Setting up multiple Discourse Docker instances on Synology

Hello folks.

I want to setup multiple instances of Discourse on our Synology NAS. These will be production sites and need SSL (Let’s Encrypt?). Our Synology NAS is not one of the low end units, rather it is an enterprise model with tons of RAM, strong CPU, NVMe cache, etc… Just throwing that out there incase someone has concerns about running Docker on Synology.

Synology has a Docker package and I have found many Discourse containers in the Docker directory. However, none of them start. I’m admittedly a Docker novice. I understand and can do the basics. However, I am lost in a sea of Discourse Docker containers, which I cannot get working.

There is a Synology Discourse Docker Package, which installs and works great, however you can only have one instance of Docker running with this package.

Can anyone provide any guidance on what I need to setup multiple production ready Discourse Docker containers, running under SSL?

For example, I don’t know the answers to these questions:

  1. Which Discourse Docker image should I use to host multiple Discourse sites using Synology NAS?
  2. It appears there needs to be special configuration for any/all of the Discourse Docker images I have downloaded so far. None appear to start when I “start” then on Synology NAS.
  3. How do I setup/configure Let’s Encrypt for each Docker image? Is this already part of the Discourse Docker image?

Appreciate any guidance you can offer.

If it’s OK for all sites to have the same plugins and mail config, you probably want to go with multisite. (Search “multisite #howto”).

Getting something to do SSL in front of them may be something of a challenge, but there are a couple topics if you search “letsencrypt multiple”.

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