Deployment configurations
- Currently, only one kind of application deployment is supported:
Docker Deploy Daemon
Docker Deploy Daemon
Orchestrates the deployment of applications as Docker containers.
Warning
The administrator is responsible for the security actions taken to configure the Docker daemon connected to the Nextcloud instance.
These schemes are only examples of possible configurations.
We recommend that you use the AppAPI Docker Socket Proxy or AIO Docker Socket Proxy container.
There are several Docker Daemon Deploy configurations (example schemes):
Nextcloud and Docker on the same host (via socket or DockerSocketProxy)
Nextcloud on the host and Docker on a remote host (via DockerSocketProxy with HTTPS)
Nextcloud and ExApps in the same Docker (via DockerSocketProxy)
Nextcloud in AIO Docker and ExApps in the same Docker (via AIO DockerSocketProxy)
NC & Docker on the Same-Host
The simplest configuration is when Nextcloud is installed on the host and Docker is on the same host and applications are deployed to it.
- Suggested config values(template Custom default):
Daemon host:
/var/run/docker.sockHTTPS checkbox: not supported using docker socket
Network:
hostHaProxy password: not supported using raw docker socket, should be empty
—
Suggested way to communicate with Docker via Docker Socket Proxy container.
- Suggested config values(template Docker Socket Proxy):
- Daemon host:
localhost:2375 - Choose A or B option:
Docker Socket Proxy should be deployed with
network=hostandBIND_ADDRESS=127.0.0.1Docker Socket Proxy should be deployed with
network=bridgeand it’s port should be published to host’s 127.0.0.1(e.g. -p 127.0.0.1:2375:2375)
- Daemon host:
HTTPS checkbox: disabled
Network:
hostHaProxy password: should not be empty
Warning
Be careful with option A, by default Docker Socket Proxy binds to * if BIND_ADDRESS is not specified during container creation.
Check opened ports after finishing configuration.
Docker on a remote host
Distributed configuration occurs when Nextcloud is installed on one host and Docker is located on a remote host, resulting in the deployment of applications on the remote host.
Benefit: no performance impact on Nextcloud host.
In this case, the AppAPI uses a Docker Socket Proxy deployed on remote host to access docker socket and ExApps.
- Suggested config values(template Docker Socket Proxy):
Daemon host: ADDRESS_OF_REMOTE_MACHINE (e.g. server_name.com:2375)
HTTPS checkbox:
enabledNetwork:
hostHaProxy password: should not be empty
NC & ExApps in the same Docker
Applications are deployed in the same Docker where Nextcloud resides.
Suggested way to communicate with Docker: via docker-socket-proxy.
- Suggested config values(template Docker Socket Proxy):
Daemon host: nextcloud-appapi-dsp:2375
HTTPS checkbox:
disabledNetwork: user defined network
HaProxy password: should not be empty
Note
Network should not be the default docker’s bridge as it does not support DNS resolving by container names.
This means that Docker Socket Proxy, Nextcloud and ExApps containers should all be in the same docker network, different from the default bridge.
Nextcloud in Docker AIO (all-in-one)
In the case of AppAPI in Docker AIO setup (installed in Nextcloud container).
Note
AIO Docker Socket Proxy container must be enabled.
AppAPI will automatically create the default DaemonConfig for AIO Docker Socket Proxy in order to use it as an orchestrator to create ExApp containers.
Note
Default DaemonConfig will be created only if the default DaemonConfig is not already registered.
Default AIO Deploy Daemon
Nextcloud AIO has a specifically created Docker Socket Proxy container to be used as the Deploy Daemon in AppAPI. It has fixed parameters:
Name:
docker_aioDisplay name:
AIO Docker Socket ProxyAccepts Deploy ID:
docker-installProtocol:
httpHost:
nextcloud-aio-docker-socket-proxy:2375Compute device:
CPUNetwork:
nextcloud-aioNextcloud URL (passed to ExApps):
https://$NC_DOMAIN
Docker Socket Proxy security
AIO Docker Socket Proxy has strictly limited access to the Docker APIs described in HAProxy configuration.
NC to ExApp Communication
Each type of DeployDaemon necessarily implements the resolveExAppUrl function.
It has the prototype:
public function resolveExAppUrl(
string $appId, string $protocol, string $host, array $deployConfig, int $port, array &$auth
) {}
where:
protocol is daemon protocol value
host is daemon host value, can be DNS:port or IP:PORT or even path to docker socket.
port is an integer with ExApp port
deployConfig can be custom for each Daemon type
auth is an optional array, with Basic Authentication data if needed to access ExApp
Note
The optional additional parameter OVERRIDE_APP_HOST can be used to override the host that will be used for ExApp binding.
It can be 0.0.0.0 in some specific configurations, when VPN is used
or both Nextcloud instance and ExApps are one the same physical machine but different virtual environments.
Also you can specify something like 10.10.2.5 and in this case ExApp will try to bind to that address and
AppAPI will try to send request s directly to this address assuming that ExApp itself bound on it.
The simplest implementation is in the Manual-Install deploy type:
public function resolveExAppUrl(
string $appId, string $protocol, string $host, array $deployConfig, int $port, array &$auth
): string {
$auth = [];
if (isset($deployConfig['additional_options']['OVERRIDE_APP_HOST']) &&
$deployConfig['additional_options']['OVERRIDE_APP_HOST'] !== ''
) {
$wideNetworkAddresses = ['0.0.0.0', '127.0.0.1', '::', '::1'];
if (!in_array($deployConfig['additional_options']['OVERRIDE_APP_HOST'], $wideNetworkAddresses)) {
$host = $deployConfig['additional_options']['OVERRIDE_APP_HOST'];
}
}
return sprintf('%s://%s:%s', $protocol, $host, $port);
}
Here we see that AppAPI sends requests to the host:port specified during daemon creation.
Now, let’s take a look at the Docker Daemon implementation of resolveExAppUrl:
public function resolveExAppUrl(
string $appId, string $protocol, string $host, array $deployConfig, int $port, array &$auth
): string {
$auth = [];
if (isset($deployConfig['additional_options']['OVERRIDE_APP_HOST']) &&
$deployConfig['additional_options']['OVERRIDE_APP_HOST'] !== ''
) {
$wideNetworkAddresses = ['0.0.0.0', '127.0.0.1', '::', '::1'];
if (!in_array($deployConfig['additional_options']['OVERRIDE_APP_HOST'], $wideNetworkAddresses)) {
return sprintf(
'%s://%s:%s', $protocol, $deployConfig['additional_options']['OVERRIDE_APP_HOST'], $port
);
}
}
$host = explode(':', $host)[0];
if ($protocol == 'https') {
$exAppHost = $host;
} elseif (isset($deployConfig['net']) && $deployConfig['net'] === 'host') {
$exAppHost = 'localhost';
} else {
$exAppHost = $appId;
}
if (isset($deployConfig['haproxy_password']) && $deployConfig['haproxy_password'] !== '') {
$auth = [self::APP_API_HAPROXY_USER, $deployConfig['haproxy_password']];
}
return sprintf('%s://%s:%s', $protocol, $exAppHost, $port);
}
Here we have much more complex algorithm of detecting to where requests should be send.
First of all, if the protocol is set to https, AppAPI always sends requests to the daemon host,
and in this case, it is a HaProxy that will forward requests to ExApps that will be listening on localhost.
Briefly, it will look like this (haproxy_host==daemon host value):
NC –> https –> haproxy_host:ex_app_port –> http –> localhost:ex_app_port
When the protocol is not https but http, then what will be the endpoint where to send requests is determined by $deployConfig['net'] value.
If net is defined and equal to host, then AppAPI assumes that ExApp is installed somewhere in the current host network and will be available on localhost loop-back adapter.
NC –> http –> localhost:ex_app_port
In all other cases, the ExApp should be available by it’s name: e.g. when using docker custom bridge network all containers available by DNS.
NC –> http –> app_container_name:ex_app_port
These three different types of communication cover most popular configurations.