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Overseerr in Container Manager on a Synology NAS

Important or Recent Updates
Historic UpdatesDate
Guide updated for Container Manager21/05/2023
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
Added specific DNS servers to use – This is not required but useful if you are having speed issues!23/06/2024
Historic Updates


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.

Folders
/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:

SectionSetting
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.

YAML
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
    dns: #DNS Servers to help with speed issues some have
      - 9.9.9.9
      - 1.1.1.1
    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.

VariableValue
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 the Synology Firewall enabled please see this additional guide for further info on exceptions and correct set up.

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

External Access

You have some choices when it comes to making your new container accessible from outside your home network, these come with different levels of security and convenience. This mini section is generic but covers the basics of getting this guide up and running and is entirely optional.

  • Synology’s DDNS (Dynamic Domain Name System) with a TLS Certificate and Reverse Proxy
    This is useful if you have some family members or friends that need access to something like Overseerr or Jellyseer and is covered below.

  • Tailscale or Wireguard VPN
    If just you are accessing these services, and you don’t want to expose them to the internet this would be the more secure choice. See my other separate guides.

  • Cloudflare Tunnels
    I don’t currently use these, so I would recommend watching the Wundertech guide on how they work.

A note on Double NAT or CGNAT
Unfortunately more ISPs are moving to these methods of address allocation as the IPv4 address space is getting low on available addresses. If your ISP is doing this your choices are more limited.

You can test if this is the case by checking the WAN IP on your Router/Modem settings and then comparing it to the one shown on portchecker.co. If they are different you are likely Double NAT and will either need to see if you can pay your ISP for a standard IPv4 address or use Tailscale or Cloudflare Tunnels for access.

Using the built-in tools on DSM

The first step of this process is to forward port 443 on your Router to your NAS IP Address, how you do this will depend on your router model, so please refer to its manual.

Router (External):443 > NASIP (Internal):443

Next 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/ If you already have this set up move to the next step.

DDNS (Dynamic Domain Name System)

A DDNS address allows you to get external access to your container via an address provided by Synology, this is useful on home internet connections where your ISP will change your IP address on a semi-regular basis.

In the DSM Control panel go to ‘External Access’ and then to the ‘DDNS’ tab

Click on ‘Add’, then fill out the following sections.

SectionValue
Service ProviderSynology
HostnameThis will be the unique address just for you so keep the name generic.
minecraft.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 EncryptTick this box
Enable HeartbeatTick 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.

Reverse Proxy

We are going to set up a reverse proxy subdomain for the address you just register. This means you and your users can access the container 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 containers web UI.

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.

SettingValue
Reverse Proxy Name:Give it a meaningful name in line with the container you are setting up.
Protocol:HTTPS
Hostname:containername.xxx.synology.me
containername‘ will be the name you want to use to access this container
.xxx.synology.me‘ will be the exact name you registered earlier
Port:443
Protocol:HTTP
Hostname:‘localhost’ or your NAS IP address
Port:The UI Port Number from the yaml in the guide you are following

On the second tab ‘Custom Header’ click on Create then WebSocket, this will add two entries for WebSockets to function correctly, you can now press save.

You should now be able to access the web UI of the container by going to the address you just set up in the reverse proxy, it will be a secure connection, and you should have no certificate 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 🙂


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Published inDockerSearch / Indexers 7.2Synology

31 Comments

  1. will will

    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?

    • Dr_Frankenstein Dr_Frankenstein

      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

  2. Frank Stein Frank Stein

    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?

  3. mike805 mike805

    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.

    • Dr_Frankenstein Dr_Frankenstein

      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.

    • RZ RZ

      I have exactly same issue. However, overseer was able to connect outside of the nas.. ie. sonarr & radarr setup in a proxmox server. But if overseer attempt to connect to sonarr and radarr containers within synology, connection test just hang. I suspect something in sonarr and radarr has changed? firewall is disabled.

    • RZ RZ

      Nevermind, I managed to fix this issue by disabling “multiple gateway” in NAS’s network setting.

  4. sjp sjp

    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?

    • Dr_Frankenstein Dr_Frankenstein

      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.

      • sjp sjp

        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!

  5. Jim Jim

    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

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