Docker is a lightweight platform designed for creating, deploying, and running applications in a reliable and controlled computing environment. While most applications try to make separate releases for all popular operating systems, success isn’t always guaranteed for each update. This is where Docker comes in: it can host your applications and update with each new release; all while staying operating system agnostic.
The Usenet community has found Docker particularly handy given the many applications they have to set up. Hosting them all in containers enables easier setup, maintenance, and updates.
Let’s walk through the installation and setup for Docker itself and give you a quick example setup for Usenet (using SABnzbd and NZBGet).
Installation
Docker is available on multiple platforms including desktops (macOS, Windows) and Linux servers (CentOS, Debian, Fedora and Ubuntu).
The community created the following table to help you choose the right installation for your system:
Docker’s documentation website has some amazing resources and provides a comprehensive walk-through for each installation type.
- Windows installation guide: docs.docker.com/docker-for-windows/install/
- Mac installation guide: docs.docker.com/docker-for-mac/install/
- Linux installation guides:
Once the installation is complete, click Docker’s whale icon to make sure it was successful.
Setup
Docker allows you to have all your Usenet apps running in one platform. There are dozens of setup possibilities to maximize your Usenet subscription. However, for this guide, we kept things simple and used the two most popular newsreaders: SABnzbd and NZBGet.
Install Images
Start by creating a Docker ID and logging into the application. Then you want to select the “Registry” option on the left side of the window. It will open a search panel. Type the names of the programs you want to use into the search box, then select them when they show up in the results.
SABnzbd
NZBGet
Right click and select “Download this image” for each program.
You can now select which version you want to download by choosing the appropriate tag in the drop-down list. Unless there’s a specific reason not to, stick to the latest version.
Once you’ve downloaded all your images, you can find them under the “Images” tab on the left hand side of the window.
App Configurations
SABnzbd
Use this snippet to configure your SABnzbd container:
docker create \
–name=sabnzbd \
-e PUID=1010 \ `Find your system’s PUID`
-e PGID=1010 \ `Find your system’s PGID`
-e TZ=America/Montreal \ `Select your own Country/City`
-p 8080:8080 \
-p 9090:9090 \
-v path to data:/config \
-v path to downloads:/downloads \
-v path to incomplete downloads:/incomplete-downloads `#optional` \
–restart unless-stopped \
linuxserver/sabnzbd
It’s worth knowing what these lines of code mean. Check the Docker hub documentation regarding SABnzbd setup for more details.
Once you configure SABnzbd in Docker, you will need to configure the app itself. You can follow our regular guide here (skip the installation section; as you have already accomplished that on Docker).
NZBGet
Use this snippet to configure your NZBGet container:
docker run -d \
–name=nzbget \
-e PUID=1000 \
-e PGID=1000 \
-e TZ=Europe/London \
-p 6789:6789 \
-v /path/to/data:/config \
-v /path/to/downloads:/downloads \
-v path to incomplete downloads:/incomplete-downloads `#optional` \
–restart unless-stopped \
ghcr.io/linuxserver/nzbget
It’s worth knowing what these lines of code mean. Check the Docker hub documentation regarding NZBGet setup for more details.
Once you configure NZBGet in Docker, you will need to configure the app itself. You can follow our regular guide here (skip the installation section; as you have already accomplished that on Docker).
What is Container Manager?
We haven’t covered how to set up or configure Docker on a Synology NAS. That’s because recently, Docker has been replaced in the Synology DiskStation Manager (DSM) with Container Manager. This new software functions identically to Docker, but the user interface is changed.
You can read about how to set up Container Manager on a Synology NAS here.
Bottom Line
App configurations are a significant stumbling block for a lot of users trying to get started on Usenet and set up automation. Docker is a fairly easy program to download and learn how to use that makes working with other automation applications a lot simpler in the long run.
In other words: take the time to set up Docker. You won’t regret it.
