📦 Docker Compose cho n8n

Container Orchestration

Docker Compose cho phép định nghĩa multi-container applications trong một file. Đây là cách production-ready để deploy n8n.

Docker Compose Basics

What is Docker Compose?

Text

1SINGLE CONTAINER              COMPOSE (Multi-Container)
2────────────────              ───────────────────────
3docker run                    docker-compose.yml
4  --name n8n                  ┌─────────────────────┐
5  -p 5678:5678                │ services:           │
6  -v data:/data               │   n8n:              │
7  -e VAR=value                │   postgres:         │
8  n8nio/n8n                   │   nginx:            │
9                              │   redis:            │
10❌ Hard to manage             └─────────────────────┘
11❌ No service linking         
12❌ Manual startup order        ✅ One command start
13                              ✅ Automatic networking
14                              ✅ Service dependencies

Basic Structure:

yaml

1# docker-compose.yml
2 
3version: "3.8"
4 
5services:
6  service1:
7    image: image_name
8    ports:
9      - "host:container"
10    environment:
11      - VAR=value
12    volumes:
13      - volume:/path
14    depends_on:
15      - service2
16  
17  service2:
18    image: another_image
19 
20volumes:
21  volume:
22 
23networks:
24  default:

Minimal n8n Setup

Basic docker-compose.yml:

yaml

1version: "3.8"
2 
3services:
4  n8n:
5    image: n8nio/n8n
6    container_name: n8n
7    restart: unless-stopped
8    ports:
9      - "5678:5678"
10    environment:
11      - N8N_BASIC_AUTH_ACTIVE=true
12      - N8N_BASIC_AUTH_USER=admin
13      - N8N_BASIC_AUTH_PASSWORD=changeme
14      - GENERIC_TIMEZONE=Asia/Ho_Chi_Minh
15    volumes:
16      - n8n_data:/home/node/.n8n
17 
18volumes:
19  n8n_data:

Commands:

Bash

1# Start all services
2docker compose up -d
3 
4# View logs
5docker compose logs -f
6 
7# Stop
8docker compose down
9 
10# Stop and remove volumes (careful!)
11docker compose down -v
12 
13# Rebuild after changes
14docker compose up -d --build

Production Setup với PostgreSQL

Why PostgreSQL?

Text

1SQLITE (Default)         POSTGRESQL
2────────────────         ──────────
3✅ Zero config           ✅ Better performance
4✅ Good for dev          ✅ Concurrent access
5❌ Single file           ✅ Better backups
6❌ Not scalable          ✅ Replication ready
7❌ Locking issues        ✅ Production standard

Full Stack docker-compose.yml:

yaml

1version: "3.8"
2 
3services:
4  # PostgreSQL Database
5  postgres:
6    image: postgres:15-alpine
7    container_name: n8n-postgres
8    restart: unless-stopped
9    environment:
10      POSTGRES_USER: n8n
11      POSTGRES_PASSWORD: ${POSTGRES_PASSWORD}
12      POSTGRES_DB: n8n
13    volumes:
14      - postgres_data:/var/lib/postgresql/data
15    healthcheck:
16      test: ["CMD-SHELL", "pg_isready -U n8n"]
17      interval: 10s
18      timeout: 5s
19      retries: 5
20 
21  # n8n Application
22  n8n:
23    image: n8nio/n8n
24    container_name: n8n
25    restart: unless-stopped
26    depends_on:
27      postgres:
28        condition: service_healthy
29    ports:
30      - "5678:5678"
31    environment:
32      # Database
33      - DB_TYPE=postgresdb
34      - DB_POSTGRESDB_HOST=postgres
35      - DB_POSTGRESDB_PORT=5432
36      - DB_POSTGRESDB_DATABASE=n8n
37      - DB_POSTGRESDB_USER=n8n
38      - DB_POSTGRESDB_PASSWORD=${POSTGRES_PASSWORD}
39      
40      # n8n Settings
41      - N8N_BASIC_AUTH_ACTIVE=true
42      - N8N_BASIC_AUTH_USER=${N8N_USER}
43      - N8N_BASIC_AUTH_PASSWORD=${N8N_PASSWORD}
44      - N8N_HOST=${N8N_HOST}
45      - N8N_PORT=5678
46      - N8N_PROTOCOL=https
47      - WEBHOOK_URL=https://${N8N_HOST}/
48      
49      # Timezone
50      - GENERIC_TIMEZONE=Asia/Ho_Chi_Minh
51      - TZ=Asia/Ho_Chi_Minh
52      
53      # Execution Settings
54      - EXECUTIONS_DATA_PRUNE=true
55      - EXECUTIONS_DATA_MAX_AGE=168
56      
57    volumes:
58      - n8n_data:/home/node/.n8n
59 
60volumes:
61  postgres_data:
62  n8n_data:

Environment File (.env):

Bash

1# .env file (same directory as docker-compose.yml)
2 
3# PostgreSQL
4POSTGRES_PASSWORD=super_secure_password_123
5 
6# n8n
7N8N_HOST=n8n.yourdomain.com
8N8N_USER=admin
9N8N_PASSWORD=another_secure_password_456

Security

Never commit .env to git
Add .env to .gitignore
Use strong passwords (20+ chars)

Adding Nginx Reverse Proxy

With SSL (Let's Encrypt):

yaml

1version: "3.8"
2 
3services:
4  # Nginx Reverse Proxy
5  nginx:
6    image: nginx:alpine
7    container_name: n8n-nginx
8    restart: unless-stopped
9    ports:
10      - "80:80"
11      - "443:443"
12    volumes:
13      - ./nginx.conf:/etc/nginx/nginx.conf:ro
14      - ./ssl:/etc/nginx/ssl:ro
15      - ./certbot:/var/www/certbot:ro
16    depends_on:
17      - n8n
18 
19  # Let's Encrypt Certbot
20  certbot:
21    image: certbot/certbot
22    container_name: n8n-certbot
23    volumes:
24      - ./ssl:/etc/letsencrypt
25      - ./certbot:/var/www/certbot
26    entrypoint: "/bin/sh -c 'trap exit TERM; while :; do certbot renew; sleep 12h & wait $${!}; done;'"
27 
28  postgres:
29    # ... same as before
30 
31  n8n:
32    # ... same as before
33    # Remove ports section (nginx handles external traffic)

nginx.conf:

nginx

1events {
2    worker_connections 1024;
3}
4 
5http {
6    # Redirect HTTP to HTTPS
7    server {
8        listen 80;
9        server_name n8n.yourdomain.com;
10        
11        location /.well-known/acme-challenge/ {
12            root /var/www/certbot;
13        }
14        
15        location / {
16            return 301 https://$host$request_uri;
17        }
18    }
19 
20    # HTTPS Server
21    server {
22        listen 443 ssl http2;
23        server_name n8n.yourdomain.com;
24 
25        ssl_certificate /etc/nginx/ssl/live/n8n.yourdomain.com/fullchain.pem;
26        ssl_certificate_key /etc/nginx/ssl/live/n8n.yourdomain.com/privkey.pem;
27        
28        # SSL Settings
29        ssl_protocols TLSv1.2 TLSv1.3;
30        ssl_prefer_server_ciphers on;
31        ssl_ciphers ECDHE-ECDSA-AES128-GCM-SHA256:ECDHE-RSA-AES128-GCM-SHA256;
32 
33        # Proxy Settings
34        location / {
35            proxy_pass http://n8n:5678;
36            proxy_http_version 1.1;
37            proxy_set_header Upgrade $http_upgrade;
38            proxy_set_header Connection "upgrade";
39            proxy_set_header Host $host;
40            proxy_set_header X-Real-IP $remote_addr;
41            proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for;
42            proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Proto $scheme;
43            
44            # Timeouts for long-running workflows
45            proxy_connect_timeout 300;
46            proxy_send_timeout 300;
47            proxy_read_timeout 300;
48        }
49    }
50}

Initial SSL Setup:

Bash

1# First time: get certificate
2docker compose run --rm certbot certonly \
3  --webroot \
4  --webroot-path=/var/www/certbot \
5  --email your@email.com \
6  --agree-tos \
7  --no-eff-email \
8  -d n8n.yourdomain.com

Using Traefik (Alternative)

Traefik vs Nginx:

Text

1NGINX                    TRAEFIK
2─────                    ───────
3Manual config            Auto-discovery
4Manual SSL               Auto Let's Encrypt
5Static                   Dynamic
6Simpler                  More features
7 
8Recommendation: Nginx for single app
9               Traefik for multiple apps

Traefik Setup:

yaml

1version: "3.8"
2 
3services:
4  traefik:
5    image: traefik:v2.10
6    container_name: traefik
7    restart: unless-stopped
8    command:
9      - "--api.dashboard=true"
10      - "--providers.docker=true"
11      - "--providers.docker.exposedbydefault=false"
12      - "--entrypoints.web.address=:80"
13      - "--entrypoints.websecure.address=:443"
14      - "--certificatesresolvers.letsencrypt.acme.httpchallenge=true"
15      - "--certificatesresolvers.letsencrypt.acme.httpchallenge.entrypoint=web"
16      - "--certificatesresolvers.letsencrypt.acme.email=your@email.com"
17      - "--certificatesresolvers.letsencrypt.acme.storage=/letsencrypt/acme.json"
18    ports:
19      - "80:80"
20      - "443:443"
21    volumes:
22      - /var/run/docker.sock:/var/run/docker.sock:ro
23      - ./letsencrypt:/letsencrypt
24 
25  n8n:
26    image: n8nio/n8n
27    container_name: n8n
28    restart: unless-stopped
29    labels:
30      - "traefik.enable=true"
31      - "traefik.http.routers.n8n.rule=Host(`n8n.yourdomain.com`)"
32      - "traefik.http.routers.n8n.entrypoints=websecure"
33      - "traefik.http.routers.n8n.tls.certresolver=letsencrypt"
34      - "traefik.http.services.n8n.loadbalancer.server.port=5678"
35    environment:
36      # ... same as before
37    volumes:
38      - n8n_data:/home/node/.n8n

Adding Redis (Queue Mode)

For High Availability:

yaml

1services:
2  redis:
3    image: redis:7-alpine
4    container_name: n8n-redis
5    restart: unless-stopped
6    volumes:
7      - redis_data:/data
8    healthcheck:
9      test: ["CMD", "redis-cli", "ping"]
10      interval: 10s
11      timeout: 5s
12      retries: 5
13 
14  n8n:
15    # ... existing config
16    environment:
17      # Add queue mode settings
18      - EXECUTIONS_MODE=queue
19      - QUEUE_BULL_REDIS_HOST=redis
20      - QUEUE_BULL_REDIS_PORT=6379
21      - QUEUE_HEALTH_CHECK_ACTIVE=true
22    depends_on:
23      redis:
24        condition: service_healthy
25      postgres:
26        condition: service_healthy
27 
28volumes:
29  redis_data:

Complete Production Stack

Full docker-compose.yml:

yaml

1version: "3.8"
2 
3services:
4  nginx:
5    image: nginx:alpine
6    container_name: n8n-nginx
7    restart: unless-stopped
8    ports:
9      - "80:80"
10      - "443:443"
11    volumes:
12      - ./nginx.conf:/etc/nginx/nginx.conf:ro
13      - ./ssl:/etc/nginx/ssl:ro
14      - ./certbot:/var/www/certbot:ro
15    depends_on:
16      - n8n
17    networks:
18      - n8n-network
19 
20  postgres:
21    image: postgres:15-alpine
22    container_name: n8n-postgres
23    restart: unless-stopped
24    environment:
25      POSTGRES_USER: n8n
26      POSTGRES_PASSWORD: ${POSTGRES_PASSWORD}
27      POSTGRES_DB: n8n
28    volumes:
29      - postgres_data:/var/lib/postgresql/data
30    healthcheck:
31      test: ["CMD-SHELL", "pg_isready -U n8n"]
32      interval: 10s
33      timeout: 5s
34      retries: 5
35    networks:
36      - n8n-network
37 
38  redis:
39    image: redis:7-alpine
40    container_name: n8n-redis
41    restart: unless-stopped
42    command: redis-server --appendonly yes
43    volumes:
44      - redis_data:/data
45    healthcheck:
46      test: ["CMD", "redis-cli", "ping"]
47      interval: 10s
48      timeout: 5s
49      retries: 5
50    networks:
51      - n8n-network
52 
53  n8n:
54    image: n8nio/n8n
55    container_name: n8n
56    restart: unless-stopped
57    depends_on:
58      postgres:
59        condition: service_healthy
60      redis:
61        condition: service_healthy
62    environment:
63      # Database
64      - DB_TYPE=postgresdb
65      - DB_POSTGRESDB_HOST=postgres
66      - DB_POSTGRESDB_PORT=5432
67      - DB_POSTGRESDB_DATABASE=n8n
68      - DB_POSTGRESDB_USER=n8n
69      - DB_POSTGRESDB_PASSWORD=${POSTGRES_PASSWORD}
70      
71      # Queue Mode
72      - EXECUTIONS_MODE=queue
73      - QUEUE_BULL_REDIS_HOST=redis
74      - QUEUE_BULL_REDIS_PORT=6379
75      
76      # n8n Config
77      - N8N_BASIC_AUTH_ACTIVE=true
78      - N8N_BASIC_AUTH_USER=${N8N_USER}
79      - N8N_BASIC_AUTH_PASSWORD=${N8N_PASSWORD}
80      - N8N_HOST=${N8N_HOST}
81      - N8N_PORT=5678
82      - N8N_PROTOCOL=https
83      - WEBHOOK_URL=https://${N8N_HOST}/
84      
85      # Timezone
86      - GENERIC_TIMEZONE=Asia/Ho_Chi_Minh
87      - TZ=Asia/Ho_Chi_Minh
88      
89      # Execution
90      - EXECUTIONS_DATA_PRUNE=true
91      - EXECUTIONS_DATA_MAX_AGE=168
92      
93    volumes:
94      - n8n_data:/home/node/.n8n
95    networks:
96      - n8n-network
97 
98volumes:
99  postgres_data:
100  redis_data:
101  n8n_data:
102 
103networks:
104  n8n-network:
105    driver: bridge

Useful Commands

Bash

1# Start stack
2docker compose up -d
3 
4# View all logs
5docker compose logs -f
6 
7# View specific service logs
8docker compose logs -f n8n
9 
10# Restart single service
11docker compose restart n8n
12 
13# Scale service (queue mode)
14docker compose up -d --scale n8n=3
15 
16# Update images
17docker compose pull
18docker compose up -d
19 
20# Full cleanup
21docker compose down -v --rmi all
22 
23# Check status
24docker compose ps

Bài Tập Thực Hành

Hands-On Challenge

Build your production stack:

Create directory structure:

Text

1n8n/
2├── docker-compose.yml
3├── .env
4├── nginx.conf
5└── README.md

Start with basic stack (n8n + postgres)
Add nginx reverse proxy
Configure SSL (self-signed for testing)
Test webhook URL externally
Document your setup in README

Share your docker-compose in community! 📦

Bài tiếp theo: Cloud Platforms - Deploy n8n trên Railway, Render, và DigitalOcean một cách nhanh chóng.

📦 Docker Compose cho n8n

Docker Compose Basics

What is Docker Compose?

Basic Structure:

Minimal n8n Setup

Basic docker-compose.yml:

Commands:

Production Setup với PostgreSQL

Why PostgreSQL?

Full Stack docker-compose.yml:

Environment File (.env):

Adding Nginx Reverse Proxy

With SSL (Let's Encrypt):

nginx.conf:

Initial SSL Setup:

Using Traefik (Alternative)

Traefik vs Nginx:

Traefik Setup:

Adding Redis (Queue Mode)

For High Availability:

Complete Production Stack

Full docker-compose.yml:

Useful Commands

Bài Tập Thực Hành

Tiếp Theo