Setting Up Synology Website Hosting: A Comprehensive Guide
In this article, we will provide a step-by-step guide on how to set up website hosting on your Synology NAS. We will cover key concepts such as DNS settings, setting up a web server, and configuring Cloudflare. By the end of this guide, you will have a fully functional website hosted on your Synology NAS.
Prerequisites
Before we begin, make sure you have the following:
- A Synology NAS with the latest DSM version installed
- A domain name registered and pointed to your Synology NAS's WAN IP address
- A Cloudflare account and a configured Cloudflare domain
Setting Up DNS Records
The first step is to set up DNS records for your domain name. Log in to your Cloudflare account and navigate to the DNS settings for your domain.
Create an A record with the following settings:
Type: A
Name: @
Value: [Your Synology NAS WAN IP Address]
TTL: Automatic
Create a CNAME record with the following settings:
Type: CNAME
Name: www
Value: [Your domain name, e.g. example.com]
TTL: Automatic
Now that the DNS records are set up, we can move on to setting up the web server.
Setting Up a Web Server
Synology NAS comes with a built-in web server called Web Station. To set up Web Station, follow these steps:
- Log in to your Synology NAS and navigate to the Control Panel
- Click on the Web Station icon
- Click on the Enable button to enable Web Station
- Click on the Create button to create a new virtual host
- Enter your domain name, for example,
example.com - Select the HTTP document root directory, for example,
/web/example.com - Click on the Next button
- Select the PHP version and configuration, for example, PHP 7.4 with FastCGI
- Click on the Next button
- Review the settings and click on the Apply button
Now that the web server is set up, we can move on to uploading our website files.
Uploading Website Files
To upload your website files, follow these steps:
- Open File Station on your Synology NAS
- Navigate to the document root directory for your virtual host, for example,
/web/example.com - Upload your website files using either the web interface or an FTP client
Now that your website files are uploaded, we can move on to configuring Cloudflare.
Configuring Cloudflare
Cloudflare can provide additional security, performance, and DNS management for your website. To configure Cloudflare, follow these steps:
- Log in to your Cloudflare account
- Navigate to the Overview page for your domain
- Enable SSL by selecting Full or Full (strict)
- Enable automatic HTTPS rewrites to ensure all HTTP links use HTTPS
- Enable Auto Minify to reduce the size of your HTML, CSS, and JavaScript files
- Enable Brotli for even more compression of your website assets
- Enable Rocket Loader to optimize third-party JavaScript on your website
Congratulations! Your Synology NAS is now set up for website hosting, and your website is fully functional.
- Setting up DNS records for your domain name on Cloudflare
- Setting up a web server using Web Station on your Synology