FYI, in case anyone is running 7.2.1, just be aware that you have to MANUALLY update because you need to agree to new terms that removes local hardware processing of some media types.

https://www.synology.com/en-global/releaseNote/DSM

7.2.2-72806 Update 1 is the update with the new patches.

If you’re running Plex locally (i.e. - not in docker) you’ll need to manually install the updated 7.2.2 patch. You need to download it locally, then push it back up to your NAS bypassing the normal process. You can’t use the plex client to prompt the update, and you can’t use the synology package manager to update.

The package links on Reddit and some other sites are older versions that may not install
https://www.plex.tv/media-server-downloads/?cat=nas&plat=synology-dsm72&signUp=0

September 27th, 2024 release is currently the latest non-beta version - v.1.41.1.9057-af5eaea7a
AMD/Intel
https://downloads.plex.tv/plex-media-server-new/1.41.1.9057-af5eaea7a/synology-dsm72/PlexMediaServer-1.41.1.9057-af5eaea7a-x86_64_DSM72.spk

ARMv8
https://downloads.plex.tv/plex-media-server-new/1.41.1.9057-af5eaea7a/synology-dsm72/PlexMediaServer-1.41.1.9057-af5eaea7a-aarch64_DSM72.spk

ARMv7
https://downloads.plex.tv/plex-media-server-new/1.41.1.9057-af5eaea7a/synology-dsm72/PlexMediaServer-1.41.1.9057-af5eaea7a-armv7neon_DSM72.spk

If you’re running home assistant, you can put some inline power monitoring plugs in. I like the thirdreality ones, cause you can set them to “default on” or “default off” after power failure and run it as a zigbee local network without requiring internet access.

Oof, that’s a lot of juice.

I’m running a UPS, Syno720+, old gaming laptop as a portainer host, my wifi, router, cable modem, and switches, and that’s only using about 50w for everything. Pretty sure the Synology is using the bulk of that power, but I don’t have data to back that up.

I’d like to upgrade a few things, but I’m really trying to keep it below 75w. Ideally below 50w if I can. I think my old laptop is good for now, just want more flexibility in my NAS if I can do it without bumping up the power budget.

Any idea what your power consumption is for the 1618? I currently have a 720, but with only two drives it’s kind of limiting for HDD upgrades.

I’ve been running a pair of cyberpower systems for over a decade. I had to replace the battery in each of them once, but they’ve been working great.

I assume newer ones use some sort of Li-Ion battery tech, but mine are just plain old Lead Acid.

Whoa, really??? I guess I just assumed nothing changed in the last 5 years. I need to look into that.

Not the only use cases, but you’d need a different service if you need/want wildcard certs, certs that are manually installed and managed, or certs with a longer expiration.

That’s awesome, look forward to trying it out.

I use portainer, but I don’t think I ever gave them my information. How would they even have my email?

How do you set this up to forward properly? Do you use different domains for different services? like plex.example.com?

I currently have nginx set up to forward based on port, which is fine for me, but it could be a little better.

That would be a great platform to start with.

Price in a backup solution too, you don’t want to have all your movies disappear because of one hard drive crash, or an accidental reformat gone wrong.

RAID is not a backup.

Feels like some of that stuff, like the SSD’s are a bit overkill for a media server. Most of them still use spinning disks to maximize size vs. cost.

Additionally, the CPU/GPU needs of a media server are pretty minor, unless you need to transcode on the fly, and even then, single streams aren’t very intensive either.

So unless you’re capping the outgoing bandwidth to multiple external sources, you’re most likely just streaming the video source as-is to the destination, which just needs a stable network stream. If you don’t need to transcode at all, you don’t really even need a GPU on the hardware.

Just keeping lunch warm.

Nah, a cable modem costs anywhere from $60-$300 depending on if you want one with a built in router/wifi. That’s a pretty good return on investment. Mine has been running just fine for over a decade, and I’ve replaced the wifi router behind it 3 times to get improvements in WiFI speed that I wouldn’t have gotten from my ISP. $11/mo would have cost me an extra $1,300+ of fees by now.

I have mediacom, and they’re pretty good about support in my area, even if they are pretty shitty about other things. They can and do send signals to be able to manage a self-owned cable modem, and they’ll send a tech to your house and diagnose issues, even if you roll your own network.

The US has some decent laws around protecting you from getting shafted by ISPs for this specific situation.
https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2022/03/router-and-modem-rental-fees-still-a-major-annoyance-despite-new-us-law/

There’s a learning curve, but really, every large org can save so much money that way.

Heck, most proprietary apps are web apps these days anyway, so it really doesn’t hurt running Linux except for a few specialty roles. Just run Mac or Windows for those areas, and everyone else gets Linux.

I would love it if my work computer was Linux, 90% of my work is on a terminal anyway, it would save me from having to SSH to a Linux server every day.

Very interesting, I like the screenshots! Will definitely check this out.

This is a good list, but I didn’t see you mention SSL certificates. If you’ve gone through all your steps, you should be able to use LetsEncrypt to get free, automatically managed SSL certs for your environment.

https://letsencrypt.org/

Solid writeup. Good looking setup. I like how you have a great reason for every decision you made.

Crazy overkill for almost everyone, but you’re living in the future!