Install n8n docker on Ubuntu Server!

Step 1: Update Your Server

sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get upgrade -y

• Set time

sudo timedatectl set-timezone Asia/Bangkok
timedatectl

Reboot!

Step 2: Install and Configure UFW Firewall

sudo apt install ufw -y
sudo ufw allow 22    # SSH
sudo ufw allow 80    # HTTP
sudo ufw allow 443   # HTTPS
sudo ufw enable

• Check status sudo ufw status verbose

Or Just Disable it!

sudo ufw disable

Step 3: Docker Installation

• Setup dependencies and Docker's GPG key:

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install ca-certificates curl gnupg

sudo install -m 0755 -d /etc/apt/keyrings

curl -fsSL https://download.docker.com/linux/ubuntu/gpg \
| sudo gpg --dearmor -o /etc/apt/keyrings/docker.gpg

sudo chmod a+r /etc/apt/keyrings/docker.gpg

• Setup dependencies and Docker's GPG key:

echo \
  "deb [arch=$(dpkg --print-architecture) \
signed-by=/etc/apt/keyrings/docker.gpg] \
https://download.docker.com/linux/ubuntu \
$(. /etc/os-release && echo $VERSION_CODENAME) stable" \
| sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/docker.list > /dev/null

sudo apt-get update

• Install Docker Engine and compose-plugin:

sudo apt-get install docker-ce docker-ce-cli \
containerd.io docker-buildx-plugin docker-compose-plugin -y

• Check installation:

sudo docker run hello-world

• Example Output

• 

• Configure Docker to start on boot with systemd

sudo systemctl enable docker.service
sudo systemctl enable containerd.service

Step 4: Installing Caddy for Automatic HTTPS

• Install Caddy:

sudo apt install -y debian-keyring debian-archive-keyring apt-transport-https curl tcpdump

curl -1sLf 'https://dl.cloudsmith.io/public/caddy/stable/gpg.key' \
| sudo gpg --dearmor -o /usr/share/keyrings/caddy-stable-archive-keyring.gpg

curl -1sLf 'https://dl.cloudsmith.io/public/caddy/stable/debian.deb.txt' \
| sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/caddy-stable.list

sudo apt update
sudo apt install caddy -y

• Edit the Caddyfile configuration file:

sudo mv /etc/caddy/Caddyfile /etc/caddy/Caddyfile.orig
sudo vi /etc/caddy/Caddyfile

• Enter your domain and configure reverse proxy. Replace "yourdomain.com" with your actual domain name:

yourdomain.com {
    tls internal
    reverse_proxy localhost:5678
}

• For port 443

10.1.200.20 {
    tls internal
    reverse_proxy localhost:5678
}

• If no domain yet, use this temporarily, but need to edit n8n "env" for N8NSECURECOOKIE=false

:80 {
    reverse_proxy localhost:5678
}

• Restart Caddy

sudo systemctl restart caddy

Step 5: Installing Caddy for Automatic HTTPS

Easy start

sudo docker volume create n8n_data

sudo docker run -it --rm --name n8n -p 5678:5678 -v n8n_data:/home/node/.n8n docker.n8n.io/n8nio/n8n

Clean step

mkdir ~/n8n-docker
cd ~/n8n-docker

• Create docker-compose.yml with the following content:

services:
  n8n:
    image: docker.n8n.io/n8nio/n8n
    container_name: n8n
    restart: always
    ports:
      - "5678:5678"
    volumes:
      - n8n_data:/home/node/.n8n
    environment:
      - TZ=Asia/Bangkok
      - GENERIC_TIMEZONE=Asia/Bangkok
      - N8N_RUNNERS_ENABLED=true
      - N8N_SECURE_COOKIE=false

volumes:
  n8n_data:

• Now deploy n8n by running Docker compose:

sudo docker compose up -d

• Viewing Log sudo docker logs --tail=50 <container_name>

sudo docker logs --tail=50 n8n

Step 6: Accessing Your Self-Hosted n8n Instance

Visit your domain in any web browser. Your n8n instance should now load successfully at https://yourdomain.com. Follow the setup steps in the interface to complete your initial setup.

https:// or http://:5678

Updating your n8n Installation

sudo docker compose pull
sudo docker compose up -d

Maintenace

• Check status sudo docker ps
• Shutdown Container sudo docker stop <container_name>
• Start Container sudo docker start <container_name>
• Restart Container sudo docker restart <container_name>
• Viewing Log sudo docker logs --tail=50 <container_name>
• Remove container sudo docker rm <container_name>