Configuring your Usenet Provider and Indexer with Sonarr/Radarr on Unraid (2024)

Last year I installed Unraid on my NAS in addition to Sonarr/Radarr/Deluge. This setup helped me automatically download and manage my media content. Read more about how I set it up here.

Recently, I was surfing the web and discovered Usenets. To me, Usenets were a new, different method to download media content! I decided to weigh up the pros and cons of torrents and Usenets by giving Usenets a go!

NOTE: this article assumes you've already set up Unraid/Sonarr/Radarr, follow the above article if you haven't.

You probably know what torrents are and how they work. If not, read more here.

A typical torrent setup using Sonarr/Radarr might work as follows:

  1. Use Sonarr/Radarr to select a media file to download
  2. Sonarr/Radarr communicates with torrent indexers
  3. Sonarr/Radarr adds the torrent file to Deluge and kicks off the download
  4. Deluge downloads the content and once complete, will copy the file over to a completed directory
  5. Sonarr/Radarr detects the file has been complete, renames and copies the file to the appropriate media directory used by Plex

My take on the pros and cons of using torrents are:

+ Torrenting is free. It doesn't require any paid subscriptions to any services for you to download your content!
+ Setup and configuration to use Torrents is simple and can be automated!
+ Torrents are well known method of downloading content. More people know about torrents and have a basic understanding of how they work already.
- Torrents rely on seeders. Low amount of seeders will result in slow download speeds.
- Seeding is usually required while/before downloading
- Torrents can have malicious or low quality files. Although, this largely depends on the indexers you use and I've personally found this to be very rare if you ignore all .exe files

Usenet has a lot of history behind it. In summary, it were originally designed as a bulletin-board service. Usenet eventually became a popular place to store and sort any kind of file. An organisation called Newzbin created the NZB file which pointed to where files existed on the Usenet. A whole ecosystem around Usenet and the NZB file then grew until it became what it is today. Usenets are different to torrents in that files are downloaded from a single server, as opposed to from other multiple other "peers" like you do in Torrents.

Read more about the history of Usenets and how they work here.

An automated Usenet download flow would work as follows:

  1. Use Sonarr/Radarr to select a file or wait for a file to be released
  2. Sonarr/Radarr communicates with a Usenet Indexer to find a matching file
  3. Using the index, Sonarr/Radarr sends the file location to a Usenet Downloader
  4. The Usenet Downloader communicates with a Usenet Provider which serves the content to the downloader
  5. Once the download is complete, it will copy the file to a completed directory
  6. Sonarr/Radarr detects the file has been complete, renames and copies the file to the appropriate media directory

My take on the pros and cons of Usenets are:

+ Usenets providers provide unlimited download speeds. You are only limited by your network
+ Most Usenets providers have SSL ports so no one can snoop on what you are downloading and your IP address is kept private
+ Usenet providers, indexers and downloaders all have a large amount of support, documentation and automation functionality available as well as having large, active communities supporting them
+ Don't have to seed (upload) before/while downloading
- To use Usenets, you need a subscription to a Usenet provider and indxer service. These subscription costs money
- Usenets are a less popular, unfamiliar, unknown alternative to torrenting. There may be some apprehension in using Usenets for these reasons (new things can be scary)

In both approaches, there are positives and negatives. As previously mentioned, I decided to give Usenets a go to see if I would like them better than torrents.

Before we get started, we'll need to pick a provider and an indexer to use. There are many indexers and providers out there, I'll just be suggesting a few of them. I would encourage you to do your own research as well.

Newshosting (Harvey's Recommendation)

Configuring your Usenet Provider and Indexer with Sonarr/Radarr on Unraid (1)

Newshosting is my personal choice and what I'll be using for the article. Newshosting is one of the most popular Usenet providers out there (and for good reasons). They have been in the game since 1999, have super long retention period (4299 days), an easy to use web interface, unlimited downloads and uncapped speeds. Another plus was that it integrated seamlessly with Sonarr and Radarr.

On certain Newshosting plans, a zero-log VPN service called PrivadoVPN comes for free. I've been using PrivadoVPN and have found the speeds, available regions and VPN desktop app to be top notch.

I'm using the special discounted Newhosting $12.95 USD $7.95 USD monthly subscription plan - exclusive to this article!

If you're only looking to give Usenets a go, I highly recommend using Newshosting's free 30GB 14 day trial.

Two other providers I've used before and would recommend are:

Read this article to learn more about choosing the best Usenet provider for you.

NZBGeek (Harvey's Pick)

Configuring your Usenet Provider and Indexer with Sonarr/Radarr on Unraid (2)

My personal choice, I chose NZBGeek because it was on sale for Black Friday as well as having good reviews and a good reputation for quality indexes.

Other indexers I would recommend are:

Sonarr/Radarr are configured to use a number of download clients. Sonarr/Radarr support four different Usenet clients:

  • Sabnzbd
  • Nzbget
  • Pneumatic
  • UsenetBlackhole

I was tossing up between Sabnzbd and NZBGet (due to both having a high amount of features/support/community). I ended up going with NZBget as I preferred the UI of it slightly more and will be using it for this article.

In UnRAID, navigate to Plugins and open the Community Applications plugin (assumed to have been installed already). Search for nzbget and click Install:

Configuring your Usenet Provider and Indexer with Sonarr/Radarr on Unraid (3)

Use the default port (6789) and setHost Path 2 to /mnt/user/Downloads/NZB and hit Done:

Configuring your Usenet Provider and Indexer with Sonarr/Radarr on Unraid (4)

Once the Docker image has been downloaded and container set up, open NZBGet in your browser. You'll be prompted for a username and password which are:

  • Username: nzbget
  • Password: tegbzn6789

Then in the top menu select Settings. Then select News-Servers on the left:

Configuring your Usenet Provider and Indexer with Sonarr/Radarr on Unraid (5)

Your Usenet provider should provide four essential pieces of information:

  • Server address
  • Port (usually 119 for unencrypted and 563 for encrypted)
  • Username
  • Password

All three of these details were available in Newshosting immediately after I joined the monthly subscription plan. Enter them in under the correct fields:

Configuring your Usenet Provider and Indexer with Sonarr/Radarr on Unraid (6)

Set Encryption to Yes and change the port from 119 -> 563 if you want to encrypt your Usenet download traffic (highly recommended).

Test the connection and then click save all changes in the bottom left and you'll be prompted to restart NZBGet. Restart and NZBGet will be all ready to use!

Configuring your Usenet Provider and Indexer with Sonarr/Radarr on Unraid (7)

Since we're configuring both Sonarr and Radarr to work with NZBGet, we need to add two categories on NZBGet. Do this by going to Settings -> Categories -> Add Another Category. Enter Radarr in the Name field then click Save:

Configuring your Usenet Provider and Indexer with Sonarr/Radarr on Unraid (8)

Repeat this for Sonarr as Category2.

With our Usenet download client and indexer (doesn't require setup) all ready, now we just have to configure Sonarr/Radarr to use them.

I'll just be going through how to set Radarr up - Sonarr will be identical, you'll just have to repeat the steps.

Add Indexer

Step one is to add the indexer. Navigate to Settings -> Indexers -> Add Indexer (+):

Configuring your Usenet Provider and Indexer with Sonarr/Radarr on Unraid (9)

Under Usenet -> Newznab -> Presets, find your indexer of choice (I use NZBGeek). Then simply add the API Key you got from your indexer, click Test and if everything is okay, click Save:

Configuring your Usenet Provider and Indexer with Sonarr/Radarr on Unraid (10)

Now if you navigate to any content you have and perform a manual search - you will see a number of results from NZBGeek:

Configuring your Usenet Provider and Indexer with Sonarr/Radarr on Unraid (11)

Add Download Client

Navigate to Settings -> Download Client -> Add new client (+):

Configuring your Usenet Provider and Indexer with Sonarr/Radarr on Unraid (12)

Then select NZBGet (first option):

Configuring your Usenet Provider and Indexer with Sonarr/Radarr on Unraid (13)

Then in the popup, add:

  • Host: IP of your Unraid Server
  • Port: 6789
  • Username: nzbget
  • Password: tegbzn6789
Configuring your Usenet Provider and Indexer with Sonarr/Radarr on Unraid (14)

Note: you'll notice that Category has Radarr. If you are setting up Sonarr, you need to make it Sonarr which will map to the correct category that we added to NZBGet previously.

Test it and if successful, click Save.

That's it! You've setup your Usenet indexer and Usenet download client.

NOTE: Remember to repeat the above steps for Sonarr!

In Radarr, search for some new content and click Add and Search. After a few seconds, you should see your new media file start downloading in NZBGet:

Configuring your Usenet Provider and Indexer with Sonarr/Radarr on Unraid (15)

After the download has complete, NZBGet will move the file to the /downloads/completed/radarr directory. Radarr will then copy the file over to your Media directory automatically. You can then open up your Plex server, refresh your library and watch your new media content!

Tags

  • Unraid
  • radarr
  • sonarr
Configuring your Usenet Provider and Indexer with Sonarr/Radarr on Unraid (2024)

FAQs

Do I need a Usenet provider and indexer? ›

To start, you will need a Usenet provider subscription to access the files on their servers. You will then need a Usenet indexer, a search engine that allows you to search for content or find an NZB file.

How to setup indexers for sonarr? ›

Open your Sonarr/Radarr webUI. Navigate to Settings > Indexers. Add an indexer by clicking the big + button.

How do Sonarr and Radarr work? ›

Radarr is a free and open-source movie collection manager. It is actually a fork of Sonarr but for movies— similar to what Couchpotato does. Radarr automatically monitors multiple RSS feeds for new movies and interfaces with Usenet and BitTorrent clients to grab, sort, and rename them.

What is sonarr Usenet? ›

Sonarr is a PVR for Usenet and BitTorrent users. It can monitor multiple RSS feeds for new episodes of your favorite shows and will grab, sort and rename them.

Who is the best Usenet provider? ›

The top 3 Usenet providers right now
  • Newshosting: The best Usenet provider. ...
  • Eweka: The best Usenet provider for newsgroup choice. ...
  • Giganews: The best Usenet provider for download speed.
Aug 20, 2024

Does Usenet provider matter? ›

Usenet providers

Some are free and others paid, and the paid ones usually offer better service than their counterparts. After selecting a Usenet provider, you'll also need a Usenet indexer, as in a search engine that lets you find files across different news servers.

Should Sonarr and Radarr be behind a VPN? ›

# Note that Sonarr and Radarr don't necessarily need the VPN if you're using Prowlarr for the indexers. # But Prowlarr should be behind the VPN to avoid ISPs that block indexers.

Do you need an indexer for Sonarr? ›

Based upon what download client you'll be using you'll want to select the type of indexer you'll be going with. Most usenet indexers require an API key, which can be found in your Profile page on the indexer's website. Add at least one indexer in order for Sonarr to work properly.

What is the purpose of Sonarr? ›

Sonarr is a PVR for Usenet/BitTorrent harvesting of TV shows. It does so by monitoring RSS feeds for new episodes of your favorite shows and then using indexers (BitTorrent sites) to scrape for and ultimately download your favorite shows automatically.

Are Usenet indexers legal? ›

The underlying technology is both safe and legal, but remember that content on Usenet is user-generated with few restrictions on what can be uploaded.

Is Sonarr torrenting? ›

Sonarr is an internet PVR for Usenet and Torrents.

How much does Sonarr cost? ›

The Sonarr automates the download process, but at ~$6/mo. for a good indexer, $12/mo. newshosting, and whatever everyone is paying for a VPN, the cost average is $20/mo.

What does a Usenet indexer do? ›

Using a Usenet search engine (NZB indexer), users locate desired posts and create an NZB file. The NZB file is then sent to a newsreader, which transfers the specified Usenet posts to the user's computer. This streamlined process makes accessing and downloading from Usenet more efficient.

What is the difference between Usenet provider and reseller? ›

A Tier-1 provider owns their own hard drives, NNTP servers, and traffic routes. Other providers, generally resellers, have to rent that bandwidth from Tier-1 providers, sending their customers' data through the higher-powered equipment and relying on their retention in order to serve Usenet.

Does anybody still use Usenet? ›

While there are still some active text newsgroups on Usenet, the system is now primarily used to share large files between users, and the underlying technology of Usenet remains unchanged.

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