Sifaka NAS

Synology NAS providing network storage and backup target.

Quick Reference

PropertyValue
Dashboardhttps://nas.ops.eblu.me
ModelSynology DS423+ (DSM 7)
Storage10.9TB RAID 5 (4x Seagate IronWolf 4TB, ST4000VN006)
RoleBackup target, media storage

Network Shares

SharePathPurposeConsumers
backups/volume1/backupsBorg backup repositoryborgmatic
torrents/volume1/torrentsZIM downloadskiwix, transmission
music/volume1/musicMusic librarynavidrome
allisonflix/volume1/allisonflixVideo libraryjellyfin
photos/volume1/photosPhoto libraryimmich
frigate/volume1/frigateNVR recordings, clips, modelsfrigate

NFS Exports

ExportAllowed ClientsSquashPurpose
/volume1/torrents192.168.1.0/24, 100.64.0.0/10Map all users to admink8s pods
/volume1/music192.168.1.0/24, 100.64.0.0/10Map all users to admink8s pods
/volume1/photos192.168.1.0/24, 100.64.0.0/10Map all users to admink8s pods
/volume1/frigate192.168.1.0/24, 100.64.0.0/10Map all users to admink8s pods on ringtail
/volume1/reports192.168.1.0/24, 100.64.0.0/10Map all users to adminProwler reports

All exports use all_squash mapping to uid 1024 (admin) / gid 100 (users). If NFS mounts fail with permission denied, see troubleshoot-sifaka-nfs.

Monitoring

Prometheus exporters run as Docker containers, managed by Ansible (mise run provision-sifaka).

ExporterPortPurpose
node_exporter9100System metrics (CPU, memory, disk I/O)
smartctl_exporter9633SMART disk health data

Scraped by prometheus via Caddy L4 TCP proxy at nas.ops.eblu.me:9100 and nas.ops.eblu.me:9633. Dashboard: grafana > Sifaka Disk Health.

First-Time Setup

These steps were performed once to enable Ansible provisioning. They are documented here for reference if sifaka is ever replaced or reset.

1. Enable SSH

DSM Control Panel > Terminal & SNMP > Enable SSH service (port 22).

2. SSH Key Authentication

From a tailnet client with an existing SSH key:

ssh-copy-id eblume@sifaka   # uses password auth initially

Synology requires strict permissions on the home directory. On sifaka:

chmod 755 ~                  # DSM defaults to 777; SSH refuses keys otherwise
chmod 700 ~/.ssh
chmod 600 ~/.ssh/authorized_keys

Home directory path: /var/services/homes/eblume.

3. Passwordless Sudo for Docker

Ansible needs become: true for Docker commands. Create a sudoers drop-in:

sudo vi /etc/sudoers.d/docker-ansible

Contents:

eblume ALL=(ALL) NOPASSWD: /volume1/@appstore/ContainerManager/usr/bin/docker

This grants passwordless sudo only for the Docker binary — no broader root access.

4. Docker Path

Synology installs Docker via Container Manager at a non-standard path:

/volume1/@appstore/ContainerManager/usr/bin/docker

This is configured in the sifaka_exporters role defaults.

5. Synology Device Naming

Synology uses /dev/sata* (e.g., /dev/sata1 through /dev/sata4) instead of the standard /dev/sd* naming. The smartctl_exporter cannot auto-detect these devices, so they are passed explicitly via --smartctl.device= flags in the Ansible role.

Tailscale

  • Tag: tag:nas
  • ACL: tag:homelab can access for backups
  • Must run in TUN mode for NFS — see troubleshoot-sifaka-nfs

Backup

Sifaka is the target for backups, not a backup source. borgmatic sends backups TO sifaka, not OF sifaka.

Data protection for sifaka itself currently relies on the Synology RAID 5 configuration, which provides single-disk fault tolerance. Future plans include offsite duplication for additional resiliency.