb and the GUI from running. You basically cannot have more than one thing that can alter a database running.

My only reason for asking for 2 instances is to have anonymous accessible library with fewer books than the one which needs login and which would also include work-in-progress books.
I was under impression that giving two instances 2 different paths to 2 different libraries would prevent more than one thing touching any of those libraries, I am confused as to what other resource those 2 instances could be sharing given that I gave them different ports, different libraries and different pid files.
But I agree, I am uncomfortable with using that environment variable override, I will definitely try using 2 different accounts, thanks for suggestion!

[theducks]

I have only 2 users SERVER logins
1) is for guests (Guestusername, guestpassword) (not an individual logonretty anonymous), with the restrictions configured in sharing over the net

2) Me, I get to access all libraries from the web