Standard Setup Guide for Self-Hosted

This guide is for setting up Hudu with a free LetsEncrypt SSL certificate that will renew automatically for you. If you are looking to use a custom SSL certificate, you may want to read this article for alternative options: Getting Started with Hudu Self-Hosted.

Prerequisites

In order to self-host Hudu, you will need:

• Server with at least 4GB memory and at least 1 CPU (as long as there is no contention), with Ubuntu (20.04, 22.04, or 24.04) as the OS.
• SMTP server for sending outgoing mail.
• An A record pointed to the Public IP of the instance. Usually something like docs.mywebsite.com or hudu.mywebsite.com
• Ports 443 and 80 opened externally (required for LetsEncrypt).

Guides

Video Instructions

Would you prefer a video walk-through of the setup? Here is a video from one of our great partners.

Instructions

• Test that ports 443 and 80 are opened for your publicly accessible A record.
  • Enter your URL to this tool. If both ports aren't showing as open, then you will need to fix that first.
• SSH into the server you are wishing to host Hudu on.
• Install Docker CE on the server. Setup instructions can be found here. Do not use SNAP to install Docker - this will cause issues later on.
• Create a blank directory named hudu2 on the home directory. On Ubuntu, you can do this by typing:

  mkdir ~/hudu2

  Move into the directory. On Ubuntu:

  cd ~/hudu2

• Place a file named docker-compose.yml in the directory.
  Expand to copy the content for the docker-compose.yml file

  volumes: 
    postgres_data: {}
    app_data: {}
    redis_data: {}
  services:
    db: 
      image: 'postgres:16.2-alpine'
      volumes: 
        - postgres_data:/var/lib/postgresql/data
      env_file:
        - '.env'
      logging:
        driver: "json-file"
        options:
          max-file: "5"
          max-size: "10m"
      restart: unless-stopped
    redis:
      image: 'redis:latest'
      command: redis-server
      volumes:
        - redis_data:/var/lib/redis/data
      restart: unless-stopped
    app: 
      image: hududocker/hudu:latest
      env_file:
        - '.env'
      volumes:
        - app_data:/var/www/hudu2/public/uploads/
        - app_data:/var/www/hudu2/uploads/ 
        - app_data:/var/lib/app/data
      depends_on: 
        - db
        - redis
      logging:
        driver: "json-file"
        options:
          max-file: "5"
          max-size: "100m"
      restart: unless-stopped
    worker:
      depends_on:
        - db
        - redis
      image: hududocker/hudu:latest
      command: bundle exec sidekiq -C config/sidekiq.yml
      volumes:
        - app_data:/var/www/hudu2/public/uploads/
        - app_data:/var/www/hudu2/uploads/
        - '.:/app'
      env_file:
        - '.env'
      logging:
        driver: "json-file"
        options:
          max-file: "5"
          max-size: "100m"
      restart: unless-stopped
    letsencrypt:
      image: lscr.io/linuxserver/swag
      container_name: letsencrypt
      cap_add:
        - NET_ADMIN
      env_file:
        - '.env'
      depends_on:
        - app
      volumes:
        - /var/www/hudu2/config:/config
      ports:
        - 443:443
        - 80:80
      restart: unless-stopped

      Already have a production environment and want to update your docker-compose.yml file? Please visit our Upgrade Postgres in a Production Environment article for more information!

• Place a file named .env in the directory. The contents need to be generated with our config generator: here.

• When both files are residing within the directory, run the command: sudo docker compose up -d to start your Hudu instance.
• Wait for the command to execute. You will know it is done when you can visit your domain and see a page referring to SWAG (the name of the SSL Cert Tool we use).
• You will now need to set up an SSL certificate for your instance. Type sudo docker compose down to shut down your instance.
• Navigate to /var/www/hudu2/config/nginx/site-confs/. With Ubuntu, you can do this by typing: cd /var/www/hudu2/config/nginx/site-confs/
• Edit the file named default.conf and replace ALL of the contents with this file named default:
  Expand to copy the content for the default.conf file

  ## Version 2019/08/01 - Changelog: https://github.com/linuxserver/docker-letsencrypt/commits/master/root/defaults/default
  
  # redirect all traffic to https
  server {
    listen 80 default_server;
    listen [::]:80 default_server;
    server_name _;
    return 301 https://$host$request_uri;
  }
  
  server { 
   server_name _;
   
   listen 443 ssl; 
   listen [::]:443 ssl; 
   http2 on;
    
    root   /var/www/hudu2/public;
    index  index.html;
  
    include /config/nginx/ssl.conf;
  
    # deny requests for files that should never be accessed
    location ~ /\. {
      deny all;
    }
  
    location ~* ^.+\.(rb|log)$ {
      deny all;
    }
    location /cable {        
        proxy_pass http://app:3000/cable;      
  	  proxy_http_version 1.1;       
  	  proxy_set_header Upgrade $http_upgrade;        
  	  proxy_set_header Connection "upgrade";        
  	  proxy_set_header Host $host;        
  	  proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for;         
  	  proxy_read_timeout 240s;       
  	  proxy_send_timeout 240s;         
  	  proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Proto $scheme;        
  	  proxy_set_header X-Real-IP $remote_addr;        
  	  proxy_pass_request_headers on;        
  	  proxy_buffering off;        
  	  proxy_redirect off;        
  	  break;    
    }
  
    # send non-static file requests to the app server
    location / {
      try_files $uri @rails;
    }
  
    location @rails {
      include /config/nginx/proxy.conf;
      proxy_pass http://app:3000;
    }
  }
  
  # enable subdomain method reverse proxy confs
  include /config/nginx/proxy-confs/*.subdomain.conf;
  # enable proxy cache for auth
  proxy_cache_path cache/ keys_zone=auth_cache:10m;

• Navigate back to the hudu2 folder. On Ubuntu: cd ~/hudu2
• Start the instance again: sudo docker compose up -d
• Your Hudu should now be up and running! Visit your domain to confirm. If you see a Hudu sign-up screen, it's successful. Head to the Hudu HQ Billing Portal for a license key.

• If you don't see this screen, contact support, and please provide logs: sudo docker compose logs 

• • Please paste these into something like Pastebin.com