Docker on Synology

Synology Jan 10, 2023

This guide will help you setup docker on Synology. Docker is a lightweight virtualization application that gives you the ability to run thousands of containers created by developers from all over the world on DSM.

Compatibility

Not every Synology model is compatible with docker. You can check this page to find out of your Synology model is compatible.

Guide

Let’s get started by installing docker on our Synology.

Login into DSM as an administrator
Open Package Center
By default the Package Center opens on the tab of Installed packages. In the left menu click All Packages.
Find and click on Docker. The location differs per DSM version. See details below in which section to find the Docker package according to your DSM version.

The All Packages tab is divided into multiple sections. The Docker package on DSM v7 can be found in the section Open Source below the Synology section.

The All Packages tab is divided into multiple sections. The Docker package on DSM v6 can be found in the section Third-party below the Synology section.

Click Install
Now spin in your chair and wait till Docker has completed installing.

Now you have Docker installed on your Synology.

Pro Tip; Turn-off Auto-Update

Here is a pro tip; I have been running docker on Synology for several years. And even ran into some issues. One of the past issues was that when Synology updated docker, they introduced a bug where it could not load the environment variables. To counter future issues, I highly recommend turning off auto-update on the docker package. You still will get notified about new versions.

However, turning off auto-update allows you to update the docker package manually. This is highly recommended. I update the docker package about 1-2 weeks after it is released. If any issues arise, the Synology community will issue a bug with Synology, and within a week after its initial release, Synology will have it fixed.

This will protect your docker environment from breaking. You can turn off auto-update in the overview of an installed package within the Package Center.

docker synology auto-update — Turn-off auto-update on docker

Next Steps

Suppose you are planning on exposing docker applications to the internet in a secure way. I suggest you check out my guide on how to set up a wildcard certificate for your Synology. This will allow you to expose docker containers on their subdomain. This does require setting up external access first, you can read that here.