Installation of Seafile Server Community Edition with Docker¶
Requirements¶
Seafile Community Edition requires a minimum of 2 cores and 2GB RAM.
Getting started¶
The following assumptions and conventions are used in the rest of this document:
/opt/seafileis the directory for store Seafile docker compose files. If you decide to put Seafile in a different directory — which you can — adjust all paths accordingly.- Seafile uses two Docker volumes for persisting data generated in its database and Seafile Docker container. The volumes' host paths are
/opt/seafile-mysqland/opt/seafile-data, respectively. It is not recommended to change these paths. If you do, account for it when following these instructions. - All configuration and log files for Seafile and the webserver Nginx are stored in the volume of the Seafile container.
Install docker¶
Use the official installation guide for your OS to install Docker.
Download and modify .env¶
From Seafile Docker 12.0, we use .env, seafile-server.yml and caddy.yml files for configuration
mkdir /opt/seafile
cd /opt/seafile
# Seafile CE 12.0
wget -O .env https://manual.seafile.com/12.0/docker/ce/env
wget https://manual.seafile.com/12.0/docker/ce/seafile-server.yml
wget https://manual.seafile.com/12.0/docker/caddy.yml
nano .env
The following fields merit particular attention:
| Variable | Description | Default Value |
|---|---|---|
SEAFILE_VOLUME |
The volume directory of Seafile data | /opt/seafile-data |
SEAFILE_MYSQL_VOLUME |
The volume directory of MySQL data | /opt/seafile-mysql/db |
SEAFILE_CADDY_VOLUME |
The volume directory of Caddy data used to store certificates obtained from Let's Encrypt's | /opt/seafile-caddy |
INIT_SEAFILE_MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD |
The root password of MySQL |
(required) |
SEAFILE_MYSQL_DB_USER |
The user of MySQL (database - user can be found in conf/seafile.conf) |
seafile |
SEAFILE_MYSQL_DB_PASSWORD |
The user seafile password of MySQL |
(required) |
JWT |
JWT_PRIVATE_KEY, A random string with a length of no less than 32 characters is required for Seafile, which can be generated by using pwgen -s 40 1 |
(required) |
SEAFILE_SERVER_HOSTNAME |
Seafile server hostname or domain | (required) |
SEAFILE_SERVER_PROTOCOL |
Seafile server protocol (http or https) | http |
TIME_ZONE |
Time zone | UTC |
INIT_SEAFILE_ADMIN_EMAIL |
Admin username | me@example.com (Recommend modifications) |
INIT_SEAFILE_ADMIN_PASSWORD |
Admin password | asecret (Recommend modifications) |
Start Seafile server¶
Start Seafile server with the following command
docker compose up -d
Note
You must run the above command in the directory with the .env. If .env file is elsewhere, please run
docker compose -f /path/to/.env up -d
Wait for a few minutes for the first time initialization, then visit http://seafile.example.com to open Seafile Web UI.
Seafile directory structure¶
Path /opt/seafile-data¶
Placeholder spot for shared volumes. You may elect to store certain persistent information outside of a container, in our case we keep various log files and upload directory outside. This allows you to rebuild containers easily without losing important information.
- /opt/seafile-data/seafile: This is the directory for seafile server configuration and data.
- /opt/seafile-data/seafile/logs: This is the directory that would contain the log files of seafile server processes. For example, you can find seaf-server logs in
/opt/seafile-data/seafile/logs/seafile.log.
- /opt/seafile-data/seafile/logs: This is the directory that would contain the log files of seafile server processes. For example, you can find seaf-server logs in
- /opt/seafile-data/logs: This is the directory for operating system.
- /opt/seafile-data/logs/var-log: This is the directory that would be mounted as
/var/loginside the container./opt/seafile-data/logs/var-log/nginxcontains the logs of Nginx in the Seafile container.
- /opt/seafile-data/logs/var-log: This is the directory that would be mounted as
Tip
From Seafile Docker 12.0, we use the Caddy to do web service proxy. If you would like to access the logs of Caddy, you can use following command:
docker logs seafile-caddy --follow
Find logs¶
To monitor container logs (from outside of the container), please use the following commands:
# if the `.env` file is in current directory:
docker compose logs --follow
# if the `.env` file is elsewhere:
docker compose -f /path/to/.env logs --follow
# you can also specify container name:
docker compose logs seafile --follow
# or, if the `.env` file is elsewhere:
docker compose -f /path/to/.env logs seafile --follow
The Seafile logs are under /shared/logs/seafile in the docker, or /opt/seafile-data/logs/seafile in the server that run the docker.
The system logs are under /shared/logs/var-log, or /opt/seafile-data/logs/var-log in the server that run the docker.
To monitor all Seafile logs simultaneously (from outside of the container), run
sudo tail -f $(find /opt/seafile-data/ -type f -name *.log 2>/dev/null)
More configuration options¶
The config files are under /opt/seafile-data/seafile/conf. You can modify the configurations according to configuration section
Add a new admin¶
Ensure the container is running, then enter this command:
docker exec -it seafile /opt/seafile/seafile-server-latest/reset-admin.sh
Enter the username and password according to the prompts. You now have a new admin account.
Backup and recovery¶
Follow the instructions in Backup and restore for Seafile Docker
Garbage collection¶
When files are deleted, the blocks comprising those files are not immediately removed as there may be other files that reference those blocks (due to the magic of deduplication). To remove them, Seafile requires a 'garbage collection' process to be run, which detects which blocks no longer used and purges them.
The required scripts can be found in the /scripts folder of the docker container. To perform garbage collection, simply run docker exec seafile /scripts/gc.sh.
FAQ¶
Q: If I want enter into the Docker container, which command I can use?
A: You can enter into the docker container using the command:
docker exec -it seafile /bin/bash
Q: I forgot the Seafile admin email address/password, how do I create a new admin account?
A: You can create a new admin account by running
docker exec -it seafile /opt/seafile/seafile-server-latest/reset-admin.sh
The Seafile service must be up when running the superuser command.
Q: If, for whatever reason, the installation fails, how do I to start from a clean slate again?
A: Remove the directories /opt/seafile, /opt/seafile-data and /opt/seafile-mysql and start again.
Q: Something goes wrong during the start of the containers. How can I find out more?
A: You can view the docker logs using this command: docker compose logs -f.