Plex in Container Manager on a Synology NAS (No Hardware Transcoding)

In this guide I am going to take you through the setup of Plex in Container Manager.

Does my Synology support Hardware Transcoding?

Before we do anything else, you should see if your model of Synology has hardware transcoding capabilities even if you don’t plan on using them at the moment! You need to do a quick lookup via the linked Google Sheet below, this is updated by Plex and makes it super easy to look up your model of NAS.

• This great Google Sheet officially updated by Plex

If you find that hardware transcoding is not available you can continue following the guide here, if it does support it, and you plan on buying a Plex Pass in the future follow the other guide from the menu.

Let’s Begin

In order to use this guide successfully you will need to complete the two preceding guides which will get your folder structure and Docker, user setup. In addition, if you already have the original Synology Plex Package installed you will need to uninstall it first.

• Step 1: Directory Setup Guide
• Step 2: Setting up a restricted Docker user

Folder Setup

Let’s start by getting some folders set up for the container to use. Open up File Station create the following.

/docker/projects/plex-compose
/docker/plex

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:

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:
  plex:
    image: linuxserver/plex
    container_name: plex
    network_mode: host
    environment:
      - PUID=1234 #CHANGE_TO_YOUR_UID
      - PGID=65432 #CHANGE_TO_YOUR_GID
      - TZ=Europe/London #CHANGE_TO_YOUR_TZ
      - UMASK=022
      - VERSION=docker
      - PLEX_CLAIM=
    volumes:
      - /volume1/docker/plex:/config
      - /volume1/data/media:/data/media
    security_opt:
      - no-new-privileges:true
    restart: unless-stopped

A note on Network Mode

You will notice that for Plex we don’t put it on the normal bridge network, this is because DSM reserves the DLNA ports Plex requires in order to use DLNA. So we run in Host mode, so it can share the ports.

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.

Volumes

I have pre-filled this section to pass the correct paths, the only thing that you may need to change is the /volume1/ if your file paths are on a different volume.

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.

You will now see your Plex running and should have a green status on the left-hand side.

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.

Port Forwarding

In order to use Plex remotely and stream your local media you need to forward port 32400 from your Router to the NAS IP on the same port. This varies for everyone’s router so check the manual on how to do this.

Initial Plex Setup

After a few minutes you should be able to access the server and go through the Plex setup by going to the IP of your NAS in your browser followed by port 32400/web/

e.g. 192.168.0.45:32400/web/

You will be asked to sign in or sign up for an account if you don’t have one already.

You should now be able to add your media which will be in the /data folder within Plex

That’s it you are all setup. When a new server update is available you will just need to restart the container, and it will automatically download the latest update.

Looking for some help, join our Discord community

If you are struggling with any steps in the guides or looking to branch out into other containers join our Discord community!

Buy me a beverage!

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 stay hydrated. Plus 10% goes to the devs of the apps I do guides for every year.