Spotweb in Container Manager on Synology NAS

Last updated on 1 April 2024

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.

• Setting up a restricted Docker user
• Setting up a Docker Bridge Network

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.

/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:

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:
  spotweb:
    image: erikdevries/spotweb
    container_name: spotweb
    environment:
      - TZ=Europe/London #CHANGE_TO_YOUR_TZ
      - DB_PORT=3306
      - DB_HOST=172.20.0.1
      - DB_NAME=spotweb
      - DB_USER= #username from line 32
      - DB_PASS= #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= #A username
      - MYSQL_PASSWORD= # Another database password
    volumes:
      - /volume1/docker/spotweb-mariadb:/config
    ports:
      - 3306:3306/tcp
    network_mode: synobridge
    healthcheck:
      test: ["CMD", "mysqladmin" ,"ping", "-h", "172.20.0.1"]
      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

Next we are going to amend the Spotweb container section.

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 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 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

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.

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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