Synology

Introduction

This page will provide you with guidance on how to install several Docker images to your Synology system. We highly recommend to read the full guide, that way you have a better understanding of what you do, in case you later decide to make changes.

Automated Script

Automated script (Use this script at your own risk) - [CLICK TO EXPAND]

Warning

Though, we offer a short way out. This is intended as a quick way to do everything that is written on this page within one script. And is only for initial setup. After that, you need to manage it yourself. Rerunning the script will reset all personal changes made in the compose/env.

The script is only tested on Synology DSM7.1.

We are not held reliable if anything breaks on your system. Use at your own risk

To get this working you will need to enable terminal access (SSH) and home folders.

Be sure to delete current running Docker containers related to this guide (ie. *arr apps, download clients), backup settings before you do.

To enable SSH on your Synology take a look HERE.

To enable Home folders, go to Control Panel > User & Group > Advanced > Enable user home service at the bottom.

When you enabled these two settings, run the following commands in your favorite terminal app and follow the onscreen questions.

curl -sL git.io/syno-script > ~/syno-script

sudo bash ~/syno-script

Install Docker

You need to install Docker from the Package Center. This should also create a share named docker, check File Station if it is present.

Create the main share

We will use a new share named data (lowercase) for all your library media.

Later in this guide, we will fill this share with subfolders.

To create a new share:

Control Panel > Shared Folder > click Create > choose Create Shared Folder

Name this shared folder data. You can disable the trash can. Click next until you are done.

Create a user

For this, we are going to create a new user that only has access to the share(s) that we use for this guide.

Go to Control Panel > User & Group

In the User section, create a new user. Name it whatever you like, but for this guide we will use docker.

Fill out the rest of the information, generate a password or type your own.

Click next, you will now be able to select which group this user will belong to, it should only be users. Click Next.

Assign shared folder permissions

In this screen you will be able to select which Shares this user will have access to, click No Access on the top, this will deny all access.

Now only select Read/Write on the shares docker and data.

Click Next until you reach Assign application permissions

Assign application permissions

In this screen you will be able to select which application this user will have access to, Check Deny for all applications.

Continue to click Next until you are finished.

SSH

You are mostly going to use the terminal. Some parts will need the Synology web GUI. To enable terminal, you need to enable SSH in the Synology Settings.

Control Panel > Terminal & SNMP > Enable SSH service

Then use a program like Putty or Powershell/Terminal to SSH into your Synology.

Enter the login information of a Synology user account that has admin priveliges, as only members of the 'administrators' user group are able to use SSH.

If you get a popup asking if you want to trust the key, Just press OK or ACCEPT

PUID and PGID

In order for the Docker container to access the shares on the Synology, we need to know the user ID (PUID) and group ID (PGID) from the docker user we just created.

Go into your terminal app, login to your synology ssh.

Once logged in type id $user. Change $user to the newly created username docker.

This will show you the UID (aka PUID). Which in this screenshot is 1035 for the docker user and the GID (aka PGID) which is 100 for the users group. Remember these values for later use.

Folder Structure

For this example we're going to make use of the share called data.

On the host (Synology) terminal you will need to add /volume1/ before it. So /volume1/data

The data folder has sub-folders for torrents and usenet and each of these have sub-folders for tv, movie and music downloads to keep things neat. The library folder has nicely named tv, movies and music sub-folders, this is your library and what you’d pass to Plex, Emby or JellyFin.

These subfolders you need to create your self.

I'm using lower case on all folder on purpose, being Linux is case sensitive.

data
├── torrents
│   ├── books
│   ├── movies
│   ├── music
│   └── tv
├── usenet
│   ├── books
│   ├── movies
│   ├── music
│   └── tv
└── media
     ├── books
     ├── movies
     ├── music
     └── tv

Breakdown of the Folder Structure

Torrent clients

qBittorrent, Deluge, ruTorrent

The reason why we use /data/torrents for the torrent client is because it only needs access to the torrent files. In the torrent software settings, you’ll need to reconfigure paths and you can sort into sub-folders like /data/torrents/{tv|movies|music}.

data
└── torrents
     ├── books
     ├── movies
     ├── music
     └── tv

Usenet clients

NZBGet or SABnzbd

The reason why we use /data/usenet for the usenet client is because it only needs access to the usenet files. In the usenet software settings, you’ll need to reconfigure paths and you can sort into sub-folders like /data/usenet/{tv|movies|music}.

data
└── usenet
     ├── books
     ├── movies
     ├── music
     └── tv

The Starr Apps

Sonarr, Radarr, Readarr and Lidarr

Sonarr, Radarr, Readarr and Lidarr gets access to everything using /data because the download folder(s) and media folder will look like and be one file system. Hardlinks will work and moves will be atomic, instead of copy + delete.

data
├── torrents
│   ├── books
│   ├── movies
│   ├── music
│   └── tv
├── usenet
│   ├── books
│   ├── movies
│   ├── music
│   └── tv
└── media
     ├── books
     ├── movies
     ├── music
     └── tv

Media Server

Plex, Emby, JellyFin and Bazarr

Plex, Emby, JellyFin and Bazarr only needs access to your media library using /data/media, which can have any number of sub folders like Movies, Kids Movies, TV, Documentary TV and/or Music as sub folders.

data
└── media
     ├── movies
     ├── music
     ├── books
     └── tv

Don't forget to look at the Examples how to setup the paths inside the applications.

Create the needed subfolder

Here we will create the needed subfolders for your media library and also for your preferred download client. If you use both then run both commands

If you use usenet

mkdir -p /volume1/data/{usenet/{tv,movies,music},media/{tv,movies,music}}

If you use torrents

mkdir -p /volume1/data/{torrents/{tv,movies,music},media/{tv,movies,music}}

Appdata

Your appdata will be stored in /volume1/docker/appdata/{appname} These {appname} sub folders you need to create your self. (This is a limitation of the Synology) We're going to do this in Putty or a similar program.

mkdir -p /volume1/docker/appdata/{radarr,sonarr,bazarr,plex,pullio}

You can add your own sub folders for your download client(s) using the command above, by adding the name to the command.

So your appdata folder will look like this.

ls -al /volume1/docker/appdata

docker
└── appdata
    ├── radarr
    ├── sonarr
    ├── bazarr
    ├── plex
    ├── pullio
    └── (your download client, i.e. nzbget; sabnzbd; qbittorrent)

Needed files

Now we are ready to move to the installation of containers.

For this, we need two files:

1. docker-compose.yml
2. .env

We will start with downloading the docker-compose.yml file

Download this docker-compose.yml to your /volume1/docker/appdata location so you got your important stuff together. Or use the command below:

wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/TRaSH-/Guides-Synology-Templates/main/docker-compose/docker-compose.yml -P /volume1/docker/appdata/

Whats included and Whats not included

Second we will download the .env file

Download this .env to your /volume1/docker/appdata location so you got your important stuff together. Or use this command:

wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/TRaSH-/Guides-Synology-Templates/main/docker-compose/.env -P /volume1/docker/appdata/

Changes and preparations

The .env file we downloaded holds the variables/information you need to change in order for everything to work. I added explanations in the .env file.

1. DOCKERCONFDIR (only change this if you know what you're doing and decide to use another path than this guide used)
2. DOCKERDATADIR (only change this if you know what you're doing and decide to use another path than this guide used)
3. PUID/PGID (this info you got earlier from HERE)
4. TZ (Change to your timezone, can be found HERE)
5. Install and Create a task scheduler for Pullio, so your containers stay up to date.

Pullio - Auto update docker-compose the correct way

Pullio allows you to automatically update your containers. And send you a notification through various means. In my setup, I use a Discord Webhook.

First you need to download Pullio

   sudo curl -fsSL "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/hotio/pullio/master/pullio.sh" -o /usr/local/bin/pullio

   sudo chmod +x /usr/local/bin/pullio

For Pullio to work, you will need to create in your Task Scheduler a "Scheduled Task" that runs for example at 4am at night with root privileges.

Control Panel > Task Scheduler > click Create > choose Scheduled task - user defined script

Give the task a name so you know what it does. Choose user root.

In the Schedule tab choose whenever you want it to check for updates.

At Task Settings tab, add the following line in the Run Command section:

/usr/local/bin/pullio > /volume1/docker/appdata/pullio/pullio.log 2>&1

It can be frustrating to test the script if no docker image updates are available, for that you can run command sudo pullio --debug and the script will behave as if an update is available. If you have set to receive notifications, you should receive them.

More info about Pullio HERE

Permissions

Now we need to make sure that the newly created files and folders have the correct permissions.

sudo chown -R docker:users /volume1/data /volume1/docker

sudo chmod -R a=,a+rX,u+w,g+w /volume1/data /volume1/docker

Run the Docker Compose

When you did all the above steps you only need to run the following commands:

cd /volume1/docker/appdata

sudo docker-compose up -d

You will notice that all the images will be downloaded, after that the containers will be started. If you get a error then look at the error what it says and try to fix it. If you still got issues then put your used docker-compose.yml on 0bin and join the guides-discord here and provide the pastebin link with the error, have patience because of timezone differences.

Don't forget to look at the Examples how to setup the paths inside your applications.

Docker-Compose Commands