Installing using Docker and Docker Compose

With the dockerized OTOBO deployment you can get your personal OTOBO instance up and running within minutes. All of OTOBO´s dependencies are already included in the provided collection of Docker images.

  • Service db: MariaDB is set up as the default database.
  • Service elastic: Elasticsearch is set up for the OTOBO power search.
  • Service redis: Redis is enabled for fast caching.
  • Service web: Gazelle is used as fast Perl webserver.
  • Service nginx: Nginx is used as optional reverse proxy for HTTPS support.

We think that this setup is the perfect environment for an OTOBO installation.

Requirements

The minimal versions of required software, that have been tested, are listed here:

  • Docker 19.03.13
  • Docker Compose 1.25.0
  • Git 2.17.1

Note

For Ubuntu 24.04 LTS the usage of Compose V2 is recommended.

Compose V2 is implemented as a plugin of the command docker. An alias can be used in order to stay compatible with the docker-compose command known from Compose V1.

git, Docker, and Docker Compose can be installed with the standard system tools. Here is an example for installation on Ubuntu 20.04 Focal Fossa:

root> apt install git docker.io docker-compose curl
root> systemctl enable docker

Please check the Git and the Docker documentation for instructions on further setup.

Installation

The following instructions assume that all requirements are met, that you have a working Docker environment. We assume here that the user docker_admin is used for interacting with Docker. The Docker admin may be either the root user of the Docker host or a dedicated user with the required permissions.

1. Clone the otobo-docker repo

The Docker images will eventually be fetched from the repository https://hub.docker.com. But there are some setup and command files that need to be cloned from the otobo-docker Github repository. Make sure that you specify the tag that corresponds to the current patch level version of OTOBO. For example, when OTOBO 11.0.2 is the current version then please use the tag rel-11_0_2.

Note

The location of the cloned repository does not matter. For these instructions we chose /opt/otobo-docker as the working dir.

docker_admin> cd /opt
docker_admin> git clone https://github.com/RotherOSS/otobo-docker.git --branch <TAG> --single-branch
docker_admin> cd otobo-docker    # change into the git sandbox
docker_admin> ls                 # just a sanity check, for example the file README.md should exist

2. Create an initial .env file

The Docker Compose configuration file .env is your primary interface for managing your installation of OTOBO. This file must first be created and then be adapted by yourself. In order to simplify the task there are several example files that should be used as starting point. Which sample file it the best fit depends on your use case. In most cases the decision is between .docker_compose_env_http and .docker_compose_env_https, depending on whether TLS must be supported or not. The other files are for more specialised use cases.

.docker_compose_env_http
The OTOBO web app provides HTTP.
.docker_compose_env_https
The OTOBO web app provides HTTPS by runnning Nginx as a reverse proxy webserver.
.docker_compose_env_https_custom_nginx
Like .docker_compose_env_https but with support for a custom Nginx configuration.
.docker_compose_env_https_kerberos
Like .docker_compose_env_https but with sample setup for single sign on. Note that Kerberos support is still experimental.
.docker_compose_env_http_selenium and .docker_compose_env_https_selenium
These are used only for development when Selenium testing is activated.

Note

Use ls -a for listing the hidden sample files.

Per default OTOBO is served on the standard ports. Port 443 for HTTPS and port 80 for HTTP. When HTTPS is activated then the OTOBO web application actually still runs with HTTP. HTTPS support is achieved by an additional reverse proxy, which is implemented as a nginx service.

For the following commands we assume that HTTPS should be supported.

docker_admin> cd /opt/otobo-docker
docker_admin> cp -p .docker_compose_env_https .env # or .docker_compose_env_http for HTTP

3. Configure the password for the database admin user

Change the following setting inside your .env file:

OTOBO_DB_ROOT_PASSWORD=<your_secret_password>

The password for the database admin user may be chosen freely. The database admin user is needed to create the database user otobo and the database schema otobo. OTOBO will actually use the dedicated database user otobo.

4. Set up a volume with SSL configuration for the nginx webproxy (optional)

This step can be skipped when OTOBO should be available only via HTTP.

nginx needs for SSL encryption a certificate and a private key.

Note

For testing and development a self-signed certificate can be used. However for productive use you should work with regular registered certificates.

See e.g. https://www.digitalocean.com/community/tutorials/how-to-create-a-self-signed-ssl-certificate-for-nginx-in-ubuntu on how to create self-signed certificates.

Note

To specify a CA chain with a certificate in nginx, it is necessary to copy the CA chain file with the actual certificate into a file.

The certificate and the private key are stored in a volume, so that they can be used by nginx later on. In any case the volume needs to be generated manually, and we need to copy the certificate and key to the volume:

docker_admin> docker volume create otobo_nginx_ssl
docker_admin> otobo_nginx_ssl_mp=$(docker volume inspect --format '{{ .Mountpoint }}' otobo_nginx_ssl)
docker_admin> echo $otobo_nginx_ssl_mp  # just a sanity check
docker_admin> cp /PathToYourSSLCert/ssl-cert.crt /PathToYourSSLCert/ssl-key.key $otobo_nginx_ssl_mp

The names of the copied files need to be set in our newly created .env file. E.g.

OTOBO_NGINX_SSL_CERTIFICATE=/etc/nginx/ssl/ssl-cert.crt and OTOBO_NGINX_SSL_CERTIFICATE_KEY=/etc/nginx/ssl/ssl-key.key

Please adapt only the name of the files as the path /etc/nginx/ssl/ is hard coded in the Docker image.

5. Start the Docker containers with Docker Compose

Now we start the Docker containers using docker-compose. Per default the Docker images will be fetched from https://hub.docker.com/u/rotheross.

docker_admin> docker-compose up --detach

To verify that the six required services (five in the case of HTTP only) are actually running, type:

docker_admin> docker-compose ps
docker_admin> docker volume ls

6. Install and start OTOBO

Run the OTOBO installer at http://yourIPorFQDN/otobo/installer.pl.

Note

Please configure OTOBO inside the installer with a new MySQL database. As MySQL database root password please use the password you configured in the variable OTOBO_DB_ROOT_PASSWORD of your .env file. Please leave the value db for the MySQL hostname untouched.

Have fun with OTOBO!

Note

To change to the OTOBO directory, inside the running container, to work on command line as usual, you can use the following Docker command: docker-compose exec web bash.

Additional technical information

This section gives some more technical insight into what is happing under the hood.

List of Docker containers

Container otobo_web_1
OTOBO webserver on internal port 5000.
Container otobo_daemon_1
OTOBO daemon. The OTOBO daemon is started and periodically checked.
Container otobo_db_1
Run the database MariaDB on internal port 3306.
Container otobo_elastic_1
Elasticsearch on the internal ports 9200 and 9300.
Container otobo_redis_1
Run Redis as caching service.
Optional container otobo_nginx_1
Run nginx as reverse proxy for providing HTTPS support.

Overview over the Docker volumes

The Docker volumes are created on the host for persistent data. These allow starting and stopping the services without losing data. Keep in mind that containers are temporary and only data in the volumes is permanent.

otobo_opt_otobo
contains /opt/otobo in the container web and daemon.
otobo_mariadb_data
contains /var/lib/mysql in the container db.
otobo_elasticsearch_data
contains /usr/share/elasticsearch/datal in the container elastic.
otobo_redis_data
contains data for the container redis.
otobo_nginx_ssl
contains the TLS files, certificate and private key, must be initialized manually.

Docker environment variables

In the instructions we did only minimal configuration. But the file .env allows to set more variables. Here is a short list of the most important environment variables. Note that more environment variables are supported by the base images.

MariaDB settings

OTOBO_DB_ROOT_PASSWORD
The root password for MariaDB. This setting is required for running the service db.

Elasticsearch settings

Elasticsearch needs some settings for productive environments. Please read https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/elasticsearch/reference/7.8/docker.html#docker-prod-prerequisites for detailed information.

OTOBO_Elasticsearch_ES_JAVA_OPTS
Example setting: OTOBO_Elasticsearch_ES_JAVA_OPTS=-Xms512m -Xmx512m Please adjust this value for production env to a value up to 4g.

Webserver settings

OTOBO_WEB_HTTP_PORT
Set in case the HTTP port should deviate from the standard port 80. When HTTPS is enabled, the HTTP port will redirect to HTTPS.

Nginx webproxy settings

These setting are used when HTTPS is enabled.

OTOBO_WEB_HTTP_PORT
Set in case the HTTP port should deviate from the standard port 80. Will redirect to HTTPS.
OTOBO_WEB_HTTPS_PORT
Set in case the HTTPS port should deviate from the standard port 443.
OTOBO_NGINX_SSL_CERTIFICATE
SSL cert for the nginx webproxy. Example: OTOBO_NGINX_SSL_CERTIFICATE=/etc/nginx/ssl/acme.crt
OTOBO_NGINX_SSL_CERTIFICATE_KEY
SSL key for the nginx webproxy. Example: OTOBO_NGINX_SSL_CERTIFICATE_KEY=/etc/nginx/ssl/acme.key

Nginx webproxy settings for Kerberos

This settings are used by Nginx when Kerberos is used for single sign on.

OTOBO_NGINX_KERBEROS_KEYTAB
Kerberos keytab file. The default is /etc/krb5.keytab.
OTOBO_NGINX_KERBEROS_CONFIG
Kerberos config file. The default is /etc/krb5.conf, usually generated from krb5.conf.template
OTOBO_NGINX_KERBEROS_SERVICE_NAME
Kerberos Service Name. It is not clear where this setting is actually used anywhere.
OTOBO_NGINX_KERBEROS_REALM
Kerberos REALM. Used in /etc/krb5.conf.
OTOBO_NGINX_KERBEROS_KDC
Kerberos kdc / AD Controller. Used in /etc/krb5.conf.
OTOBO_NGINX_KERBEROS_ADMIN_SERVER
Kerberos Admin Server. Used in /etc/krb5.conf.
OTOBO_NGINX_KERBEROS_DEFAULT_DOMAIN
Kerberos Default Domain. Used in /etc/krb5.conf.
NGINX_ENVSUBST_TEMPLATE_DIR
Provide a custom Nginx config template dir. Gives extra flexibility.

Docker Compose settings

These settings are used by Docker Compose directly.

COMPOSE_PROJECT_NAME
The project name is used as the prefix for the volumes and containers. Per default this prefix is set to otobo, resulting in container names like otobo_web_1 and otobo_db_1. Change this name when you want to run more then one instance of OTOBO on the same server.
COMPOSE_PATH_SEPARATOR
Separator for the value of COMPOSE_FILE
COMPOSE_FILE
Use docker-compose/otobo-base.yml as the base and add the wanted extension files. E.g docker-compose/otobo-override-http.yml or docker-compose/otobo-override-https.yml.
OTOBO_IMAGE_OTOBO, OTOBO_IMAGE_OTOBO_ELASTICSEARCH, OTOBO_IMAGE_OTOBO_NGINX, …
Used for specifying alternative Docker images. Useful for testing local builds or for using updated versions of the images.

Advanced topics

Custom configuration of the nginx webproxy

The container otobo_nginx_1 provides HTTPS support by running Nginx as a reverse proxy. The Docker image that runs in the container is composed of the official Nginx Docker image, https://hub.docker.com/_/nginx, along with a OTOBO specific configuration of Nginx.

The default OTOBO specific configuration can be found within the Docker image at /etc/nginx/template/otobo_nginx.conf.template. Actually, this is only a template for the final configuration. There is a process, provided by the Nginx base image, that replaces the macros in the template with the corresponding environment variable. This process runs when the container starts up. In the default template file, the following macros are used:

OTOBO_NGINX_SSL_CERTIFICATE
For configuring SSL.
OTOBO_NGINX_SSL_CERTIFICATE_KEY
For configuring SSL.
OTOBO_NGINX_WEB_HOST
The internally used HTTP host.
OTOBO_NGINX_WEB_PORT
The internally used HTTP port.

See step 4. for how this configuration possibility was used for setting up the SSL certificate.

When the standard macros are not sufficient, then the customisation can go further. This can be achieved by replacing the default config template with a customized version. It is best practice to not simple change the configuration in the running container. Instead we first create a persistent volume that contains the custom config. Then we tell the otobo_nginx_1 to mount the new volume and to use the customized configuration.

First comes generation of the new volume. In these sample commands, we use the existing template as a starting point.

# stop the possibly running containers
docker_admin> cd /opt/otobo-docker
docker_admin> docker-compose down

# create a volume that is initially not connected to otobo_nginx_1
docker_admin> docker volume create otobo_nginx_custom_config

# find out where the new volume is located on the Docker host
docker_admin> otobo_nginx_custom_config_mp=$(docker volume inspect --format '{{ .Mountpoint }}' otobo_nginx_custom_config)
docker_admin> echo $otobo_nginx_custom_config_mp  # just a sanity check
docker_admin> ls $otobo_nginx_custom_config_mp    # another sanity check

# copy the default config into the new volume
docker_admin> docker create --name tmp-nginx-container rotheross/otobo-nginx-webproxy:latest-11_0
docker_admin> docker cp tmp-nginx-container:/etc/nginx/templates/otobo_nginx.conf.template $otobo_nginx_custom_config_mp # might need 'sudo'
docker_admin> ls -l $otobo_nginx_custom_config_mp/otobo_nginx.conf.template # just checking, might need 'sudo'
docker_admin> docker rm tmp-nginx-container

# adapt the file $otobo_nginx_custom_config_mp/otobo_nginx.conf.template to your needs
docker_admin> vim $otobo_nginx_custom_config_mp/otobo_nginx.conf.template

After setting up the volume, the adapted configuration must be activated. The new volume is set up in docker-compose/otobo-nginx-custom-config.yml. Therefore this file must be added to COMPOSE_FILE. Then Nginx must be directed to use the new config. This is done by setting NGINX_ENVSUBST_TEMPLATE_DIR in the environment. In order to achieve this, uncomment or add the following lines in your .env file:

COMPOSE_FILE=docker-compose/otobo-base.yml:docker-compose/otobo-override-https.yml:docker-compose/otobo-nginx-custom-config.yml
NGINX_ENVSUBST_TEMPLATE_DIR=/etc/nginx/config/template-custom

The changed Docker Compose configuration can be inspected with:

docker_admin> docker-compose config | more

Finally, the containers can be started again:

docker_admin> docker-compose up --detach

See also the section “Using environment variables in nginx configuration (new in 1.19)” in https://hub.docker.com/_/nginx.

Single Sign On Using the Kerberos Support in Nginx

Short Description

For enabling authentication with Kerberos please base you .env file on the sample file .docker_compose_env_https_kerberos. This activates the special configuration in docker-compose/otobo-override-https-kerberos.yml. This Docker compose configuration file selects a Nginx image that supports Kerberos. It also passes some Kerberos specific settings as environment values to the running Nginx container. These settings are listed above.

As usual, the values for these setting can be specified in the .env file. Most of ghese setting will be used as replacement values for the template https://github.com/RotherOSS/otobo/blob/rel-11_0/scripts/nginx/kerberos/templates/krb5.conf.template . The replacement takes place during the startup of the container. In the running container the adapted config will be available in /etc/krb5.conf.

Providing an user specific /etc/krb5.conf file is still possible. This can be done by mounting a volume that overrides /etc/krb5.conf in the container. This can be achieved by setting OTOBO_NGINX_KERBEROS_CONFIG in the .env file and by activating the mount directove in docker-compose/otobo-override-https-kerberos.yml.

/etc/krb5.keytab is always installation specific and must therefore always be mounted from the host system.

Kerberos SSO Installation Tutorial

Kerberos Single Sign On in OTOBO Docker installation

Choosing non-standard ports

Per default the ports 443 and 80 serve HTTPS and HTTP respectively. There can be cases where one or both of these ports are already used by other services. In these cases the default ports can be overridden by specifying OTOBO_WEB_HTTP_PORT and OTOBO_WEB_HTTPS_PORT in the .env file.

Skip startup of specific services

The current Docker compose setup start five, six when HTTPS is activated, services. But there are valid use cases where one or more of these services are not needed. The prime example is when the database should not run as a Docker service, but as an external database. Unfortunately there is no dedicated Docker compose option for skipping specific services. But the option –scale can be abused for this purpose. So for an installation with an external database the following command can be used:

docker_admin> docker-compose up --detach --scale db=0

Of course the same goal can also be achieved by editing the file docker-compose/otobo-base.yml and removing the relevant service definitions.

Prepare offline installation

Please download the latest version of otobo-docker on a system that has internet access and where docker is installed. Then navigate to the following folder otobo-docker/docker-compose.

cd otobo-docker/docker-compose

Now you can run the following command to download all Docker images from a specific file, in my example I use the otobo-base.yml.

for i in $(cat otobo-base.yml| grep image:| cut -d":" -f3,4 | sed -e "s/-//1" -e"s/\}//g"); do docker pull $i; docker save $i -o $(echo $i|sed "s/\//-/g").docker; done

After that, the images (.docker) are located in the docker-compose folder and can be uploaded to the target system via e.g SCP.

On the offline target system, go to the folder where the docker images are stored. And enter the following command to import them one by one.

In the following example I import the mariadb image:

docker load --input mariadb:10.5.docker

Customizing OTOBO Docker Compose

Instead of editing the files under docker-compose/ and risking to overwrite your own options with the next update of the otobo-docker folder, it is advisable to create an extra YAML file where the specific services are overwritten with additional options.

A common example would be to make the database container accessible from the outside via port 3306. For this you could create an extra docker compose file thats look like:

$ cat custom_db.yml
services:
  db:
    ports:
      - "0.0.0.0:3306:3306"

Now we have to tell docker-compose to include our new file. For this you have to add your YAML file to the COMPOSE_FILE variable in the .env file, for example:

COMPOSE_FILE=docker-compose/otobo-base.yml:docker-compose/otobo-override-http.yml:custom_db.yml

Now we can use docker-compose to recreate our container

$ docker-compose stop # if otobo is running
$ docker-compose up -d

With this procedure you can customize any service or volumes.

Customizing the OTOBO Docker image

Many customizations can be done in the external volume otobo_opt_otobo which corresponds to the directory /opt/otobo in the Docker image. This works e.g. for local Perl modules which can be installed into /opt/otobo/local. Here is an example that installs the not very useful CPAN module Acme::123.

$ docker exec -it ${COMPOSE_PROJECT_NAME:=otobo}_web_1 bash
otobo@ce36ff89e637:~$ pwd
/opt/otobo
otobo@ce36ff89e637:~$ cpanm -l local Acme::123
--> Working on Acme::123
Fetching http://www.cpan.org/authors/id/N/NA/NATHANM/Acme-123-0.04.zip ... OK
Configuring Acme-123-0.04 ... OK
Building and testing Acme-123-0.04 ... OK
Successfully installed Acme-123-0.04
1 distribution installed
otobo@ce36ff89e637:~$

The nice thing of this approach is that the Docker image itself does not have to be modified.

Installing extra Debian packages is a little bit trickier. One approach is to create a custom Dockerfile and use the OTOBO image as the base image. Another approach is to create a modified image directly from a running container. This can be done with the command docker commit, https://docs.docker.com/engine/reference/commandline/commit/. A nice writeup of that process is available at https://phoenixnap.com/kb/how-to-commit-changes-to-docker-image.

But for the latter approach there are two hurdles to overcome. First, the image otobo runs per default as the user otobo with the UID 1000. The problem is that the user otobo is not allowed to install system packages. Thus, the first part of the solution is to pass the option –user root when running the image. However the second hurdle is that the default entrypoint script /opt/otobo_install/entrypoint.sh exits immediately when it is called as root. The reasoning behind that design decision is that running inadvertently as root should be discouraged. So, the second part of the solution is to specify a different entrypoint script that does not care who the caller is. This leaves us with following example commands, where we add fortune cookies to otobo:

Pull a tagged OTOBO image, if we don’t have it yet, and check whether the image already provides fortune cookies:

$ docker run rotheross/otobo:rel-11_0_2 /usr/games/fortune
/opt/otobo_install/entrypoint.sh: line 57: /usr/games/fortune: No such file or directory

Add fortune cookies to a named container running the original OTOBO image. This is done in an interactive session as the user root:

$ docker run -it --user root --entrypoint /bin/bash --name otobo_orig rotheross/otobo:rel-11_0_2
root@50ac203409eb:/opt/otobo# apt update
root@50ac203409eb:/opt/otobo# apt install fortunes
root@50ac203409eb:/opt/otobo# exit
$ docker ps -a | head

Create an image from the stopped container and give it a name. Take into account that the default user and entrypoint script must be restored:

$ docker commit -c 'USER otobo'  -c 'ENTRYPOINT ["/opt/otobo_install/entrypoint.sh"]' otobo_orig otobo_with_fortune_cookies

Finally we can doublecheck:

$ docker run otobo_with_fortune_cookies /usr/games/fortune
A platitude is simply a truth repeated till people get tired of hearing it.
                -- Stanley Baldwin

The modified image can be specified in your .env file and then be used for fun and profit.

Building local images

Note

Building Docker images locally is usually only needed during development. Other use cases are when more current base images should be used for an installation or when extra functionality must be added to the images.

The Docker files needed for creating Docker images locally are part of the the git repository https://github.com/RotherOSS/otobo:

  • otobo.web.dockerfile
  • otobo.nginx.dockerfile
  • otobo.elasticsearch.dockerfile

The script for the actual creation of the images is bin/docker/build_docker_images.sh.

docker_admin> cd /opt
docker_admin> git clone https://github.com/RotherOSS/otobo.git
docker_admin> cd otobo
docker_admin> # checkout the wanted branch. e.g. git checkout rel-11_0
docker_admin> # modify the docker files if necessary
docker_admin> bin/docker/build_docker_images.sh
docker_admin> docker image ls

The locally built Docker images are tagged as local-<OTOBO_VERSION> using the version set up the file RELEASE.

After building the local images, one can return to the docker-compose directory. The local images are declared by setting OTOBO_IMAGE_OTOBO, OTOBO_IMAGE_OTOBO_ELASTICSEARCH, OTOBO_IMAGE_OTOBO_NGINX in .env.

Automatic Installation

Instead of going through http://yourIPorFQDN/otobo/installer.pl, one can take a short cut. This is useful for running the test suite on a fresh installation.

Warning

docker-compose down -v will remove all previous setup and data.

docker_admin> docker-compose down -v
docker_admin> docker-compose up --detach
docker_admin> docker-compose stop daemon
docker_admin> docker-compose exec web bash\
-c "rm -f Kernel/Config/Files/ZZZAAuto.pm ; bin/docker/quick_setup.pl --db-password otobo_root"
docker_admin> docker-compose exec web bash\
-c "bin/docker/run_test_suite.sh"
.......
docker_admin> docker-compose start daemon

List of useful commands

Docker

  • docker system prune -a system clean-up (removes all unused images, containers, volumes, networks)
  • docker version show version
  • docker build --tag otobo --file=otobo.web.Dockerfile . build an image
  • docker run --publish 80:5000 otobo run the new image
  • docker run -it -v opt_otobo:/opt/otobo otobo bash log into the new image
  • docker run -it -v opt_otobo:/opt/otobo --entrypoint bash otobo try that in case entrypoint.sh is broken
  • docker ps show running images
  • docker images show available images
  • docker volume ls list volumes
  • docker volume inspect otobo_opt_otobo inspect a volume
  • docker volume inspect --format '{{ .Mountpoint }}' otobo_nginx_ssl get volume mountpoint
  • docker volume rm tmp_volume remove a volume
  • docker inspect <container> inspect a container
  • docker save --output otobo.tar otobo:latest-11_0 && tar -tvf otobo.tar list files in an image
  • docker exec -it nginx-server nginx -s reload reload nginx

Docker Compose

  • docker-compose config check and show the configuration
  • docker-compose ps show the running containers
  • docker-compose exec nginx nginx -s reload reload nginx