Now that we have our Immich server up and running and working, it is time for us to set up Immich. Firstly, we would like to access it from a better URL address than an IP address, and in some cases, also be able to access it from outside our home network. We also need to set up the smartphone app and users. Let’s get to it!

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Step 1: Configure nginx

If you are following along with our Build your own homelab series, or if you are building your own custom setup, we are using nginx as our reverse proxy. It can run in either an nginx LXC or as a separate nginx VM (Virtual Machine). Take note that installing a Let’s Encrypt SSL Certificate becomes a bit more involved if you go the LXC route. We also need to decide if we want to only backup (sync) photos when we are on our local home network, or if we want to also sync from the outside web. The Immich app has a setting to ensure that backup will only happen on Wi-Fi, if that helps, and we also have the option of a VPN server if we are on a Wi-Fi network that will give us access to local only resources from a different internet connection.

Anyway, access your nginx install via Proxmox or via SSH and log in. Before starting, it might be best to change over to an Administrator with the command sudo su. You might need to provide your password again.

Go to the location for nginx configuration files:

cd /etc/nginx/sites-available

Open the configuration file for the local setup if you have one already or create a new file:

nano local

Add the following in the configuration file to enable Immich to run on http://immich.local. Please just make sure to have the IP address correct for your network install, we are running Immich on 192.168.1.36.

server {
server_name immich.local;
# allow large file uploads
client_max_body_size 50000M;
# Set headers
proxy_set_header Host              $http_host;
proxy_set_header X-Real-IP         $remote_addr;
proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For   $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for;
proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Proto $scheme;
# enable websockets: http://nginx.org/en/docs/http/websocket.html
proxy_http_version 1.1;
proxy_set_header   Upgrade    $http_upgrade;
proxy_set_header   Connection "upgrade";
proxy_redirect     off;
# set timeout
proxy_read_timeout 600s;
proxy_send_timeout 600s;
send_timeout       600s;
location / {
proxy_pass http://192.168.1.36:2283;
}
}

Save with Ctrl+S and exit with Ctrl+X. Should you wish to also access Immich from outside your network, also set up a seperate file for the outside connection:

nano immich

Add the exact same configuration again, but this time change the server_name to the URL that will access it from outside, in our case immich.techdecode.online.

If you created a new local file, or if it was not active before, activate it with:

sudo ln -s /etc/nginx/sites-available/local /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/

If you also created a file for outside access, remember to also create the shortcut for it:

sudo ln -s /etc/nginx/sites-available/immich /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/

Test the nginx configuration with nginx -t and if successful, reload the config with systemctl reload nginx.

Step 2: Configure DNS

We have to configure our .local DNS entry so that we can use it. Access your local DNS server, as we installed and configured our Technitium DNS. After logging in, go to zones and select local (or create a new zone called local if it does not exist yet). Once in the zone, we need to add a new record, so click on . In the NAME field, add immich so that this record is for immich.local. The type needs to be A. The IPv4 address is that of our nginx server, not the IP of the LXC running Immich.

If you also created an external nginx config, please make sure to purchase a custom domain if you haven’t already done so, and also check out how to use a Dynamic DNS service for updates. Remember to also set up the subdomain, in our case immich.techdecode.online on your DNS server where your domain is purchased.

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Step 3: SSL Certificate

Although this step is probably optional if you don’t have an external DNS and nginx set up, if you are planning on accessing Immich from outside of your home network, this is no longer optional.

From your nginx server, ensure that Certbot is installed and run the command:

certbot --nginx

Select the option for your Immich URL, in our case it is immich.techdecode.online. The certificate will automatically be installed.

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Step 4: Configure Immich

You can now access Immich either from the local address, like http://immich.local or from the outside URL which in our case is https://immich.techdecode.online. You can also install the mobile app:

Just add the server URL and you are good to go.

Whichever way you decide to access Immich, seeing as you are the first user, you will be asked to sign up as the main Admin user. Enter the details of your new account. Once signed up, you will be required to log in again. A quick setup, this time for your user only will commence and you will be ready to start using Immich.

Create a second user

Some consider it good, other consider it bad, but only the Admin can create new users. This means we don’t need to “lock down” user creation like we did with ntfy. To create a new user, click on the circle in the top right (your profile button) and select Administration. Here you will be able to create a new user (among other settings).

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Conclusion

That is all there is to it. We can now use Immich to Backup all our mobile phone’s photos and videos to our Homelab. We have secured the connection for outside connections and can use it from our phone anywhere we want.