Derek Seaman Blog

This post covers deploying a Proxmox Backup Server (PBS) and using a Synology NAS NFS mount as a datastore for backups. And optionally you can run the PBS server as a VM on your Synology NAS as well. Why would you want to use Proxmox Backup Server? Here are a few reasons: Built-in data deduplication. I’m getting nearly 20:1 Verification jobs to ensure the backup is not corrupted Ability to protect a specific backup for a VM/LXC to retain for long term storage Easier to browse and find all restore points for an object Optional backup encryption Tape backup support...

This post covers how to migrate a Plex Media Server (PMS) running on Synology DSM 7 to a Proxmox Plex LXC. This Plex LXC will then NFS mount your media library from the Synology, so your large media library remains on Synology.  Why would you want to do this? Well some Synology NAS models don’t have built-in GPUs so if you want to hardware transcode video you are out of luck. Or maybe you want lessen the CPU load on your Synology and move PMS to an external server.  You can follow my post Proxmox: Plex LXC with Alder Lake Transcoding to...

Do you own a Synology NAS with DSM 7.0 or 7.1 and run Docker containers? Would you like those containers to use a Wireguard VPN provider for increased privacy and security? If the answer is yes, then keep reading.  In order to get Wireguard working for Docker containers on your Synology we need to get a Wireguard package installed and running on the ‘bare metal’ NAS. Once you have a working Wireguard binary on your Synology NAS, then Docker containers can leverage it. This package provides the ‘wg0’ interface Docker containers need.  If you want to use a commercial VPN...

​I recently purchased Synology NAS, and wanted to run an OpenVPN server in a container for remote access. Yes, the Synology has a built-in OpenVPN server, but I felt that running a containerized version was more prudent. There are resources such as the Reddit Synology forum covering the Kylemanna OpenVPN Docker container, but I also wanted to harden my system a bit more using the ​Configuring a secure OpenVPN 2.4 server with Docker​​​ resource. ​​My guide builds on information found in Reddit and the above hardening guide, and uses the kylemanna/docker-openvpn container. I’ve also included a downloadable script that has...

In my article, Derek’s 2019 NAS Selection, I discussed why I bought a Synology DS918+ for my home NAS needs. Now, I will cover the software configuration and some of the neat features of DSM (Disk Station Manager) 6.2.2. Topics that I will cover include security, snaphots, replication, Docker containers, VMs, VPN, and more. This is not a comprehensive configuration guide, so I can’t cover everything I did to setup my NAS. Plus, your configuration would likely be quite different. However, it does touch on many of the critical areas that you want to review and configure during the installation...

​Years ago I had a QNAP NAS which I used for my VMware home lab, but it was aging and I wanted something new and larger for all of my data and photos. Now, in 2019, I selected the Synology DS918+ NAS. Find out the specs, how I configured it, and what disks/memory/UPS I used. A future blog post will go into the software configuration and more details about my Docker containers, VPN, VM, cloud backup, etc. ​Synology DS918+ S​election ​Synology has a large ​portfolio of NAS devices. Some are aimed at basic home use, others at IT enthusiasts, and...