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Prowlarr and FlareSolverr via GlueTUN VPN in Container Manager on a Synology NAS

Important or Recent Updates
Historic UpdatesDate
Updated guide for Container Manager22/05/2023
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 FlareSolverr to the Extras section of the guide10/11/2023
Guide amended to include FlareSolverr into the Project and step through adding this all to GlueTUN09/12/2023
Removed the depends_on for gluetun as it’s not required04/01/2024
Historic Updates


What is Prowlarr and FlareSolverr?

Prowlarr is an application that combines your various indexers for Torrents and Usenet into one place, it then syncs all the indexer settings automatically with Sonarr, Radarr etc. FlareSolverr is an additional proxy which helps bypass Cloudflare protection that many indexers use.

Let’s Begin

This guide makes the assumption that you have already setup GlueTUN and looking to layer this into the existing Project. See the left menu on how to do that with either Deluge or qBittorrent.

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/prowlarr

Container Manager

Next we are going to set stop and edit the existing GlueTUN VPN project in Container Manager.

Open up container manager and in the Project section select the `vpn-project` then Action > Stop.

Once the project has stopped click into it and select the YAML Configuration tab and scroll to the bottom of it as we are going to add the additional configuration for Prowlarr and FlareSolverr.

First we are going to add the extra required ports to the appropriate section at the top of the compose. Copy them and paste them as per the screenshot.

YAML
      - 8191:8191/tcp #flaresolverr
      - 9696:9696/tcp #prowlarr

Next we are going to drop in our docker compose configuration copy all the code in the box below and paste below your existing code.

YAML

  linuxserver-prowlarr:
    image: linuxserver/prowlarr:latest
    container_name: prowlarr
    environment:
      - PUID=1234 #CHANGE_TO_YOUR_UID
      - PGID=65432 #CHANGE_TO_YOUR_GID
      - TZ=Europe/London #CHANGE_TO_YOUR_TZ
      - UMASK=022
    volumes:
      - /volume1/docker/prowlarr:/config
    network_mode: service:gluetun
    security_opt:
      - no-new-privileges:true
    restart: always
    
  flaresolverr:
    image: flaresolverr/flaresolverr:latest
    container_name: flaresolverr
    environment:
      - TZ=Europe/London #CHANGE_TO_YOUR_TZ
    network_mode: service:gluetun
    security_opt:
      - no-new-privileges:true
    restart: always

Environment Variables

We need to make some changes in order for the added containers to have the correct permissions to save their config files and know where you are in the world.

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

Once you have amended these we can Build the Project again.

Click Save and then Click OK.

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 complete

You should now be able to access Prowlarr via the IP of your NAS followed by the port 9696

e.g. 192.168.0.40:9696

FlareSolverr Setup

Once you have set up Prowlarr and the Indexers you want to use, you can then add FlareSolverr to the ones that require it.

Go to Settings > Indexers > Click + then select FlareSolverr

Once added enter the details as per the screenshot below – ensure you keep note of the ‘Tags’ as this is what you will add to an actual indexer to tell it to use FlareSolverr.

There are 3 possible connection options to use, try from top to bottom.

http://localhost:8191/
http://172.20.0.1:8191/
http://YOUR-NAS-IP:8191/

You then tag each indexer that requires FlareSolverr

FAQ

Prowlarr can’t connect to my Arrs or Download Client

When setting up the connection between Prowlarr and Radarr/Sonarr/Lidarr some users have reported getting a time-out when using the NAS IP. If this happens try using the Gateway IP of the Synobridge network, which should be ‘http://172.20.0.1’. (you can see this in the Container Manager UI in Networks)


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Published inDockerSearch / Indexers 7.2Synology

54 Comments

  1. Max Max

    Hello,

    Todau, using Prowlarr GUI, I got a notification in System-Status that a new release was available.
    I went in Container Manager, but no release was automatically shown on the Prowlarr container page.

    I’ve decided to try to force the installation of the new version, dowladed the “latest” version of linuxserver/prowlarr container, then went to Container page, stopped Prowlarr container and try to reset it, as I used to do.

    At this point, I get an error message, and I can’t install the new release.

    Here’s the log : https://paste.drfrankenstein.co.uk/?23d38c9cf6e838d1#DjJX2V89xWLDdyBW87Dayrth7FKFAvqiaMwGP4u9kmWy

    Do you have an idea what I’m doing wrong?

    I precise that I’ve decided not to use the Automatic upgrades with Watchtower because my NAS is not ON 24/7 (I use it only when I need it). So it’s not possible for me to schedule a time for scanning/upgrading the containers.

    However, what I’d like is that the scan would be made when I manually start the NAS, I don’t know whether it would be possible (and if so, maybe add it in the guides for peaple like me, if it’s not too much to ask 🙂 )

    • Dr_Frankenstein Dr_Frankenstein

      Hey Max – Could I see your compose please as the error suggests something might be wrong in one of the lines.

        • Dr_Frankenstein Dr_Frankenstein

          Seems OK – I have removed the link as you may have left your log in details in it.

          Have your Certificate files expired maybe?

          • Max Max

            Certificate files of my VPN, you mean ? They look OK, and prowlarr is the only container in vpn-project which has this trouble.
            Or maybe you’re talking about another certificate…

            Another strange thing, lokk at this screenshot : https://freeimage.host/i/3JgFHuV
            Prowlarr is the only one without the tag “latest” at the end… I’m sure that it’s linked but how/why?

            With no link, I’ve juste upgraded my RAM from 2 to 18G, it’s like night and day : my Nas is so fast now 😀

            • Dr_Frankenstein Dr_Frankenstein

              Sorry confusing two comment strings!

              For the prowlarr section of the yaml can you check it looks like this

              image: linuxserver/prowlarr:latest

              That ram increase will make things massively faster!!

              • Max Max

                No worries!
                My image field was identical as the one you wrote…

                Today, I wanted to get rid of Cyberghost and bought a 3 day premium to AirVPN (following your affiliate link), to test.
                I managed to configure WireGuard and everything with AirVPN, I’m quite happy with it so I think I’ll take a 2year premium.

                Doing so, I’ve reseted my vpn-project, and prowlarr is now up to date… but the same problem happened with radarr 😀

                I’ve seen in another comment that you suggested to update containers using the ssh method. I did so, thought it would work because files were downloaded but, in the end, no update was made.

                So I thought I would give a try with Watchtower, and scheduled it a 9pm here in France, went dinner, and when I came back, all my containers were up to date this time, including radarr 🙂

                My question is : is there a way to manually force the update of containers when I want, and when Container Manager doesn’t detect the new version of a container.
                I think you said that Container Manager checks only once a day for new updates, but can we force it ?

                As I said, my NAS is not ON 24/7, but only when I need it, so it’s hard for me to schedule a precise time for WatchTower.
                Is there a way to force WatchTower to upadate containers when I start my NAS, or 5 minutes later, for example ?

                Thanks 🙂

  2. tpalshadow tpalshadow

    Thank you for these outstanding guides. I have set most everything up but need to run Prowlarr in my Gluetun container. I set my VPN up following your updated guides and there is no such thing as a VPN Project, it is a Container instead, so no YAML editor. Any advice you could offer? Thank you!

    • Dr_Frankenstein Dr_Frankenstein

      Hey if you already have GlueTUN in place following either the qBittorrent or Deluge guides you should be able to layer these into them. The VPN Project should be in the Projects section of Container Manager.. Unless its named something slightly different.

      • tpalshadow tpalshadow

        Thanks for the reply! I ended up uninstalling a lot of things and re-doing it as projects following your guide. Everything was set up and running well, but all the sudden Flare is not connecting. I’ll keep messing with it though. Thanks!

        • Dr_Frankenstein Dr_Frankenstein

          Flaresolverr seems to be hit and miss as to whether it works which is a known issue.

  3. MrMeatball MrMeatball

    Hello!

    Are you putting prowlarr, FlareSolverr, sonarr, radarr, etc. in the same docker compose file as gluetun and qbittorrent?

    Thanks`

    • Dr_Frankenstein Dr_Frankenstein

      Hey MrMeatball

      So Radarr, Sonarr. Lidarr etc should not go on the VPN as recommended by the devs

      Prowlarr/Flaresolverr only needs the VPN if the indexers you are using are blocked in your country so require the VPN to bypass restrictions

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