Instruction 06-radarr-installation-and-first-configuration: Reading

Radarr does not download movies by itself. It acts as an automation and policy layer between a movie catalog, release indexers, a download client, and the final media library. A user adds a movie and selects a root folder, monitoring state, and quality profile. Radarr searches configured indexers, compares releases against the profile and other rules, and can send an accepted release to a separate download client. After the client finishes, Radarr evaluates the completed files and imports them into the movie library. This separation of responsibilities is central to troubleshooting: search failures usually involve indexers, transfer failures involve the download client, and import failures commonly involve permissions or incompatible paths.

Container deployment makes path design especially important. The host directories in this lesson are exposed inside Radarr as /config, /movies, and /downloads. Radarr stores its database, settings, logs, and API key under /config. The /movies path is the managed library root. The /downloads path represents a staging area that could later be shared with a download client. If another container reports a completed file as /data/example.mkv while Radarr can see that same file only as /downloads/example.mkv, the import will fail unless the mappings are made consistent or an appropriate remote path mapping is configured. Using the same container-side download path across cooperating applications is normally easier to reason about.

The initial configuration should establish authentication before the service is exposed beyond a trusted administrative network. Quality profiles should express intentional policy rather than simply enabling every quality. Enabling upgrades allows Radarr to replace an existing file until the profile's cutoff is reached. Renaming can produce a consistent library, but learners should preview naming choices before applying them to an established collection. The root folder must be the library destination, not the download staging directory. Radarr should be permitted to organize the library, while human users and other services should avoid making conflicting changes during imports.

This class deploys only Radarr. It does not configure a real indexer or download client because those services require separate credentials, connectivity, and policy decisions. Warnings about missing indexers or download clients are therefore expected in this isolated first-configuration lab. The goal is to establish a durable application configuration, a valid root folder, authentication, and a clear model of the data flow. All lesson-created persistent host files remain under /opt/lab-classroom/class45/ so the exercise is isolated and can be stopped without altering unrelated application directories.