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Seafile Docker Cluster Deployment

Seafile Docker cluster deployment requires "sticky session" settings in the load balancer. Otherwise sometimes folder download on the web UI can't work properly. Read the Load Balancer Setting for details.

Environment

System: Ubuntu 24.04

Seafile Server: 2 frontend nodes, 1 backend node

We assume you have already deployed memcache, MariaDB, ElasticSearch in separate machines and use S3 like object storage.

Deploy Seafile service

Deploy the first Seafile frontend node

  1. Create the mount directory

    mkdir -p /opt/seafile/shared

  2. Pulling Seafile image

    docker pull seafileltd/seafile-pro-mc:12.0-latest

    Note

    Since v12.0, Seafile PE versions are hosted on DockerHub and does not require username and password to download.

  3. Download the seafile-server.yml and .env

    wget -O .env https://manual.seafile.com/12.0/docker/cluster/env
wget https://manual.seafile.com/12.0/docker/cluster/seafile-server.yml

  4. Modify the variables in .env (especially the terms like <...>).

    Tip

    If you have already deployed S3 storage backend and plan to apply it to Seafile cluster, you can modify the variables in .env to set them synchronously during initialization.

  5. Start the Seafile docker

    $ cd /opt/seafile
$ docker compose up -d

    Cluster init mode

    Because CLUSTER_INIT_MODE is true in the .env file, Seafile docker will be started in init mode and generate configuration files. As the results, you can see the following lines if you trace the Seafile container (i.e., docker logs seafile):

    ---------------------------------
This is your configuration
---------------------------------

    server name:            seafile
    server ip/domain:       seafile.example.com

    seafile data dir:       /opt/seafile/seafile-data
    fileserver port:        8082

    database:               create new
    ccnet database:         ccnet_db
    seafile database:       seafile_db
    seahub database:        seahub_db
    database user:          seafile


Generating seafile configuration ...

done
Generating seahub configuration ...


-----------------------------------------------------------------
Your seafile server configuration has been finished successfully.
-----------------------------------------------------------------


[2024-11-21 02:22:37] Updating version stamp
Start init

Init success

  6. In initialization mode, the service will not be started. During this time you can check the generated configuration files (e.g., MySQL, Memcached, Elasticsearch) in configuration files:

  7. After initailizing the cluster, the following fields can be removed in .env

    • CLUSTER_INIT_MODE, must be removed from .env file
    • CLUSTER_INIT_MEMCACHED_HOST
    • CLUSTER_INIT_ES_HOST
    • CLUSTER_INIT_ES_PORT
    • INIT_S3_STORAGE_BACKEND_CONFIG
    • INIT_S3_COMMIT_BUCKET
    • INIT_S3_FS_BUCKET
    • INIT_S3_BLOCK_BUCKET
    • INIT_S3_KEY_ID
    • INIT_S3_SECRET_KEY

    Tip

    We recommend that you check that the relevant configuration files are correct and copy the SEAFILE_VOLUME directory before the service is officially started, because only the configuration files are generated after initialization. You can directly migrate the entire copied SEAFILE_VOLUME to other nodes later:

    cp -r /opt/seafile/shared /opt/seafile/shared-bak

  8. Restart the container to start the service in frontend node

    docker compose down
docker compose up -d

    Frontend node starts successfully

    After executing the above command, you can trace the logs of container seafile (i.e., docker logs seafile). You can see the following message if the frontend node starts successfully:

    *** Running /etc/my_init.d/01_create_data_links.sh...
*** Booting runit daemon...
*** Runit started as PID 20
*** Running /scripts/enterpoint.sh...
2024-11-21 03:02:35 Nginx ready 

2024-11-21 03:02:35 This is an idle script (infinite loop) to keep container running. 
---------------------------------

Seafile cluster frontend mode

---------------------------------


Starting seafile server, please wait ...
License file /opt/seafile/seafile-license.txt does not exist, allow at most 3 trial users
Seafile server started

Done.

Starting seahub at port 8000 ...

Seahub is started

Done.

Deploy the others Seafile frontend nodes

You can directly copy all the directories generated by the first frontend node, including the Docker-compose files (e.g., seafile-server.yml, .env) and modified configuration files, and then start the seafile docker container:

docker compose down
docker compose up -d

Deploy seafile backend node

  1. Create the mount directory

    $ mkdir -p /opt/seafile/shared

  2. Pulling Seafile image

  3. Copy seafile-server.yml, .env and configuration files from frontend node

    Note

    The configuration files from frontend node have to be put in the same path as the frontend node, i.e., /opt/seafile/shared/seafile/conf/*

  4. Modify .env, set CLUSTER_MODE to backend

  5. Start the service in the backend node

    docker compose up -d

    Backend node starts successfully

    After executing the above command, you can trace the logs of container seafile (i.e., docker logs seafile). You can see the following message if the backend node starts successfully:

    *** Running /etc/my_init.d/01_create_data_links.sh...
*** Booting runit daemon...
*** Runit started as PID 21
*** Running /scripts/enterpoint.sh...
2024-11-21 03:11:59 Nginx ready 
2024-11-21 03:11:59 This is an idle script (infinite loop) to keep container running. 

---------------------------------

Seafile cluster backend mode

---------------------------------


Starting seafile server, please wait ...
License file /opt/seafile/seafile-license.txt does not exist, allow at most 3 trial users
Seafile server started

Done.

Starting seafile background tasks ...
Done.

Deploy load balance (Optional)

Install HAproxy and Keepalived services

Execute the following commands on the two Seafile frontend servers:

$ apt install haproxy keepalived -y

$ mv /etc/haproxy/haproxy.cfg /etc/haproxy/haproxy.cfg.bak

$ cat > /etc/haproxy/haproxy.cfg << 'EOF'
global
    log 127.0.0.1 local1 notice
    maxconn 4096
    user haproxy
    group haproxy

defaults
    log global
    mode http
    retries 3
    timeout connect 10000
    timeout client 300000
    timeout server 36000000

listen seafile 0.0.0.0:80
    mode http
    option httplog
    option dontlognull
    option forwardfor
    cookie SERVERID insert indirect nocache
    server seafile01 Front-End01-IP:8001 check port 11001 cookie seafile01
    server seafile02 Front-End02-IP:8001 check port 11001 cookie seafile02
EOF

Warning

Please correctly modify the IP address (Front-End01-IP and Front-End02-IP) of the frontend server in the above configuration file. Other wise it cannot work properly.

Choose one of the above two servers as the master node, and the other as the slave node.

Perform the following operations on the master node:

$ cat > /etc/keepalived/keepalived.conf << 'EOF'
! Configuration File for keepalived

global_defs {
    notification_email {
        root@localhost
    }
    notification_email_from keepalived@localhost
    smtp_server 127.0.0.1
    smtp_connect_timeout 30
    router_id node1
    vrrp_mcast_group4 224.0.100.18
}

vrrp_instance VI_1 {
    state MASTER
    interface eno1   # Set to the device name of a valid network interface on the current server, and the virtual IP will be bound to the network interface
    virtual_router_id 50
    priority 100
    advert_int 1
    authentication {
        auth_type PASS
        auth_pass seafile123
    }
    virtual_ipaddress {
        172.26.154.45/24 dev eno1  # Configure to the correct virtual IP and network interface device name
    }
}
EOF

Warning

Please correctly configure the virtual IP address and network interface device name in the above file. Other wise it cannot work properly.

Perform the following operations on the standby node:

$ cat > /etc/keepalived/keepalived.conf << 'EOF'
! Configuration File for keepalived

global_defs {
    notification_email {
        root@localhost
    }
    notification_email_from keepalived@localhost
    smtp_server 127.0.0.1
    smtp_connect_timeout 30
    router_id node2
    vrrp_mcast_group4 224.0.100.18
}

vrrp_instance VI_1 {
    state BACKUP
    interface eno1   # Set to the device name of a valid network interface on the current server, and the virtual IP will be bound to the network interface
    virtual_router_id 50
    priority 98
    advert_int 1
    authentication {
        auth_type PASS
        auth_pass seafile123
    }
    virtual_ipaddress {
        172.26.154.45/24 dev eno1   # Configure to the correct virtual IP and network interface device name
    }
}
EOF

Finally, run the following commands on the two Seafile frontend servers to start the corresponding services:

$ systemctl enable --now haproxy
$ systemctl enable --now keepalived

So far, Seafile cluster has been deployed.

(Optional) Deploy SeaDoc server

You can follow here to deploy SeaDoc server. And then modify SEADOC_SERVER_URL in your .env file