Can I have database directory and Library content in different places?

NeHe · 11-20-2020, 12:31 AM

Hi all! Hope you are all safe and healthy.

I have been setting up a small home server and have Calibre running in docker on a small PC. It runs great, but I had to do something during setup I would have preferred to do differently. I was not able to have the library and database directory on a network file system --- I have a NAS that I would like to use to store my content on since it's got lots of storage, is RAID, and also backs up to the cloud.

If I tried to mount that nas into the docker container via CIFS, I can see the files / directories, but the database is never setup correctly and is flagged as corrupt.

When I move the database and content directory to the local filesystem with a docker bind mount it works perfectly. This is where I am now.

However moving all the books (lots of self scanned PDFs, not just ePUBs) to the server directly has cost me all the remaining disk space.

Is it possible to have the database files and the content in stable (i.e. not changing) but different locations? This way I could have say /local/calibre/database/* and /nas/calibre/library/* and would save many gig of disk space on the server.

I do something similar with Plex for my music / video files, the plex database is local, but points to a network mounted content directory.

Thanks!

BetterRed · 11-20-2020, 04:12 AM

Not sure if your trying to conserve server or client disk space, but try using the Environment Variable CALIBRE_OVERRIDE_DATABASE_PATH.

BR

NeHe · 11-20-2020, 12:46 PM

BetterRed,

Thanks! That might just do it! Will try. It's that I have, over the years had most of my reference books scanned in as PDFs with OCR support from a local scanning service, so the files are larger than your typical ebook as they are PDFs with page images and OCR metadata -- it's about 30+ gig total, which pushed the 256G SSD in my server over the edge. Ideally I'd have the content on the NAS (which has redundancy, and cloud backup) and the database locally on the server.

This env variable may just do that! Thanks. Have a great day!

Sunlite · 11-22-2020, 04:06 AM

I think you should read this part of the Calibre documentation:

i-am-getting-errors-with-my-calibre-library-on-a-networked-drive-nas

It sounds to me, that you could run into that situation with the way you want to set up Calibre.

NeHe · 12-01-2020, 05:19 PM

Thanks everyone! The environment variable solution above worked great.

I read the section on using a share drive for Calibre, but in this case I am the only one with access to the share, and its hosted on a NAS on the same network segment (not a dropbox / Google Drive).

I need to do this to keep the server system light and modular --- it's being moved to a proxmox based VM running docker containers.

The library content is fairly static and I'd like that to reside on the NAS for redundancy (the nas is mirrored to Backblaze cloud backup). I use the Calibre web server for remote access to the content. I'm not expecting to use the share drive for accessing the content outside of Calibre.

IMHO this is a cleaner solution and one also used by other media server applications, such as Plex -- the content is on a NAS drive and the database is local. Beets Music does something similar for music library management.

Thanks everyone! Happy reading.

--Neil.

11-20-2020, 12:31 AM	#1
NeHe Junior Member Posts: 5 Karma: 10 Join Date: Jul 2020 Device: Android Tablet	Can I have database directory and Library content in different places? Hi all! Hope you are all safe and healthy. I have been setting up a small home server and have Calibre running in docker on a small PC. It runs great, but I had to do something during setup I would have preferred to do differently. I was not able to have the library and database directory on a network file system --- I have a NAS that I would like to use to store my content on since it's got lots of storage, is RAID, and also backs up to the cloud. If I tried to mount that nas into the docker container via CIFS, I can see the files / directories, but the database is never setup correctly and is flagged as corrupt. When I move the database and content directory to the local filesystem with a docker bind mount it works perfectly. This is where I am now. However moving all the books (lots of self scanned PDFs, not just ePUBs) to the server directly has cost me all the remaining disk space. Is it possible to have the database files and the content in stable (i.e. not changing) but different locations? This way I could have say /local/calibre/database/* and /nas/calibre/library/* and would save many gig of disk space on the server. I do something similar with Plex for my music / video files, the plex database is local, but points to a network mounted content directory. Thanks!

11-20-2020, 04:12 AM	#2
BetterRed null operator (he/him) Posts: 20,565 Karma: 26954694 Join Date: Mar 2012 Location: Sydney Australia Device: none	Not sure if your trying to conserve server or client disk space, but try using the Environment Variable CALIBRE_OVERRIDE_DATABASE_PATH. BR Last edited by BetterRed; 11-20-2020 at 04:14 AM.

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11-20-2020, 12:46 PM	#3
NeHe Junior Member Posts: 5 Karma: 10 Join Date: Jul 2020 Device: Android Tablet	BetterRed, Thanks! That might just do it! Will try. It's that I have, over the years had most of my reference books scanned in as PDFs with OCR support from a local scanning service, so the files are larger than your typical ebook as they are PDFs with page images and OCR metadata -- it's about 30+ gig total, which pushed the 256G SSD in my server over the edge. Ideally I'd have the content on the NAS (which has redundancy, and cloud backup) and the database locally on the server. This env variable may just do that! Thanks. Have a great day!

11-22-2020, 04:06 AM	#4
Sunlite Addict Posts: 206 Karma: 547516 Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: Berlin, Germany Device: KObo Clara, Kobo Aura, PRS-T1, PB602, CyBook Gen3	I think you should read this part of the Calibre documentation: i-am-getting-errors-with-my-calibre-library-on-a-networked-drive-nas It sounds to me, that you could run into that situation with the way you want to set up Calibre.

12-01-2020, 05:19 PM	#5
NeHe Junior Member Posts: 5 Karma: 10 Join Date: Jul 2020 Device: Android Tablet	Thanks everyone! The environment variable solution above worked great. I read the section on using a share drive for Calibre, but in this case I am the only one with access to the share, and its hosted on a NAS on the same network segment (not a dropbox / Google Drive). I need to do this to keep the server system light and modular --- it's being moved to a proxmox based VM running docker containers. The library content is fairly static and I'd like that to reside on the NAS for redundancy (the nas is mirrored to Backblaze cloud backup). I use the Calibre web server for remote access to the content. I'm not expecting to use the share drive for accessing the content outside of Calibre. IMHO this is a cleaner solution and one also used by other media server applications, such as Plex -- the content is on a NAS drive and the database is local. Beets Music does something similar for music library management. Thanks everyone! Happy reading. --Neil.