Installing n8n on Ubuntu

What is n8n?

n8n is an extendable workflow automation tool. With a fair-code distribution model, n8n will always have visible source code, be available to self-host, and allow you to add your own custom functions, logic and apps. n8n's node-based approach makes it highly versatile, enabling you to connect anything to everything. -https://github.com/n8n-io/n8n

Installing n8n

sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get upgrade
curl -fsSL https://get.docker.com -o get-docker.sh
sudo sh get-docker.sh

#sudo usermod -aG docker ${USER}
sudo reboot

Set DNS with your DNS provider like goDaddy:

Type: A Name: n8n (or the desired subdomain) IP address: <IP_OF_YOUR_SERVER>

Installation commands

make folder name n8n

mkdir n8n
cd n8n

Create a docker-compose.yml file. Paste the following in the file:

version: "3.7"

services:
  traefik:
    image: "traefik"
    restart: always
    command:
      - "--api=true"
      - "--api.insecure=true"
      - "--providers.docker=true"
      - "--providers.docker.exposedbydefault=false"
      - "--entrypoints.web.address=:80"
      - "--entrypoints.web.http.redirections.entryPoint.to=websecure"
      - "--entrypoints.web.http.redirections.entrypoint.scheme=https"
      - "--entrypoints.websecure.address=:443"
      - "--certificatesresolvers.mytlschallenge.acme.tlschallenge=true"
      - "--certificatesresolvers.mytlschallenge.acme.email=${SSL_EMAIL}"
      - "--certificatesresolvers.mytlschallenge.acme.storage=/letsencrypt/acme.json"
    ports:
      - "80:80"
      - "443:443"
    volumes:
      - traefik_data:/letsencrypt
      - /var/run/docker.sock:/var/run/docker.sock:ro

  n8n:
    image: docker.n8n.io/n8nio/n8n
    restart: always
    ports:
      - "127.0.0.1:5678:5678"
    labels:
      - traefik.enable=true
      - traefik.http.routers.n8n.rule=Host(`${SUBDOMAIN}.${DOMAIN_NAME}`)
      - traefik.http.routers.n8n.tls=true
      - traefik.http.routers.n8n.entrypoints=web,websecure
      - traefik.http.routers.n8n.tls.certresolver=mytlschallenge
      - traefik.http.middlewares.n8n.headers.SSLRedirect=true
      - traefik.http.middlewares.n8n.headers.STSSeconds=315360000
      - traefik.http.middlewares.n8n.headers.browserXSSFilter=true
      - traefik.http.middlewares.n8n.headers.contentTypeNosniff=true
      - traefik.http.middlewares.n8n.headers.forceSTSHeader=true
      - traefik.http.middlewares.n8n.headers.SSLHost=${DOMAIN_NAME}
      - traefik.http.middlewares.n8n.headers.STSIncludeSubdomains=true
      - traefik.http.middlewares.n8n.headers.STSPreload=true
      - traefik.http.routers.n8n.middlewares=n8n@docker
    environment:
      - N8N_HOST=${SUBDOMAIN}.${DOMAIN_NAME}
      - N8N_PORT=5678
      - N8N_PROTOCOL=https
      - NODE_ENV=production
      - WEBHOOK_URL=https://${SUBDOMAIN}.${DOMAIN_NAME}/
      - GENERIC_TIMEZONE=${GENERIC_TIMEZONE}
    volumes:
      - n8n_data:/home/node/.n8n
	  - /local-files:/files

volumes:
  traefik_data:
    external: true
  n8n_data:
    external: true

Create .env file

nano .env

# The top level domain to serve from
DOMAIN_NAME=yoursite.com

# The subdomain to serve from
SUBDOMAIN=n8n

# DOMAIN_NAME and SUBDOMAIN combined decide where n8n will be reachable from
# above example would result in: https://n8n.bridgethings.com

# Optional timezone to set which gets used by Cron-Node by default
# If not set New York time will be used
GENERIC_TIMEZONE=asia/kolkata

# The email address to use for the SSL certificate creation
SSL_EMAIL=[e-mail]

Create data folder

sudo docker volume create n8n_data

Create a volume for the Traefik data, This is defined as traefik_data.

sudo docker volume create traefik_data

Run Docker

sudo docker compose up -d

Reference

Docker Compose | n8n Docs

Updating n8n

Read n8n documentation for fill instrctions

# Pull latest (stable) version
docker pull docker.n8n.io/n8nio/n8n

# Pull specific version
#docker pull docker.n8n.io/n8nio/n8n:0.220.1

# Pull next (unstable) version
#docker pull docker.n8n.io/n8nio/n8n:next


# Get the container ID
docker ps -a

# Stop the container with ID container_id
docker stop [container_id]

# Remove the container with ID container_id
docker rm [container_id]

sudo docker compose up -d