Vaultwarden (Bitwarden) in Container Manager on a Synology NAS

Last updated on 1 January 2025

What is Vaultwarden/Bitwarden?

Vaultwarden is a rewrite of the official Bitwarden server using the Rust language, it was created to reduce the need for the number of containers required for the official server.

It is compatible with all the official Bitwarden apps and Browser extensions. It is a great way to self-host a password manager it gives you complete control over your passwords and allows you to have automatic syncing across web, desktop and mobile apps.

Let’s Begin

This guide contains three parts:

• Part 1 — Setting up the container
• Part 2 — Setting up DDNS, Reverse Proxy and SSL
• Part 3 — Setting up the Bitwarden Clients

Before we start head over to the short guides below to set up a restricted Docker user and Bridge Network.

• Step 2: Setting up a restricted Docker user
• Step 3: Setting up a Docker Bridge Network

Part 1 — Container Set up

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/vaultwarden-compose
/docker/vaultwarden
/docker/vaultwarden/log

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.

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.

services:
  vaultwarden:
    image: vaultwarden/server:latest
    container_name: vaultwarden
    user: UID:GID #AMEND AS PER GUIDE
    environment:
      ROCKET_ENV: staging
      ROCKET_PORT: 8080
      ROCKET_WORKERS: 10
      SIGNUPS_ALLOWED: FALSE
      ADMIN_TOKEN: #YOUR ARGON ADMIN TOKEN
      LOG_FILE: /data/log/my.log
    volumes:
      - /volume1/docker/vaultwarden:/data
    ports:
      - 8122:8080/tcp
    network_mode: synobridge
    security_opt:
      - no-new-privileges:true
    restart: unless-stopped

Making some amendments

We need to make some amendments to the compose information above to secure our instance.

As you can see above we have generated our hash, however we need to make an adjustment to it otherwise it will not be valid for the compose.

If you see below the hash contains 5 occurrences of $ we need to escape these out by doubling them to $$

Original
ADMIN_TOKEN: $argon2id$v=19$m=65540,t=3,p=4$QjdsUHBuUjVUd211RXJSRg$+z7E2XQ7GzBaIlvdvV/eC7GiWVgAVkwWDEkdtQNLmSl+BPsA/TUnxSNhb6bPZPY0vQM0wVGO9oiqz9VfT3EdKQ

Updated
ADMIN_TOKEN: $$argon2id$$v=19$$m=65540,t=3,p=4$$QjdsUHBuUjVUd211RXJSRg$$+z7E2XQ7GzBaIlvdvV/eC7GiWVgAVkwWDEkdtQNLmSl+BPsA/TUnxSNhb6bPZPY0vQM0wVGO9oiqz9VfT3EdKQ

Once you have made the edits and added into the correct line in the yaml you can 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!

You should now be able to access the web interface via the IP of your NAS followed by the port 8122

e.g. 192.168.0.30:8122

You will not be able to register an account yet, as you must have a valid SSL certificate in place.

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.

External Access

You have some choices when it comes to making your new container accessible from outside your home network, these come with different levels of security and convenience. This mini section is generic but covers the basics of getting this guide up and running and is entirely optional.

• Synology’s DDNS (Dynamic Domain Name System) with a TLS Certificate and Reverse Proxy
  This is useful if you have some family members or friends that need access to something like Overseerr or Jellyseer and is covered below.
  
  
• Tailscale or Wireguard VPN
  If just you are accessing these services, and you don’t want to expose them to the internet this would be the more secure choice. See my other separate guides.
  
  
• Cloudflare Tunnels
  I don’t currently use these, so I would recommend watching the Wundertech guide on how they work.

A note on Double NAT or CGNAT
Unfortunately more ISPs are moving to these methods of address allocation as the IPv4 address space is getting low on available addresses. If your ISP is doing this your choices are more limited.

You can test if this is the case by checking the WAN IP on your Router/Modem settings and then comparing it to the one shown on portchecker.co. If they are different you are likely Double NAT and will either need to see if you can pay your ISP for a standard IPv4 address or use Tailscale or Cloudflare Tunnels for access.

Using the built-in tools on DSM

The first step of this process is to forward port 443 on your Router to your NAS IP Address, how you do this will depend on your router model, so please refer to its manual.

Router (External):443 > NASIP (Internal):443

Next make sure you have registered for a Synology Account as we are going to be using their DDNS service. https://account.synology.com/en-uk/register/ If you already have this set up move to the next step.

DDNS (Dynamic Domain Name System)

A DDNS address allows you to get external access to your container via an address provided by Synology, this is useful on home internet connections where your ISP will change your IP address on a semi-regular basis.

In the DSM Control panel go to ‘External Access’ and then to the ‘DDNS’ tab

Click on ‘Add’, then fill out the following sections.

Now press OK, DSM will apply your settings. It can take a few moments to set up and the DSM interface will refresh. You will likely receive a certificate error which you will need to accept to get back into DSM.

Reverse Proxy

We are going to set up a reverse proxy subdomain for the address you just register. This means you and your users can access the container without using a port number as it will route all traffic through the secure 443 port.

Go back into the Control Panel and access the ‘Login Portal’ then in the ‘Advanced’ tab click ‘Reverse Proxy’ and then click on ‘Create’.

We are now going to enter some rules, so when you or your users access the URL specified the request will automatically be sent to the containers web UI.

Use the settings below, you will need to amend the Hostname sections in line with the hostname you registered earlier, and the IP of your NAS.

On the second tab ‘Custom Header’ click on Create then WebSocket, this will add two entries for WebSockets to function correctly, you can now press save.

You should now be able to access the web UI of the container by going to the address you just set up in the reverse proxy, it will be a secure connection, and you should have no certificate errors.

You should now be able to access the Bitwarden (Vaultwarden) web UI by going to https://bitwarden.yourhostname it will be a secure connection, and you should have no SSL errors.

Setting up the Admin Settings

As we disabled sign-ups via the main log in screen you will need to invite yourself and any other users from the admin panel.

Go to bitwarden.yourhostname.me/admin

Enter the admin token which is the string of text or ‘password’ you used to create the Argon2 token (you don’t use the actual Argon2 string).

We need to change a few options to enable user sign up emails. (Please note that you will not be able to use Gmail SMTP in this step as they have disabled ‘unsecure’ 3rd party application login. Also, if you plan on using Yahoo you will need to set up an app specific password – as shown in this guide)

In General Settings. Amend the Domain URL to your own.

Next you will need to amend your own email settings in the SMTP Email Settings section.

This will need to be in line with your email provider, once you have entered the details click Save at the bottom of the screen, you can then send a test email to yourself to ensure its working.

The final step will be to send yourself an invitation email via the Users’ panel at the top of the page. This allows you to create an account by clicking the link in the email.

You have now successfully set up Vaultwarden.

Part 3 — Setting Up the Bitwarden Clients.

Now you have set up Vaultwarden you can use the various Mobile, Desktop or Browser Add-ons.

It’s very easy to point these to your personal self-hosted version. In the main login screen click the ‘Logging in on:’ and select ‘Self-hosted’

In the pop-up screen enter your full address for the server e.g. https://vaultwarden.xyz.synology.me

You have now completed the guide.

How do I use GMAIL for SMTP?

Thanks to Dirtchamber Sessions for these steps

https://myaccount.google.com/apppasswords

You need to turn on 2FA in your Google account. At the bottom of the 2FA settings there is a section for App Password, create one and use that in the settings for your email password instead of your normal Gmail password.

Here are the settings that worked for me:

• Host: smtp.gmail.com
• Secure SMTP: starttls
• Port: 587
• From Address: username@gmail.com
• Username: username@gmail.com
• Password: your generated App Password from 2FA section of Google account
• SMTP Auth mechanism: Plain
• SMTP connection timeout: 15

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