# Immich LXC Setup with External Storage and Backup Strategy ## Overview Immich was installed using the **Proxmox Community Scripts**, which resulted in a fully functional LXC container without issues. After the initial setup, the container configuration was adjusted to provide **sufficient storage capacity for photos and videos**, as the default container disk size is not suitable for long-term media storage. The solution is based on mapping Immich’s upload directory to a **dedicated large storage volume** and handling backups **outside of Proxmox’s standard container backups**. --- ## Storage Layout and Mount Point ### Immich Upload Directory Immich stores all uploaded media in the following directory inside the container: ``` /opt/immich/upload/ ``` To avoid filling up the container’s root filesystem, this directory is mapped to a **separate mount point** backed by a larger disk (e.g. ZFS storage on the Proxmox host). --- ## Mount Point Migration Procedure ### 1. Backup Existing Upload Directory Before changing anything, log into the Immich LXC and create a backup of the existing upload directory: ```bash cp -a /opt/immich/upload /opt/immich/upload.backup ``` This ensures the original folder structure and any existing files are preserved. --- ### 2. Create and Map the Mount Point On the Proxmox host: - Create a new storage volume (e.g. ZFS dataset or subvolume) with sufficient capacity. - Map this volume into the LXC at: ``` /opt/immich/upload/ ``` This replaces the original directory with the external storage. --- ### 3. Restore Directory Contents After the mount point is active inside the container: ```bash cp -a /opt/immich/upload.backup/* /opt/immich/upload/ ``` This guarantees that Immich finds the directory structure it expects. --- ### 4. Fix Ownership and Permissions Immich requires the upload directory to be owned by the `immich` user: ```bash chown -R immich:immich /opt/immich/upload ``` Failing to do this may lead to upload errors or missing media in the UI. --- ## Backup Considerations (Important) ### ⚠ Proxmox Datacenter Backups The mapped mount point **is not included** in regular Proxmox container backups. This is expected behavior and **must be handled explicitly**. --- ## Backup Strategy ### Restic + rclone (WebDAV) Backups are handled independently of Proxmox using the following stack: - **restic** for versioned, encrypted backups - **rclone** as the transport layer - **WebDAV** as the remote storage backend as it is the easiest to be used inside LXCs (I think) This approach provides: - Encrypted, deduplicated backups - Independence from container snapshots - Fine-grained control over retention and scheduling - Easy restores without Proxmox involvement Only the external upload storage needs to be backed up; the container itself can be rebuilt at any time. --- ## Design Rationale - **Large media data is decoupled from the container** - **Container rebuilds are trivial** - **Backups are reliable, explicit, and auditable** - **Storage growth does not require LXC resizing** This setup aligns well with long-term photo library management and avoids common pitfalls with container-based media applications.