Synology DS224+ - Always-On Infrastructure Hub

The NAS is NOT just storage - it's our always-on server.

Current Status

Network Access

What To Install

Priority 1: cloudflared (Cloudflare Tunnel)

Source: SynoCommunity cloudflared

This moves the tunnel from Mac to always-on NAS.

# Add SynoCommunity repo:
# Package Center  Settings  Package Sources  Add
# Name: SynoCommunity
# URL: https://packages.synocommunity.com/

# Then install cloudflared from Package Center

Priority 2: GitLab Runner

Source: Container Manager (Docker)

Run CI/CD jobs locally without GitLab.com runners.

# docker-compose.yml
version: '3'
services:
  gitlab-runner:
    image: gitlab/gitlab-runner:latest
    volumes:
      - /volume1/docker/gitlab-runner/config:/etc/gitlab-runner
      - /var/run/docker.sock:/var/run/docker.sock
    restart: always

Priority 3: Database Services

PostgreSQL + Redis for local development.

# docker-compose.yml
services:
  postgres:
    image: postgres:15
    volumes:
      - /volume1/docker/postgres/data:/var/lib/postgresql/data
    environment:
      POSTGRES_PASSWORD: ${POSTGRES_PASSWORD}
    ports:
      - "5432:5432"

  redis:
    image: redis:7-alpine
    volumes:
      - /volume1/docker/redis/data:/data
    ports:
      - "6379:6379"

Hardware Specs

Limitation: No AVX Support

The J4125 CPU lacks AVX instructions. Some containers won't work:

• Elasticsearch
• Some ML models
• Most standard containers work fine

Directory Structure

/volume1/
 docker/
    cloudflared/
       config.yml
    gitlab-runner/
       config/
    minio/
       data/
    postgres/
       data/
    redis/
        data/
 llm-platform/
    models/
    training-data/
    checkpoints/
 backups/

cloudflared Setup (PRIORITY 1)

Current State: Running on Mac as root with token. Must move to NAS for always-on.

Option A: Docker Container (Recommended)

Using Container Manager on Synology:

# docker-compose.yml for /volume1/docker/cloudflared/
version: '3'
services:
  cloudflared:
    image: cloudflare/cloudflared:latest
    container_name: cloudflared
    command: tunnel run --token eyJhIjoiNDlhMGNjZDM2ZTUyYzc5MWRiMjk2MDRlN2ZlM2I3OTMiLCJ0IjoiZjZkYTdiZGYtZDBmOC00Nzk2LWE4MDQtYWZiNzk4NGJiZTExIiwicyI6ImZxdXQvdkJrdlB1UmhjL04wRHd3dWNXK3lDd3NUU1B3Yi9EMDRiTjRWVmM9In0=
    restart: always
    network_mode: host  # Use host network for Tailscale access

Steps:

1. SSH to NAS: ssh admin@192.168.68.60
2. Create directory: mkdir -p /volume1/docker/cloudflared
3. Create docker-compose.yml with above content
4. In Container Manager Project Create from docker-compose.yml
5. After NAS is running, stop Mac cloudflared: sudo pkill cloudflared

Option B: SynoCommunity Package

1. Package Center Settings Package Sources
2. Add: Name=SynoCommunity, URL=https://packages.synocommunity.com/
3. Install cloudflared
4. Configure via SSH with token

Cloudflare Dashboard Config

The tunnel uses remote config (token mode). Ingress rules are at: https://one.dash.cloudflare.com/ Zero Trust Networks Tunnels agent-webhook

Current hostnames:

After Migration

Once NAS is running cloudflared:

1. Update Cloudflare dashboard to point api/mesh to NAS IP
2. Stop cloudflared on Mac
3. Mac becomes optional for development

MinIO S3 (Already Running)

Synology CSI - Kubernetes Storage Integration

Synology CSI Driver - Official Kubernetes storage driver.

This allows OrbStack K8s (or any K8s) to dynamically provision storage from the NAS!

Features

• ReadWriteMany (multiple pods)
• Volume cloning
• Storage expansion
• Snapshots

Requirements

• Kubernetes 1.19+
• DSM 7.0+
• iSCSI, SMB, or NFS configured

Setup (for OrbStack K8s)

# Install CSI driver
kubectl apply -f https://raw.githubusercontent.com/SynologyOpenSource/synology-csi/main/deploy/kubernetes/v1.26/

# Create StorageClass
cat <<EOF | kubectl apply -f -
apiVersion: storage.k8s.io/v1
kind: StorageClass
metadata:
  name: synology-iscsi
provisioner: csi.san.synology.com
parameters:
  fsType: ext4
  dsm: "192.168.68.60"
  location: "/volume1"
reclaimPolicy: Retain
allowVolumeExpansion: true
EOF

Use Cases

• Persistent volumes for agent services
• Shared storage across pods (ReadWriteMany)
• Model storage for ML workloads
• Database persistence (PostgreSQL, Redis)

References

• Synology CSI Driver - Official K8s storage driver
• SynoCommunity Packages
• Synology Container Manager
• GitLab Runner on Synology
• Synology GitLab Setup

Related

• Phone-First Architecture
• Cloudflare Setup
• Tailscale Configuration