This is one of my favorite DIY project. It covers several complex topics, however it can be easily completed by following this guide. It's okay if some of these concepts don't make sense, all you need to do is copy and paste a few lines of code and you'll be set! This server is perfect for trailers, houseboats, road trips, etc. It uses a small Raspberry Pi and Emby server, which is incredibly small and light weight, providing an incredibly simple solution for portable streaming.

For this setup we will be using the Raspberry Pi OS Lite. This Operating System is lightweight and will allow for a more quick and seamless streaming process at the end of the day. Because the Raspberry Pi OS Lite has no desktop environment, you will need to be able to use the command line on your Mac or PC in order to complete this tutorial (I will be using a Mac). Don't worry if you're not very experienced using the command line though! I will do my best to walk you through each step.

The Raspberry Pi Foundation has a great tool for formatting your SD card and installing the Rasbian OS all in one go.

1. Install the Raspberry Pi Imager to your computer.

Now that your Pi is configured for SSH, you can now unplug it from the monitor and use an Ethernet cable to connect it to your home router. Note** I am using a Mac computer, so the following instructions may be different for PC users. If you would like to follow along on a PC, I would highly recommend downloading PuTTY.

1. Launch a new terminal window (on a Mac hit Command + Space at the same time and type 'Terminal').

2. From the terminal type the following command:

ssh pi@mediaserver.local

where 'pi' is your login username and 'mediaserver' is the hostname that you setup in the Enabling SSH step above. You can alternatively use the Pi's IP address if this doesn't work for you, however you will have to know the IP address of the Pi:

ssh pi@192.168.x.x

3. You may be prompted with this warning:

The authenticity of host 'mediaserver.local (xxxx)' can't be established.

Just type 'yes' and hit enter.

1. You will need to install the hostapd access point software

sudo apt install hostapd

2. Enable the wireless access point service and set it to start when your Raspberry Pi boots:

sudo systemctl unmask hostapd

sudo systemctl enable hostapd

3. In order to provide network management services (DNS, DHCP) to wireless clients, the Raspberry Pi needs to have the dnsmasq software package installed:

sudo apt install dnsmasq

4. Finally, install netfilter-persistent and its plugin iptables-persistent. This utilty helps by saving firewall rules and restoring them when the Raspberry Pi boots:

sudo DEBIAN_FRONTEND=noninteractive apt install -y netfilter-persistent iptables-persistent

Wow, by entering all of those commands you just installed a whole bunch of powerful software on your Raspberry Pi! Right now this software isn't doing anything though, so we will now begin to configure it so it can be used by the Pi.

The Raspberry Pi will run and manage a standalone wireless network. The Raspberry Pi runs a DHCP server for the wireless network; this requires static IP configuration for the wireless interface (wlan0) in the Raspberry Pi. The Raspberry Pi also acts as the router on the wireless network, and as is customary, we will give it the first IP address in the network: 192.168.4.1. In a nutshell, we need to give the Raspberry Pi a static IP address on the Network.

To configure the static IP address, edit the configuration file for dhcpcd by entering the following command:

sudo nano /etc/dhcpcd.conf

You are now inside of the Nano editor, which may be very different from any other editor you've used before. Be very careful not to make any unwanted changes to prevent any unwanted bugs in the system. You navigate the Nano editor with the arrow keys go to the very bottom of the file and add the following:

interface wlan0

static ip_address=192.168.4.1/24

nohook wpa_supplicant

The file should end up looking like this:

To enable routing, i.e. to allow traffic to flow from one network to the other in the Raspberry Pi, create a file using the following command, with the contents below:

sudo nano /etc/sysctl.d/routed-ap.conf

Paste these contents into the file:

# https://www.raspberrypi.org/documentation/configuration/wireless/access-point-routed.md

# Enable IPv4 routing

net.ipv4.ip_forward=1

Save the file.

Add this single firewall rule in the Raspberry Pi:

sudo iptables -t nat -A POSTROUTING -o eth0 -j MASQUERADE

Save the firewall rules:

sudo netfilter-persistent save

The DHCP and DNS services are provided by dnsmasq. The default configuration file serves as a template for all possible configuration options, whereas we only need a few. It is easier to start from an empty file.

Enter the following commands to rename the dnsmasq template and to create an empty file.

sudo mv /etc/dnsmasq.conf /etc/dnsmasq.conf.orig

sudo nano /etc/dnsmasq.conf

An empty Nano document will now be open. Copy and Paste the following inside the document and then save it:

interface=wlan0 # Listening interface

dhcp-range=192.168.4.2,192.168.4.20,255.255.255.0,24h

# Pool of IP addresses served via DHCP

domain=wlan # Local wireless DNS domain

address=/gw.wlan/192.168.4.1

# Alias for this router

Remember, to save the document just hit Control + X, then Y, then Enter.

The Raspberry Pi will deliver IP addresses between 192.168.4.2 and 192.168.4.20, with a lease time of 24 hours, to wireless DHCP clients.

Countries around the world regulate the use of telecommunication radio frequency bands to ensure interference-free operation. The Linux OS helps users comply with these rules by allowing applications to be configured with a two-letter "WiFi country code", e.g. US for a computer used in the United States.

In the Raspberry Pi OS, 5 GHz wireless networking is disabled until a WiFi country code has been configured by the user, usually as part of the initial installation process (see wireless configuration pages in this section for details.)

To ensure WiFi radio is not blocked on your Raspberry Pi, execute the following command:

sudo rfkill unblock wlan

This setting will be automatically restored at boot time. We will define an appropriate country code in the access point software configuration, next.

Now you will need to restart your Pi to verify that the wireless access point becomes automatically available.

sudo systemctl reboot

Once your Pi has rebooted, the network SSID you specified in the /etc/hostapt/hostapd.conf file should now be available. You should be able to see it when trying to join the WiFi on your phone, tablet or computer. Try connecting to it with the password you specified! Remember, you won't be able to connect to the World Wide Web with this wireless connection, but rather you will be able to connect to any server that you set up on the raspberry pi, which is what we are going to do next!

We're not doing any configuration in this step, we are just testing things out and making sure they're working properly.

Congrats! Now we are ready to let Emby Server access the external drive and stream Movies and Tv Shows directly from it!

Finally! You've made it to the last (and easiest) step! Now all we have to do is set up Emby server and let it know where we intend to store all of our Movie and TV Show files. This section won't cover all of the features that come with Emby server, but after tinkering around with the service for a bit you'll be able to see how powerful it can be! I think it's also worth while to note that I am in no way affiliated with Emby, nor have I been compensated in any way for endorsing them, I've just really enjoyed their service so far. If you wanted to use another service (such as Plex) I'm sure you could accomplish the same goal.

Lets just right in! Make sure that your Pi is connected to your router and that your computer is connected to your local home network.

1. Access Emby server from your home network by using the Raspberry Pi's hostname, i.e. My pi's hostname is mediaserver, so I will type:

http://mediaserver.local:8096

You will need to replace whatever your hostname may be with 'mediaserver'. You can alternatively use you Pi's IP address by typing the following into the url bar and replacing the placeholder IP address with your Pi's address:

192.168.x.x:8096

You've probably noticed already, but there are several different ways that you can access your new server and start streaming. There are essentially three main methods, streaming from your home network, streaming from your portable network, and streaming from the Emby app (requires an active Emby Premiere subscription).

If you really want to splurge, you can purchase an Emby license here. One of the many advantages of using the app is that you will no longer have to remember those pesky IP addresses and/or hostnames to access the server. You can simply open the app and it will automatically search for your server. The app also seems to be able to stream content a little better than through the webpage. The app is also nice because you can not only install it on your phone or tablet, but you can also install it on an Amazon Fire TV Stick, smart tv, etc. which can make home streaming simple and easy. I originally did not intend on buying a license, however after a few months of using the service for free I eventually caved and bought the lifetime subscription (which I highly recommend) and I've loved it since.