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Setting up reverse proxy

Environment Variable

To make Dawarich work with a reverse proxy, you need to ensure the APPLICATION_HOSTS environment variable is set to include the domain name that the reverse proxy will use. For example, if your Dawarich instance is supposed to be on the domain name timeline.mydomain.com, then include "timeline.mydomain.com" in this environment variable. Make sure to exclude "http://" or "https://" from the environment variable. ⚠️ The webpage will not work if you do include http:// or https:// in the variable. ⚠️

At the time of writing this, the way to set the environment variable is to edit the docker-compose.yml file. Find all APPLICATION_HOSTS entries in the docker-compose.yml file and make sure to include your domain name. Example:

dawarich_app:
image: freikin/dawarich:latest
container_name: dawarich_app
...
environment:
...
APPLICATION_HOST: "yourhost.com" <------------------------------ Edit this
APPLICATION_HOSTS: "yourhost.com,www.yourhost.com,127.0.0.1" <-- Edit this
dawarich_sidekiq:
image: freikin/dawarich:latest
container_name: dawarich_sidekiq
...
environment:
...
APPLICATION_HOST: "yourhost.com" <------------------------------ Edit this
APPLICATION_HOSTS: "yourhost.com,www.yourhost.com,127.0.0.1" <-- Edit this
...

For a Synology install, refer to Synology Install Tutorial. In this page, it is explained how to set the APPLICATION_HOSTS environment variable.

Virtual Host

Now that the app works with a domain name, the server needs to be set up to use a reverse proxy. Usually, this is done by setting it up in the virtual host configuration.

Below are examples of reverse proxy configurations.

Nginx

server {

listen 80;
listen [::]:80;
server_name example.com;

brotli on;
brotli_comp_level 6;
brotli_types
text/css
text/plain
text/xml
text/x-component
text/javascript
application/x-javascript
application/javascript
application/json
application/manifest+json
application/vnd.api+json
application/xml
application/xhtml+xml
application/rss+xml
application/atom+xml
application/vnd.ms-fontobject
application/x-font-ttf
application/x-font-opentype
application/x-font-truetype
image/svg+xml
image/x-icon
image/vnd.microsoft.icon
font/ttf
font/eot
font/otf
font/opentype;

location / {
proxy_set_header X-Real-IP $remote_addr;
proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for;
proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Proto https;
proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Server $host;
proxy_set_header Host $http_host;
proxy_redirect off;

proxy_pass http://127.0.0.1:3000/;
}

}

Apache2

For Apache2, you might need to enable some modules. Start by entering the following commands so the example configuration below works without any problems.

sudo a2enmod proxy
sudo a2enmod proxy_http
sudo a2enmod headers
sudo a2enmod brotli

With the above commands entered, the configuration below should work properly.

<VirtualHost *:80>
ServerName example.com

ProxyRequests Off
ProxyPreserveHost On

<Proxy *>
Require all granted
</Proxy>

Header always set X-Real-IP %{REMOTE_ADDR}s
Header always set X-Forwarded-For %{REMOTE_ADDR}s
Header always set X-Forwarded-Proto https
Header always set X-Forwarded-Server %{SERVER_NAME}s
Header always set Host %{HTTP_HOST}s

SetOutputFilter BROTLI
AddOutputFilterByType BROTLI_COMPRESS text/css text/plain text/xml text/javascript application/javascript application/json application/manifest+json application/vnd.api+json application/xml application/xhtml+xml application/rss+xml application/atom+xml application/vnd.ms-fontobject application/x-font-ttf application/x-font-opentype application/x-font-truetype image/svg+xml image/x-icon image/vnd.microsoft.icon font/ttf font/eot font/otf font/opentype
BrotliCompressionQuality 6

ProxyPass / http://127.0.0.1:3000/
ProxyPassReverse / http://127.0.0.1:3000/

</VirtualHost>

Caddy

Here is the minimum Caddy config you will need to front Dawarich with. Please keep in mind that if you are running Caddy separately from your Dawarich stack, you'll need to have a network that is shared between them.

First, create the Docker network that will be used between the stacks, if needed:

docker network create frontend

Second, create a Docker network for Dawarich to use as the backend network:

docker network create dawarich

Adjust the following part of your Dawarich docker-compose.yaml, so that the web app is exposed to your new network and the backend Dawarich network:

networks:
dawarich:
frontend:
external: true
services:
...

Lastly, edit your Caddy config as needed:

{
http_port 80
https_port 443
}

timeline.example.com {
reverse_proxy dawarich_app:3000

encode brotli {
match {
content_type text/css text/plain text/xml text/x-component text/javascript application/x-javascript application/javascript application/json application/manifest+json application/vnd.api+json application/xml application/xhtml+xml application/rss+xml application/atom+xml application/vnd.ms-fontobject application/x-font-ttf application/x-font-opentype application/x-font-truetype image/svg+xml image/x-icon image/vnd.microsoft.icon font/ttf font/eot font/otf font/opentype
}
}
}

timeline.example.com is an example, use your own (sub) domain.


Please note that the above configurations are just examples and that they contain the minimum configuration needed to make the reverse proxy work properly. Feel free to adjust the configuration to your own needs.