Hello! I have been struggling through a few tutorials on getting a lemmy instance to work correctly when setup with Docker. I have it mostly done, but there are various issues each time that I do not have the knowledge to properly correct. I am familiar with Docker, and already have an Oracle VPS set up on ARM64 Ubuntu. I already have portainer and an NGINX proxy set up and working okay. I have an existing lemmy instance “running” but not quite working. My best guess here would be to have someone assist with setting up the docker-compose to work with current updates/settings, as well as the config.hjson.

TIA, and I cant wait to have my own entry into the fediverse working right!

  • poVoq
    link
    fedilink
    English
    211 months ago

    Most likely it is a nginx reverse-proxy issue. I would recommend to get rid of the nginx in the docker-compose if you still have that and directly proxy the Lemmy backend and Lemmy-ui via the system Nginx in a similar fashion to the Ansible script nginx example.

    But it’s really hard to do “remote” setup support like this, so you will have to experiment a bit yourself.

    • @Jattatak@beehaw.orgOP
      link
      fedilink
      English
      111 months ago

      I am not an NGINX expert by any means. The instance is reachable to the lemmy-ui via the proxy. I can “Sign up” and search for communities and such, but it seems like the backend is failing. Maybe an issues between lemmy and postgres?

      • poVoq
        link
        fedilink
        English
        111 months ago

        More likely a websocket failure. I heard from another project that uses websockets for the frontend to communicate with the backend that Nginx proxy manager seems to have issues with websockets even if they are enabled via that toggle in the UI. But no real idea what the issue might be.

        I hear issues with Nginx proxy manager all the time, but obviously it attracts a certain type of user, so it might not be the tool’s fault after all.

  • @Jattatak@beehaw.orgOP
    link
    fedilink
    English
    211 months ago

    Working Setup files, for my ARM64 Ubuntu host server. The postgres, lemmy, lemmy-ui, and pictrs containers all are on the lemmyinternal network only. The nginx:1-alpine container is in both networks. docker-compose.yml

    spoiler
    
    version: "3.3"
    # JatNote = Note from Jattatak for working YML at this time (Jun8,2023)
    networks:
      # communication to web and clients
      lemmyexternalproxy:
      # communication between lemmy services
      lemmyinternal:
        driver: bridge
        #JatNote: The Internal mode for this network is in the official doc, but is what broke my setup
        # I left it out to fix it. I advise the same.
    #    internal: true
    
    services:
      proxy:
        image: nginx:1-alpine
        networks:
          - lemmyinternal
          - lemmyexternalproxy
        ports:
          # only ports facing any connection from outside
          # JatNote: Ports mapped to nonsense to prevent colision with NGINX Proxy Manager
          - 680:80
          - 6443:443
        volumes:
          - ./nginx.conf:/etc/nginx/nginx.conf:ro
          # setup your certbot and letsencrypt config 
          - ./certbot:/var/www/certbot
          - ./letsencrypt:/etc/letsencrypt/live
        restart: always
        depends_on:
          - pictrs
          - lemmy-ui
    
      lemmy:
      #JatNote: I am running on an ARM Ubuntu Virtual Server. Therefore, this is my image. I suggest using matching lemmy/lemmy-ui versions.
        image: dessalines/lemmy:0.17.3-linux-arm64
        hostname: lemmy
        networks:
          - lemmyinternal
        restart: always
        environment:
          - RUST_LOG="warn,lemmy_server=info,lemmy_api=info,lemmy_api_common=info,lemmy_api_crud=info,lemmy_apub=info,lemmy_db_schema=info,lemmy_db_views=info,lemmy_db_views_actor=info,lemmy_db_views_moderator=info,lemmy_routes=info,lemmy_utils=info,lemmy_websocket=info"
        volumes:
          - ./lemmy.hjson:/config/config.hjson
        depends_on:
          - postgres
          - pictrs
    
      lemmy-ui:
      #JatNote: Again, ARM based image
        image: dessalines/lemmy-ui:0.17.3-linux-arm64
        hostname: lemmy-ui
        networks:
          - lemmyinternal
        environment:
          # this needs to match the hostname defined in the lemmy service
          - LEMMY_UI_LEMMY_INTERNAL_HOST=lemmy:8536
          # set the outside hostname here
          - LEMMY_UI_LEMMY_EXTERNAL_HOST=lemmy.bulwarkob.com:1236
          - LEMMY_HTTPS=true
        depends_on:
          - lemmy
        restart: always
    
      pictrs:
        image: asonix/pictrs
        # this needs to match the pictrs url in lemmy.hjson
        hostname: pictrs
        networks:
          - lemmyinternal
        environment:
          - PICTRS__API_KEY=API_KEY
        user: 991:991
        volumes:
          - ./volumes/pictrs:/mnt
        restart: always
    
      postgres:
        image: postgres:15-alpine
        # this needs to match the database host in lemmy.hson
        hostname: postgres
        networks:
          - lemmyinternal
        environment:
          - POSTGRES_USER=AUser
          - POSTGRES_PASSWORD=APassword
          - POSTGRES_DB=lemmy
        volumes:
          - ./volumes/postgres:/var/lib/postgresql/data
        restart: always
    
    

    lemmy.hjson:

    spoiler
    {
      # for more info about the config, check out the documentation
      # https://join-lemmy.org/docs/en/administration/configuration.html
      # only few config options are covered in this example config
    
      setup: {
        # username for the admin user
        admin_username: "AUser"
        # password for the admin user
        admin_password: "APassword"
        # name of the site (can be changed later)
        site_name: "Bulwark of Boredom"
      }
    
      opentelemetry_url: "http://otel:4317"
    
      # the domain name of your instance (eg "lemmy.ml")
      hostname: "lemmy.bulwarkob.com"
      # address where lemmy should listen for incoming requests
      bind: "0.0.0.0"
      # port where lemmy should listen for incoming requests
      port: 8536
      # Whether the site is available over TLS. Needs to be true for federation to work.
      # JatNote: I was advised that this is not necessary. It does work without it.
    #  tls_enabled: true
    
      # pictrs host
      pictrs: {
        url: "http://pictrs:8080/"
      # api_key: "API_KEY"
      }
    
      # settings related to the postgresql database
      database: {
        # name of the postgres database for lemmy
        database: "lemmy"
        # username to connect to postgres
        user: "aUser"
        # password to connect to postgres
        password: "aPassword"
        # host where postgres is running
        host: "postgres"
        # port where postgres can be accessed
        port: 5432
        # maximum number of active sql connections
        pool_size: 5
      }
    }
    

    The following nginx.conf is for the internal proxy, which is included in the docker-compose.yml This is entirely separate from Nginx-Proxy-Manager (NPM)

    nginx.conf:

    spoiler
    worker_processes 1;
    events {
        worker_connections 1024;
    }
    http {
        upstream lemmy {
            # this needs to map to the lemmy (server) docker service hostname
            server "lemmy:8536";
        }
        upstream lemmy-ui {
            # this needs to map to the lemmy-ui docker service hostname
            server "lemmy-ui:1234";
        }
    
        server {
            # this is the port inside docker, not the public one yet
            listen 80;
            # change if needed, this is facing the public web
            server_name localhost;
            server_tokens off;
    
            gzip on;
            gzip_types text/css application/javascript image/svg+xml;
            gzip_vary on;
    
            # Upload limit, relevant for pictrs
            client_max_body_size 20M;
    
            add_header X-Frame-Options SAMEORIGIN;
            add_header X-Content-Type-Options nosniff;
            add_header X-XSS-Protection "1; mode=block";
    
            # frontend general requests
            location / {
                # distinguish between ui requests and backend
                # don't change lemmy-ui or lemmy here, they refer to the upstream definitions on top
                set $proxpass "http://lemmy-ui";
    
                if ($http_accept = "application/activity+json") {
                  set $proxpass "http://lemmy";
                }
                if ($http_accept = "application/ld+json; profile=\"https://www.w3.org/ns/activitystreams\"") {
                  set $proxpass "http://lemmy";
                }
                if ($request_method = POST) {
                  set $proxpass "http://lemmy";
                }
                proxy_pass $proxpass;
    
                rewrite ^(.+)/+$ $1 permanent;
                # Send actual client IP upstream
                proxy_set_header X-Real-IP $remote_addr;
                proxy_set_header Host $host;
                proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for;
            }
    
            # backend
            location ~ ^/(api|pictrs|feeds|nodeinfo|.well-known) {
                proxy_pass "http://lemmy";
                # proxy common stuff
                proxy_http_version 1.1;
                proxy_set_header Upgrade $http_upgrade;
                proxy_set_header Connection "upgrade";
    
                # Send actual client IP upstream
                proxy_set_header X-Real-IP $remote_addr;
                proxy_set_header Host $host;
                proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for;
            }
        }
    }
    
    

    The nginx-proxy-manager container only needs to be in the same container network as the internal nginx:1-alpine container from the stack.

    You need to create a proxy host for http port 80 to the IP address of the internal nginx:1-alpine container on the lemmyexternalproxy network in docker. Include the websockets support option.

    https://lemmy.bulwarkob.com/pictrs/image/55870601-fb24-4346-8a42-bb14bb90d9e8.png

    Then, you can use the SSL tab to do your cert and such. NPM is free to work on other networks with other containers as well, as far as I know.

    • @bagfatnick@sh.itjust.works
      link
      fedilink
      English
      011 months ago

      hey @Jattatak, you seem to be the only other person I can find who is facing similar troubles to myself when trying to set up a lemmy instance. I’ve redone my docker-compose, nginx.conf, and lemmy.hjson to be exactly the same as yours (with some changes in the password / domain name). I’m also running an nginx proxy manager container.

      However, it seems I’m still having the same problem of being able to see post content but not comments in other instances. I have the added problem of when trying to post a comment on my instance, the form freezes until I refresh the page. The comment does actually get posted.

      I’ve also made sure the ‘lemmyinternal’ network is not isolated. I wonder did you manage to do anything to trouble shoot this issue? are there any ports I need to open on my firewall beyond 80, 443?

    • @Jattatak@beehaw.orgOP
      link
      fedilink
      English
      111 months ago

      Not yet. Based on my error logs, Im thinking some sort of websocket issue where operations are timing out trying to communicate with other instances. Unfortunately I am not well familiar with NGINX and proxies in gerenal (hence using GUI based NPM). Im hoping I can find a kind soul to basically walk with me through my setup and see if the issue can be pinpointed. Ill definitely post how it got working if/when I get there.

      • @notdeadyet@lemmy.ml
        link
        fedilink
        English
        111 months ago

        Awesome, thank you.

        I am in the same boat, although I am quite comfortable with most tech things, NGINX is a new world for me.

        I’m wondering if I should migrate my NPM to caddy or something.

        • @Jattatak@beehaw.orgOP
          link
          fedilink
          English
          111 months ago

          Hey, does your instance have the “UI: v0.XX.X” tag at the bottom of the page? Mine does not, only the BE tag. I see other successful instances DO have it. Wondering if somehow related.