synology

Install SOLECTRUS on an in-house server

This guide demonstrates how to run all components of SOLECTRUS on a single machine:

• Dashboard (the SOLECTRUS user interface)
• InfluxDB (the database for storing the measurements)
• Redis (for caching)
• PostgreSQL (the SQL database for storing settings like historical prices)
• SENEC Collector (pulling measurements from SENEC device and pushing them to the InfluxDB)
• Forecast-Collector (optional)

This guide is tested on a Synology NAS DS220+, but should work on any Linux system with x86_64 or Arm64 architecture which can run Docker. A CPU with at least 2 cores is recommended, as well as a RAM upgrade to more than 2GB. A Linux Kernel v4 or higher is required, some older NAS devices don't work because they are on Kernel v3 and cannot be updated.

This machine connects to your SENEC device, so it should be placed in the same network.

1. Ensure Docker is installed and running. Docker 18.06.0 or later is required. To install Docker, you can choose the Docker package from the Synology Package Center.

Login via SSH and check the version:

docker --version
Docker version 20.10.23, build 876964a

Docker Compose is required as well. It is usually installed with Docker, but you can check the version:

docker-compose --version
Docker Compose version v2.9.0-6413-g38f6acd

Note: The Docker package offered by Synology is a bit outdated, but it works well with SOLECTRUS.

To ensure Docker can run without sudo, create a docker group and add your user to it:

sudo synogroup --add docker
sudo chown root:docker /var/run/docker.sock
sudo synogroup --member docker $USER

(adopted from https://docs.docker.com/engine/install/linux-postinstall/)

2. Create folders for configuration and Docker volumes:

On a Synology NAS, there is a /volume1/docker folder which is used for Docker volumes. This may be different on your machine.

ssh [YOUR-SERVER-IP-ADDRESS]
cd /volume1/docker
mkdir -p solectrus
cd solectrus
mkdir redis postgresql influxdb

3. Download and prepare configuration file

Download the configuration file from the repository;

curl -L "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/solectrus/hosting/main/guide/synology/.env" -o .env

Edit the downloaded file and change values to your needs.

vim .env

IMPORTANT settings, MUST be changed or checked:

• All variables starting with SENEC_, please read the comments
• APP_HOST # Hostname or IP address of your Synology NAS

Not required, but highly recommended:

• ADMIN_PASSWORD
• INSTALLATION_DATE
• INFLUX_PASSWORD
• INFLUX_ADMIN_TOKEN
• FORECAST_PROVIDER (and related forecast variables)

Note: Editing the file with vim is just an example, because this is the pre-installed editor. You can use any editor you like. If you are not familiar with vim, you can use TextEditor by Synology which can be installed as package via DSM.

4. Download Docker compose file ./docker-compose.yml

curl -L "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/solectrus/hosting/main/guide/synology/docker-compose.yml" -o docker-compose.yml

5. Start Docker containers

docker-compose up

This could take some minutes for the first run. You see some output like this:

Creating network "dashboard_default" with the default driver
Creating dashboard_db_1       ... done
Creating dashboard_influxdb_1 ... done
Creating dashboard_redis_1    ... done
..... [Pausing here to wait for the databases to be created] .....
Creating dashboard_forecast-collector_1 ... done
Creating dashboard_senec-collector_1    ... done
Creating dashboard_app_1                ... done
Attaching to dashboard_db_1, dashboard_redis_1, dashboard_influxdb_1, dashboard_forecast-collector_1, dashboard_senec-collector_1, dashboard_app_1
app_1                 | Starting SOLECTRUS...
app_1                 | Version: v0.10.1 - 2023-05-06T09:46:43+02:00
app_1                 | ----------------
app_1                 | influxdb (172.24.0.4:8086) open
app_1                 | InfluxDB is up and running!
app_1                 | db (172.24.0.2:5432) open
app_1                 | PostgreSQL is up and running!
app_1                 | Preparing database...
.....
app_1                 | Created database 'solectrus_production'
app_1                 | Database is ready!
app_1                 | Puma starting in single mode...
app_1                 | * Puma version: 6.2.2 (ruby 3.2.2-p53) ("Speaking of Now")
app_1                 | *  Min threads: 5
app_1                 | *  Max threads: 5
app_1                 | *  Environment: production
app_1                 | *          PID: 11
app-1                 | * Listening on http://0.0.0.0:3001
app-1                 | Use Ctrl-C to stop
.....
senec-collector_1     |
senec-collector_1     | Got record #1 from SENEC at 192.168.178.123: PV + ENTLADEN, Inverter 1169 W, House 2518 W, 2023-04-06 13:36:57 +0000
senec-collector_1     | Successfully pushed record #1 to InfluxDB
senec-collector_1     |
senec-collector_1     | Got record #2 from SENEC at 192.168.178.123: PV + ENTLADEN, Inverter 1164 W, House 2509 W, 2023-04-06 13:37:02 +0000
senec-collector_1     | Successfully pushed record #2 to InfluxDB
senec-collector_1     |

6. Open the app in your browser

http://[YOUR-SERVER-IP-ADDRESS]:3000

7. Run services in the background

Stop services by pressing Ctrl+C Start again as daemon:

docker-compose up -d
Starting solectrus_redis_1    ... done
Starting solectrus_db_1       ... done
Starting solectrus_influxdb_1 ... done
Starting solectrus_forecast-collector_1 ... done
Starting solectrus_senec-collector_1    ... done
Starting solectrus_app_1                ... done

This way the services are started in the background. To check if this works, reboot machine:

sudo reboot

Wait a bit, then login again and check if Docker Compose has auto-started the services.

ssh root@[YOUR-SERVER-IP-ADDRESS]
cd solectrus
docker ps

IMAGE                                         STAT1US                  NAMES
ghcr.io/solectrus/solectrus:latest            Up 31 second (healthy)   solectrus-app-1
ghcr.io/solectrus/forecast-collector:latest   Up 31 second             solectrus-forecast-collector-1
ghcr.io/solectrus/senec-collector:latest      Up 31 second             solectrus-senec-collector-1
influxdb:2.7-alpine                           Up 31 second (healthy)   solectrus-influxdb-1
redis:7-alpine                                Up 31 second (healthy)   solectrus-redis-1
postgres:16-alpine                            Up 31 second (healthy)   solectrus-db-1

8. Optional: Import historical data

On mein-senec.de you find download links for your historical data. Download the CSV files and import them into SOLECTRUS. See CSV-Importer for more information.

9. Staying up to date

To update your installation to the latest release, run:

ssh root@[YOUR-SERVER-IP-ADDRESS]
cd solectrus

docker-compose pull
docker-compose up -d

To not have to do this manually every time, the docker-compose.yml contains Watchtower, which is a free tool to automatically update running Docker containers. Once installed, it will check for new Docker images once every day and updates your containers automatically. And of course, Watchtower also runs in a Docker container.