Installing MinimServer on a Synology NAS
The Synology installation package makes it easy to install MinimServer on a Synology DiskStation NAS device using its native user interface (DSM). It was created by forum member winxi and inspired by the Synology packages maintained by patters (take a look at his blog for further information).
Many thanks to winxi for creating this package.
Requirements
You need to download the MinimServer Synology package to a local PC and then use the DSM Package Center to install the downloaded .spk file to your DiskStation. MinimServer isn't available from any of the SPK repositories.
From the Downloads page, download the file MinimServer-0.72-arm.spk (for Synology models with an ARM processor), MinimServer-0.72-x86.spk (for Synology models with an Intel processor) or MinimServer-0.72-ppc.spk (for Synology models with a PowerPC/Qoriq processor). To find out what kind of processor your Synology model has, please refer to this page. MinimServer doesn't support older PowerPC models with the PowerQUICC architecture.
This package works with DSM 3.1 onwards. You are recommended to use the latest firmware with your DiskStation.
Before installing this package, you need Java 6 (or higher) to be installed. You can install Java by using the famous 'Java SE for Embedded package for Synology NAS' by patters for Marvell Kirkwood, Intel x86 and Freescale QorIQ PowerPC CPUs. See this web page for detailed instructions. This package also installs support for the UTF-8 character set, which is used by MinimServer if it's available.
The MinimServer Synology package requires the User Home Service to be enabled in the DSM user control panel.
It's a good idea to install MinimWatch on another computer on your LAN before you install MinimServer on your DiskStation. This will help you to confirm that MinimServer has installed correctly or to solve any installation problems. Installing MinimWatch also allows you to monitor the status of MinimServer and change the MinimServer configuration settings. You can find instructions for installing MinimWatch on the Installing page.
If you have a manual installation of MinimServer running on your DiskStation, make sure you remove it before installing this package.
IMPORTANT: The MinimServer Synology package creates the daemon user 'minimserver' to run MinimServer. Make sure that the daemon user 'minimserver' has permisson to access your music files.
Usage
From the DSM Package Center, you can do the following:
| install MinimServer | The installer will check that Java is installed and the User Home Service is enabled. It will prompt you for the content directory of your music files, and you can enter a value for this or leave it empty to accept the default location for music files on the Synology. |
| start/stop MinimServer | You can start or stop the MinimServer process. If the UTF-8 character set is available, this will be used when running MinimServer. |
| uninstall MinimServer | When you uninstall MinimServer, you can either remove it completely from the system or you can save your configuration settings to use if you reinstall MinimServer later. |
| upgrade MinimServer | If a new version is available, you can update your current installation by installing the new version without removing the current version. You will be prompted to choose whether to keep your settings or perform a fresh install. |
| view the log | You can view the contents of the current log file. |
You can configure MinimServer by installing MinimWatch on any computer on your LAN.
Features
The MinimServer Synology package creates the daemon user 'minimserver' to run MinimServer. Because MinimServer is executed by the daemon user, it runs without root permissions for improved security.
IMPORTANT: Make sure that the daemon user 'minimserver' has permisson to access your music files.
The MinimServer application data is stored in the daemon user's home directory and thus is directly accessible through the DSM file browser (navigate to /homes/minimserver/appData). This is especially useful for fetching log files without needing to login to the DiskStation via Telnet or SSH.
This package runs MinimServer with the UTF-8 character set if support for this is available on the Synology. UTF-8 support should be available if you have used the patters installation package for Java. If UTF-8 support isn't available, you'll get a DSM notification and you may notice that some files with accented characters in their file or directory names aren't visible in MinimServer.
Notes
- If you're updating a previous version of MinimServer, you shouldn't remove this version of MinimServer before you install the new version. If you remove MinimServer before installing the new version, you'll lose all your configuration settings and you'll need to re-enter them after installing the new version.
- After you've installed and started MinimServer, you should be able to see it in a UPnP control point. If you can't see it, please refer to the Startup problems section for some suggestions.
- After installing and starting MinimServer for the first time, it's a good idea to check the log for any warning or error messages about problems found by MinimServer while scanning your music files. To do this, install and start MinimWatch on another computer on your LAN, right-click the MinimWatch tray icon and select "Show log".
- A warning in the log means that MinimServer has found something wrong with a file, but has been able to read the file and make it available for browsing and playing. An error in the log means that MinimServer wasn't able to read the file. If you see a message you don't understand, you can get help by creating a new thread in the MinimServer support forum as described on the Support page.
- If MinimServer is running, it will restart automatically when the DiskStation is restarted.
- You can use the DSM Package Center to stop MinimServer. This stops MinimServer immediately and prevents it from starting when the DiskStation is restarted. MinimServer is still installed on the DiskStation, and you can restart it at any time using the DSM Package Center.
Startup problems
If you can't see MinimServer in a UPnP control point after it's been installed and started, here are some suggestions that may be helpful.- If the daemon user 'minimserver' doesn't have access to the content directory where you keep your music files, MinimServer won't be able to start and won't be visible in the control point.
- If the daemon user has access to this directory, use the DSM Package Center to stop and restart MinimServer.
- If MinimServer still isn't running, leave MinimServer started and restart the DiskStation.
- If MinimServer still isn't running, install MinimWatch on another computer and start MinimWatch. If MinimServer has encountered an error while starting, you should see a red MinimWatch tray icon with a pop-up message describing the startup error. You may be able to get more information about the error by selecting "Show log" from the MinimWatch tray icon.
- If MinimServer has failed to start, the MinimWatch tray icon will be grey. If this happens, please submit a problem report as described on the Support page. When describing the problem, please say which of the above steps you have tried and what the results were.
Uninstalling MinimServer
Use the DSM Package Center to uninstall MinimServer. This will stop MinimServer if it's running. You will be prompted to choose whether you want to remove MinimServer completely from the system or save your configuration settings to use if you reinstall MinimServer later.