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Spotweb in Container Manager on Synology NAS

Last updated on 22 November 2024

Important or Recent Updates
Historic UpdatesDate
Guide rewritten for Container Manager and simplified due to alternative base image from erikdevries making setup easier.11/06/2023
You can now amend the cron schedule to pull on your own schedule rather than the 5-minute default17/09/2023
Fixed the incorrect Cron Job formatting (my fault!)
Changed from the official MariaDB to LinuxServer so we can control IDs
Implemented a Healthcheck to remove the need to wait and restart the Spotweb container
13/10/2023
Added additional security option to the compose to restrict the containers from gaining new privileges and amended restart policy, so container will start on boot.28/10/2023
Changed the MariaDB container Name and Service name to spotweb_db – this is purely to differentiate it for anyone with multiple Maria Database containers.14/02/2024
Small adjustment to the compose for anyone not using the pre-defined synobridge, amended health check IP and database IP24/05/2024
Amended the database username and password formatting to avoid confusion with spaces.22/11/2024
Historic Updates


What is Spotweb?

To quote the GitHub page.

“Spotweb is a decentralized Usenet community based on the Spotnet protocol.”

It is essentially a self-hosted Usenet indexer that integrates with your favourite media managers such as Radarr, and I am going to walk you through setting this up in Docker on your Synology NAS

Let’s Begin

The guide has 2 parts:

  • Part 1 – Folder setup and Container Manager
  • Part 2 – Spotweb Changes and FAQ

Before we start with the main guide head over and follow these two guides to get a docker user and dedicated bridge network set up.




Part 1 – 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/spotweb-compose
/docker/spotweb-mariadb

The Container Manager Project

We are going to be using the Project feature of Container Manager (Docker Compose). 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:spotweb
Path:/docker/projects/spotweb-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:
  spotweb:
    image: erikdevries/spotweb
    container_name: spotweb
    environment:
      - TZ=Europe/London #CHANGE_TO_YOUR_TZ
      - DB_PORT=3306
      - DB_HOST=spotweb_db
      - DB_NAME=spotweb
      - DB_USER=DBUSERNAME #username from line 32
      - DB_PASS=DBPASSWORD #password from line 33
      - CRON_INTERVAL=*/5 * * * *
    ports:
      - 8085:80/tcp
    network_mode: synobridge
    depends_on:
      spotweb_db:
        condition: service_healthy
    security_opt:
      - no-new-privileges:true
    restart: always

  spotweb_db:
    image: linuxserver/mariadb:latest
    container_name: spotweb_db
    environment:
      - MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD=StRoNgPa55WoRd
      - PUID=1234 #CHANGE_TO_YOUR_UID
      - PGID=65432 #CHANGE_TO_YOUR_GID
      - TZ=Europe/London #CHANGE_TO_YOUR_TZ
      - MYSQL_DATABASE=spotweb
      - MYSQL_USER=DBUSERNAME #A username
      - MYSQL_PASSWORD=DBPASSWORD # Another database password
    volumes:
      - /volume1/docker/spotweb-mariadb:/config
    ports:
      - 3306:3306/tcp
    network_mode: synobridge
    healthcheck:
      test: ["CMD", "mysqladmin" ,"ping", "-h", "spotweb_db"]
      timeout: 20s
      retries: 10
    security_opt:
      - no-new-privileges:true
    restart: always

Environment Variables

We need to make some changes in order for the containers to have the correct permissions to save configuration files and set up an appropriate database.

First lets cover off the amendments for the MariaDB container, you will adjust these after the = for each variable

VariableValue
MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORDenter a unique password do not use special characters and keep below 20 alphanumeric e.g. A-Z – 0-9
This is the master password for MariaDB in case you ever need it.
PUID(required) The UID you obtained in the user setup guide
PGID(required) The GID you obtained in the user setup guide
TZYour timezone wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_tz_database_time_zones
MYSQL_DATABASEspotweb
MYSQL_USERenter a unique username for the spotweb database
MYSQL_PASSWORDenter a unique password do not use special characters and keep below 20 alphanumeric e.g. A-Z – 0-9 as this is known to cause issues if overly complex

Next we are going to amend the Spotweb container section.

VariableValue
TZYour timezone wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_tz_database_time_zones
DB_NAMEspotweb
DB_USEREnter the same username from the MYSQL_USER above
DB_PASSEnter the same password from the MYSQL_PASSWORD above
CRON_INTERVAL*/5 * * * *

#by default this is 5 minutes you can work out a different interval by using https://cron.help to adjust the timing e.g. */60 * * * * is every hour on the hour.

Once done 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 images will now be downloaded and extracted. You should see ‘Code 0’ when it has finished.

OK you should now see our project running with a Green status however we are not quite done yet.

Depending on your NAS and drive speed just hold fire for 5 mins while the initial database is configured. You will see this in the Spotweb Log Files.

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 can navigate to your NASIP:8085 after a few minutes and should be greeted by an empty Spotweb UI (if you get a load of text at the top of a white screen wait a little longer as the database is still being configured)

We will come back to add some additional settings a little later in the guide.


Part 2 – Spotweb Settings

We can now log in as the admin user and get some settings in place to grab all the Spots.

Login to the UI on the top right of the screen using the default credentials

CredentialsValue
useradmin
passwordspotweb

Once logged we need to change the Admin password as this will be separate from the user we will use for all the other normal functions

Click on the Admin username > Change User and in the screen that appears change the password. Don’t amend the permissions at the bottom of the screen.

Once done click Change. Then Click the Admin user again, but this time select ‘Add User’ from the drop-down.

You can now create a new user for the main account you will use with Radarr etc. Fill in the required details then click Add. You will be given a password for the user you can change this later on if you wish.

Now let’s get our News Server details added, so the Spots can be retrieved.

Click on Config > Settings > Newsservers

Enter the details for your Usenet provider, this will be exactly the same as the ones used for SABnzbd or NZBGet.

Next we will change the Retrieve Settings on the next tab, by default Spotweb will download all the spots back to 2009 so ideally just leave that date as is.

OptionWhat it does
Retrieve Full SpotsTurn Off
This will pull the full information about each spot this includes any images and text included with them. Only turn this on if you want to hoard gigabytes of information for the last 14+ years.

By default, only headers are pulled and when you click on a Spot the other information is dynamically pulled.
Retrieve CommentsTurn Off
This turns comments on or off
Retrieve Full CommentsTurn Off
This will pull all comments on every spot again this will take a very long time and are generally not useful only works if the above setting is also turned on.
Retrieve ReportsTurn On
This pulls any reports (e.g. spam reports) that users have made, so you can avoid those spots.

After you press ‘Change’ Spotweb will begin the automated cron job based on the setting you used in the compose, the initial pull will take a while so be patient and don’t stop the container.

These settings are only available to the Admin user so if you ever want to change them or the various other preferences login with Admin.

Finally log out of the Admin user account and log in with your main user you created.

You can find your API key for Sonarr/Radarr/Prowlarr in the Change User screen

You are now complete see the FAQ for some common questions


Frequently Asked Questions

My Spots only seem to be populating from the day I set up Spotweb!

This seems to happen fairly often, I have created a separate page to solve the issue.

Where are all the releases?

Spotweb has over 14 years of releases, it is going to take some time to completely backfill your local copy, the cron job we set up earlier will begin this process for you automatically and works oldest to newest.

Also note this will only backfill as far as your provider has days of retention.

How do I add Spotweb to Radarr, Sonarr, Prowlarr etc?

Click on your username in the top right and then ‘Change User’

In the screen that pops up, you will find the API key for your user, you can use this along with the IP address and port of your installation as a Newznab Indexer.

How can I send releases to NZBGet or SabNZBd while browsing the UI?

Click on Config > Change Preferences > NZB Handling. You can then fill in your details, using the ‘Call’ option. You will then find a download arrow appears in the WebUI next to each release.

I am having an issue that is not listed!

The best way to contact me is via Discord or the help page.



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Published inDockerSearch / Indexers 7.2SynologyUsenet

67 Comments

  1. I get error ‘service “spotweb” depends on undefined service mariadb: invalid compose’

    i currently run mariadb for my bitwarden project, but dont think there is anything conflicting here.

    • Dr_Frankenstein Dr_Frankenstein

      Apologies I missed a line edit in last night’s amendments, adjust lines 16/17/18

      depends_on:
      spotweb_db:
      condition: service_healthy

  2. Martijn Martijn

    Hi,
    Im running spotweb in docker on my synoogy.
    How can I change the text on the main login page?
    Im searching but I have no idea how to do this

    Many thanks
    Martijn

  3. Arjan Onnink Arjan Onnink

    just a question- I installed last year the Sotweb install from this site ( old procedure) and worked erfect till today Now I get a failed message:

    HY000: 144: Table ‘./spotweb/spots’ is marked as crashed and last (automatic?) repair failed

    How can i Easely correct this Databasd issue. I’m a starter on MariaDB/SQL database

    Can yoeuplease assist me?

    Thx

    • Dr_Frankenstein Dr_Frankenstein

      Hey, spotted your email. For anyone else reading this I would recommend getting a minimum of backups or snapshots in place for the docker share so a roll back can take place for these kind of issues.

  4. Hi Doc, Hoping to get some help with this, Looks like my last reply did not post.

    Im getting the following issue, no clue on how to solve it,
    Unable to connect to database:
    SQLSTATE[HY000] [1045] Access denied for user ‘Userme’@’172.20.0.1’ (using password: YES)

    Please make sure your database server is up and running and your connection parameters are set

    • Dr_Frankenstein Dr_Frankenstein

      Try stopping the project delete the contents of the mariadb folder and start the project again,then watch the log for Spotweb and wait it should over the course of a few minutes begin creating the tables.

      • Jeffrey Jeffrey

        Hi Dr_Frankenstein,

        I have exactly the same problem…
        I have tried your proposed solution and I have deleted everthing without luck.

        Do you have some other things I could try?

        Thanks in advance

        • Dr_Frankenstein Dr_Frankenstein

          The only thing I can suggest is stop the Project, Delete the MariaDB folder contents and start the project again, then watch the logs for Spotweb – You need to give it time to spin up and connect to the database, you should see it start creating the tables, ignore if you see an initial connection error and wait it out and don’t restart.

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