So I have a Synology server that I have a good deal of experience with, so this post will be through that lens.
What I’d like to do is set up a Raspberry Pi exclusively for pirating. So Qbittorrent and Proton VPN to get started, later Radarr, Lidarr, etc. I don’t think I’ll have a problem getting the Pi up and running, but I’d like to run it like my server, tucked away somewhere without a monitor or peripherals.
How do I access it? For my Synology box, I just put in a browser the local ip port 5000 and I have a whole desktop right there. But when I google about how I’d access a Pi, everything points to using SSH. I know a lot of people have Pis set up like this and surely they can’t be administering the whole thing through CLI, right? How do I get a similar setup to my Synology such that I can just get a desktop interface in a browser?
Home is fine for now. The problem with SSH is I don’t want to run everything with CLI
To answer your question more specifically, most people set up the pi with docker, using services which have a front end accessible in the browser. They basically use their browser to navigate to the front end of the service they want to use and administer it like that. For instance portainer to manage their docker containers, or pihole for managing their firewall, or even jellyfin for their media which is both the website to consume the media and has an administrator dashboard.
Edit: this is in complement to using something like tailscale which basically allows you to access these services away from home. They work in conjunction.
Ok, this is actually a helpful answer. I can appreciate what you mean by setting things up in docker and using a front end. I’ve done some of this on my Synology, but I try to avoid Docker because I don’t fundamentally understand what I’m doing, I’m mostly just following some tutorial I found online.
I understand your position. There is a learning curve to containers, but I can assure you that getting your basics on the topic will open a whole new world of possibilities and also make everything much easier for yourself. The vast majority of people run containers which make the services less brittle because they have their own tailored environment and don’t depend on the host libraries and packages and also brings increased security because the services can’t easily escape their boundaries rendering their potential vulnerabilities less of an issue compared to running those same services bare metal.
I started on synology too. There is a website called Marius hosting which focuses on tutorials for containers on synology, but his instructions have been updated the last few years to focus on spinning up containers manually rather than through the UI, which makes it more intimidating than it needs to be for beginners… I’ll link it here just as a reference. I’ll see if on the way back machine he shows the easier way and report back if I find something.
Edit: yes here is an original tutorial for Jellyfin (this method still works for me and is still how I use docker lately): https://web.archive.org/web/20210305002024/https://mariushosting.com/how-to-install-jellyfin-on-your-synology-nas/
Yes! I’m familiar with Marius for exactly this reason. Following his tutorials i feel like i understand what’s going on until I run into a problem that’s not addressed in the tutorial and then I’m stuck. I can’t figure out a work around because I don’t know what the error message is telling me. Then after googling it, I’m 15 browser tabs deep in stack exchange boards and I’m no closer to setting up the container.
I know what you’re talking about, happens to us all when we’re learning something new.
Want to share the details of a specific issue you’re facing, blocking you?
What a generous offer! Can I take a rain check? I haven’t worked on it in a while after giving up. I think I was trying to re-set up… Tautulli? Yes, I had already set it up but it stopped working. Then I tried to set it up again and I forget what issue I ran into. Do you mind if I get back to you later? Could be this weekend, next week, or in a few months. Whenever the motivation and available time align.
Sure, anytime, create a new post, tag me if you need me specifically to have a look. I’ve used docker on synology for years, have gone through major updates and while I’m certainly no expert, I’ve learned some things which could be helpful.