How to Install Photonix on Your Synology NAS

How to Install Photonix on Your Synology NAS

Photonix is a photo management application based on various web technologies. Run it on your home server and it will let you find what you want from your photo collection using any device. Smart filtering is made possible automatically by object recognition, location awareness, color analysis and other algorithms. In this step by step guide I will show you how to install Photonix on your Synology NAS with Docker & Portainer.

💡Note: This guide works perfectly with the latest version of Photonix v0.24.0

  • STEP 1

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  • STEP 2

Install Portainer using my step by step guide. If you already have Portainer installed on your Synology NAS, skip this STEP. Attention: Make sure you have installed the latest Portainer version.

  • STEP 3

Go to File Station and open the docker folder. Inside the docker folder, create one new folder and name it photonix. Follow the instructions in the image below.
Note: Be careful to enter only lowercase, not uppercase letters.

Photonix Synology Set up 1

  • STEP 4

Now create five new folders inside the photonix folder that you created at STEP 3 and name them cache, db, models, raw, redis. Follow the instructions in the image below.
Note: Be careful to enter only lowercase, not uppercase letters.

Photonix Synology Set up 2

  • STEP 5

Log into Portainer using your username and password. On the left sidebar in Portainer, click on Stacks then + Add stack. Follow the instructions in the image below.

1 Synology Portainer Add Stack

  • STEP 6

In the Name field type in photonix. Follow the instructions in the image below.

Note: Copy Paste the code below in the Portainer Stacks Web editor.

version: "3.9"
services:
  photonixdb:
    container_name: Photonix-DB
    image: postgres
    environment:
      POSTGRES_USER: photonixuser
      POSTGRES_DB: photonix
      POSTGRES_PASSWORD: photonixpass
    volumes:
      - /volume1/docker/photonix/db:/var/lib/postgresql/data:rw
    restart: on-failure:5
    
  redis:
    container_name: Photonix-REDIS
    image: redis
    volumes:
     - /volume1/docker/photonix/redis:/data:rw
    restart: on-failure:5
    
  photonix:
    container_name: Photonix
    image: photonixapp/photonix
    ports:
      - 8506:80
    environment:
      ADMIN_USERNAME: marius
      ADMIN_PASSWORD: mariushosting
      PUID: 1026
      PGID: 100
      TZ: Europe/Bucharest
      ENV: production
      POSTGRES_HOST: photonixdb
      POSTGRES_DB: photonix
      POSTGRES_USER: photonixuser
      POSTGRES_PASSWORD: photonixpass
      REDIS_HOST: redis
      ALLOWED_HOSTS: '*'
    volumes:
      - /volume1/web/photo:/data/photos:rw
      - /volume1/docker/photonix/raw:/data/raw-photos-processed:rw
      - /volume1/docker/photonix/cache:/data/cache:rw
      - /volume1/docker/photonix/models:/data/models:rw
    depends_on:
      - photonixdb
      - redis
    restart: on-failure:5

Note: Before you paste the code above in the Web editor area, change the value for ADMIN_USERNAME and add your own username. marius is an example for a username. You have to insert your own username.
Note: Before you paste the code above in the Web editor area, change the value for ADMIN_PASSWORD and add your own password. mariusboosting is an example for a password. You have to insert your own password.
Note: Before you paste the code above in the Web editor area below, change the value numbers for PUID and PGID with your own values. (Follow my step by step guide on how to do this.) 1026 is my personal PUID value and 100 is my personal PGID value. You have to type in your own values.
Note: Before you paste the code above in the Web editor area below, change the value for TZ. (Select your current Time Zone from this list.)
Note: Before you paste the code above in the Web editor area below, change the photo volume path. You have to add your personal path to photos. NO spaces in the folder name and NO uppercase letters are allowed; use only lowercase letters.

Photonix Synology Set up 3 new 2023

  • STEP 7

Scroll down on the page until you see a button named Deploy the stack. Click on it. Follow the instructions in the image below. The installation process can take up to a few minutes. It will depend on your Internet speed connection.

Photonix Synology Set up 4 new 2023

⌛Now just wait because the Photonix image is about 1.2GB.

  • STEP 8

If everything goes right, you will see the following message at the top right of your screen: “Success Stack successfully deployed“.

Photonix Synology Set up 5

  • STEP 9

Go back to STEP 1 or you will deal with karma 🙂

  • STEP 10

The installation process can take up to a few seconds/minutes. It will depend on your Internet speed connection. Now open your browser and type in http://Synology-ip-address:8506 Give a name to the Library then select Local. Click Next. Follow the instructions in the image below.

Photonix Synology Set up 6

  • STEP 11

Turn on the Monitor base path for changes, then click Next. Follow the instructions in the image below.

Photonix Synology Set up 7

  • STEP 12

Select the options you want for image analysis, then click Next. ⚠️Warning: if you have a large volume of photos, the more options you add, the more it will slow down the first indexing.

Photonix Synology Set up 8

  • STEP 13

Type in your own Username and Password that you have previously chosen at STEP 6. Click Login. Follow the instructions in the image below.

Photonix Synology Set up 9

  • STEP 14

Depending on your volume storage and the image analysis options you have selected at STEP 12, it can take up to several hours or days to index all of your pictures.

Photonix Synology Set up 10

Enjoy Photonix!

🆘TROUBLESHOOTING

If you encounter issues by using this container, make sure to check out the Common Docker issues article.

Note: If you want to run the Photonix container over HTTPS, check out my guide on How to Run Docker Containers Over HTTPS. In order to make Photonix work over https, it’s also mandatory to set up WebSocket.

Note: Can I run Docker on my Synology NAS? See the supported models.
Note: Find out how to update the Photonix container with the latest image.
Note: How to Free Disk Space on Your NAS if You Run Docker.
Note: How to Schedule Start & Stop For Docker Containers.
Note: How to Activate Email Notifications.
Note: How to Add Access Control Profile on Your NAS.
Note: How to Change Docker Containers Restart Policy.
Note: How to Use Docker Containers With VPN.
Note: Convert Docker Run Into Docker Compose.
Note: How to Clean Docker.
Note: How to Clean Docker Automatically.
Note: Best Practices When Using Docker and DDNS.
Note: Some Docker Containers Need WebSocket.
Note: Find out the Best NAS Models For Docker.
Note: Activate Gmail SMTP For Docker Containers.

This post was updated on Sunday / September 17th, 2023 at 11:57 PM