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

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.

/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.

      - 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.

  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
    depends_on:
      gluetun:
        condition: service_healthy
    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
    depends_on:
      gluetun:
        condition: service_healthy
    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.

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 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 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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