Last updated on 28 January 2024
Important or Recent Updates
Historic Updates | Date |
---|---|
Guide updated for Container Manager | 21/05/2023 |
Fixed a regression in the file path for the config folder (thanks Alex) | 31/05/2023 |
Moved from UI setup to Project Setup which is more flexible and easier to maintain. Added an addition element to the compose to restrict the container from gaining additional privilege. | 25/10/2023 |
What is Overseerr
Overseerr is a web front end for the users of your Plex Server, it allows them to request new Movies and Shows which are then passed to Radarr and Sonarr for automated download.
Let’s Begin
In this guide I am going to take you through the steps to get Overseerr up and running in Docker on your Synology NAS.
In order for you to successfully use this guide please follow the two steps below first.
This guide contains two parts:
- Part 1 — Setting up the container in Container Manager
- Part 2 — Setting up DDNS, Reverse Proxy and SSL
Part 1 — Container Set up
Folder Setup
Let’s start by getting some folders set up for the containers to use. Open up File Station create the following.
/docker/projects/overseerr-compose
/docker/overseerr
Container Manager
Next we are going to set up a ‘Project’ in Container Manager. Open up Container Manager and click on Project then on the right-hand side click ‘Create’.
In the next screen we will set up our General Settings, enter the following:
Section | Setting |
---|---|
Project Name: | overseerr |
Path: | /docker/projects/overseerr-compose |
Source: | Create docker-compose.yml |
Next we are going to drop in our docker compose configuration copy all the code in the box below and paste it into line ‘1’ just like the screenshot.
What on earth is a Docker Compose? Docker Compose allows us to define how Docker should set up one or more containers within a single configuration file. This file is yaml formatted and Container Manager uses the Projects feature to manage them.
services:
overseerr:
image: linuxserver/overseerr
container_name: overseerr
environment:
- PUID=1234 #CHANGE_TO_YOUR_UID
- PGID=65432 #CHANGE_TO_YOUR_GID
- TZ=Europe/London #CHANGE_TO_YOUR_TZ
volumes:
- /volume1/docker/overseerr:/config
ports:
- 5055:5055/tcp
network_mode: synobridge
security_opt:
- no-new-privileges:true
restart: always
Environment Variables
We need to make some changes in order for the container to have the correct permissions to save its configuration files and to have access to your media.
Variable | Value |
---|---|
PUID | (required) The UID you obtained in the user setup guide should be entered here |
PGID | (required) The GID you obtained in the user setup guide should be entered here |
TZ | (required) Your timezone wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_tz_database_time_zones |
Click ‘Next’
You do not need to enable anything on the ‘Web portal settings’ screen click ‘Next’ again.
On the final screen click ‘Done’ which will begin the download of the container images and once downloaded they will be launched!
The image will now be downloaded and extracted. You should see ‘Code 0’ when it has finished.
The Project should now be running with a Green status
Firewall Exceptions
(Skip if you don’t have the Firewall configured)
If you have enabled and configured the Synology Firewall you will need to create exceptions for any containers that have a Web UI or have any incoming or outgoing connections. This section covers the basics of how to add these. (Please note this is a generic section and will not show the specific ports used in this guide however it applies in the same way)
Also, I would like to refer people to the great guide on getting the Firewall correctly configured over on WunderTechs site.
Head into the Control Panel
> Security
> Firewall
, from here click Edit Rules
for the profile you set up when you enabled the Firewall.
Next click on Create
and you will see the screen below. Source IP and Action will be automatically selected to All and Allow, I will leave it up to you as to your own preference on whether you want to lock down specific Source IPs from having access. In this example we will leave as All.
You will now choose ‘Custom‘ and then the Custom
button
Now select Destination from the drop-down menu, most web based containers require TCP access but check the guide as it will show the port and protocol. Then add comma separated ports. Then press OK.
Click OK a couple of times to get back to the main screen. You will see by default the new rule is added to the bottom of the list. You must always have your Block All rule last in the list as the rules are applied top down so move your container up.
You have now completed the Firewall changes and can continue with the guide.
Container set up completed
You should now be able to access the web interface via the IP of your NAS followed by the port 5055
e.g. 192.168.0.30:5055
Part 2 – DDNS, SSL and Reverse Proxy
Before we start, make sure you have registered for a Synology Account as we are going to be using their DDNS service. https://account.synology.com/en-uk/register/
In order to successfully use the reverse proxy you will also need to forward port 443 to your NAS IP. (You will need to check how to do this on your own router) This port is used for secure web traffic.
DDNS (Dynamic Domain Name System)
A DDNS address allows you to get external access to Overseerr via a subdomain provided by Synology, this is useful on home internet connections where your ISP will change your IP address on a regular basis.
Note: If you want to access DSM via this new address you will either need to create an additional Reverse Proxy for it or open port 5001 on your router.
In the DSM Control panel go to ‘External Access’ and then to the ‘DDNS’ tab
Click on ‘Add’, then fill out the following sections.
Section | Value |
---|---|
Service Provider | Synology |
Hostname | This will be the address used to identify your NAS so make it personal to you not specific to this guide. overseerr.synology.me = BAD myawesomenas.synology,me =GOOD |
Email: | Log into your Synology account |
External Address (IPv4) | This should be filled in automatically |
External Address (IPv6) | This should be filled in automatically if your ISP is using IPv6 |
Get a Cert from Let’s Encrypt | Tick this box |
Enable Heartbeat | Tick this box |
Now press OK, DSM will apply your settings. It can take a few moments to set up and the DSM interface will refresh. You will likely receive a certificate error which you will need to accept to get back into DSM.
You should now test that you can access your Diskstation via the hostname you requested and not receive any SSL errors.
Reverse Proxy
So you don’t have to open up additional ports on your router for Overseerr we are going to set up a reverse proxy subdomain. This means you and your users can access Overseerr without using a port number as it will route all traffic through the secure 443 port.
Go back into the Control Panel and access the ‘Login Portal’ then in the ‘Advanced’ tab click ‘Reverse Proxy’ and then click on ‘Create’.
We are now going to enter some rules, so when you or your users access the URL specified the request will automatically be sent to the Overseerr web UI. (Optionally you may want to use something more meaningful in the hostname section such as ‘plexrequests’ instead of ‘overseerr’)
Use the settings below, you will need to amend the Hostname sections in line with the hostname you registered earlier, and the IP of your NAS.
On the second tab ‘Custom Header’ click on Create then WebSocket, this will add two entries which will force a https connection if you ever try to connect over http, you can now press save.
Setting | Value |
---|---|
Reverse Proxy Name: | overseerr |
Protocol: | HTTPS |
Hostname: | overseerr.xxx.synology.me – change the part after ‘overseerr.’ to your own hostname you registered earlier. |
Port: | 443 |
Protocol: | HTTP |
Hostname: | Your NAS IP |
Port: | 5055 |
You should now be able to access the Overseerr initial setup by going to https://overseerr.xxx.synology.me (use the address you used in the reverse proxy) it will be a secure connection, and you should have no SSL errors.
As Overseerr has a really nice initial setup UI that takes you through the basics I won’t be covering this. The key part once completed will be to import your Plex users, so they can log in to the UI and begin making requests.
You are ready to roll 🙂
Buy Me a Coffee or a Beer
If you have found my site useful please consider pinging me a tip as it helps cover the cost of running things or just lets me get the odd beverage. Plus 10% goes to the devs of the apps I do guides for every year.
is it possible to get overseerr setup using a domain that i purchased from namecheap? i think it would be a little easier for my users if they only had to go to overseer.mydomain.com instead of overseer.xxx.synology.me. any ideas?
Yes 100% – You will need to read up on how to update Namecheap with your IP via DDNS, it’s not one of the ones built into the DSM options, I use OVH to do the same for a couple of services. So the overseerr.yourdomain.com will point to the WAN IP and then the reverse proxy will work the same way,
https://community.synology.com/enu/forum/1/post/128917
See the post from Terry Rooks it looks just like how I do mine with OVH
I was able to setup DDNS on my synology 920, and confirmed I could access the DSM without errors. I built the reverse proxy as described but when I try to access the overseerr link it brought me back to the DSM front end and had me confirm login credentials. I tried to docker limited user I built in a previous guide but I got a message that this account was not permissible or something like that. I then logged in with the Primary DSM account with full access and it sent me to the regular DSM desktop.
I can’t figure out how to get to the Overseerr initial setup page. I confirmed the overseerr project is running in container manager. Any ideas?
Hey, I probably could do with some screenshots of the setup, key things are making sure you are specifying the https://overseerr.youraddress.synology.com, also try using a private browser window. Can you reach out to me via my Help Me! page on the Menu
Hi Doc,
I managed to get past the install and got everything running, however when I tru to add Radarr and Sonarr, its hanging on the connection test.
If the gateway IP of 172.20.0.1 is not working swap over to the NAS IP.. Also if that fails make sure your Firewall has an exception.
Hi – Despite not having any experience with this stuff, I’ve managed to follow your instructions and get a bunch of other stuff running, but not this one!
When I click on “Done” and it should start downloading the container images, I get the error:
Error response from daemon: failed to create ship task: OCI runtime creat
Exit Code: 1
Any ideas?
Hey, this could be a permissions issue, can you either delete and recreate the /docker/overseerr folder. Or jump back to the User and Group guide and run the permission fix from the bottom of the guide.
success! First attempted just recreating the /docker/overseerr folder and that threw a different error, so I deleted everything I had created and started over and it worked. I assume I f’d up somewhere.
Thanks!
Are there issues with DDNS not working through Synology with subdomains? This seems to have stopped working for me. Wondering if I should switch DDNS providers
Not that I know of.
https://www.synology.com/en-global/support/synology_service