Why is the compose file at version 2.1?

tblancher

I’m currently planning my initial mailcow-dockerized deployment. I just cloned the mailcow-dockerized project, I haven’t done anything else with it yet. I see that docker-compose.yml has version: '2.1' at the top, which seems to be an old version.

Background: I have another docker compose stack, running nginx 1.25.1 as a reverse proxy. I was planning on setting up this nginx service to serve the mailcow web interfaces, per the Reverse Proxy documentation. I would think I need to have the mailcow network be on the same one as my existing docker compose stack. I was thinking of doing something similar to
this Stack Overflow post.

However, this requires compose file version 3.5 (my existing docker compose file is at 3.8). I’m not well-versed in the compose file versions, so I don’t know if the mailcow docker-compose.yml has anything deprecated that wouldn’t work if I changed the version to 3.8 (to match my other compose stack).

My question is, if I changed the mailcow version to 3.8, would it break anything?

tblancher

tblancher Oh, it looks like the secondary docker compose file shows version 2, so perhaps this would work without updating the mailcow file to version 3.8?

D4niel Oh, so have my other compose stack point to the mailcow nginx container? Where is the proper way to add the mailcow nginx container to my other network, so I’m the most supportable?

D4niel

I don’t see why you’d have to change the compose version of the mailcow file. You can just use a different compose file for your reverse proxy and add the mailcow nginx container to your reverse proxy network.

D4niel

You can just use a docker-compose.override.yml file in the mailcow folder and add the container to the network like it’s explained in the stackoverflow post (as external network).

tblancher

In my other docker-compose.yml, I’ve defined the deltachunk-int network, where most of my services/containers live. I’ve added the following to mailcow/docker-compose.override.yml:

networks:
  my-deltachunk-int:
    external:
      name:  deltachunk-int

services:
  nginx-mailcow:
    networks:
      - my-deltachunk-int

If this is correct, then I should be able to refer to nginx-mailcow from within my other compose nginx reverse proxy by using the nginx-mailcow name, correct?

mlcwuser

Simplest solution: Just run it in a separete VPS without reverse proxy.

Second easiest solution (if it has to run on prem) Run in a separate dedicated VM, and then use the (already existing) reverse proxy in another (already existing) VM.

You don’t have a hypervisor and you run Mailcow together with other apps on bare metal in a single Docker stack? You shouldn’t do that, imho. Neither the few € of power savings nor the savings on hardware costs, are worth the troubles you have now.

You have a single VPS and and you run Mailcow together with other apps in a single Docker stack? You shouldn’t do that, imho. Saving a few € for a second VPS to run Mailcow on it, are not worth the troubles you have now.

tblancher

mlcwuser If I could downvote/:thumbs_down: this comment I would. This is a hobby system, and I already pay for a VPS with plenty of capacity and not too much load at the present time.

This is a learning experience, and I’m willing to do it the hard way to keep my costs under budget. If I wanted the utmost simplest solution with absolutely no hassle at all, I’d pay for a turnkey Servercow instance, and be done with it. But I’m not seeking commercial support, and I want to work with what I have.

Does this community eschew individuals who want to do it slightly differently, to learn how to get it working the way they expect? Already the only real tweak I’ve made is adding the external network to docker-compose.overrides.yml, and I think I’ve set up my external reverse proxy correctly (see this post for some specific questions I’ve asked about this particular setup). Right now nginx -t on the external nginx instance fails expectedly, since I’ve replaced the proxy_pass parameter with the nginx-mailcow hostname instead of localhost, before spinning up mailcow for the first time. I’m trying to get all my ducks in a row, and understand the differences before I spin it up for the first time.

esackbauer

No need to get salty. It is all documented in the Reverse Proxy documentation. But do not expect things like reverse proxy and hosting multiple sites (with Docker) being answered in depth here, because that is general knowledge and not mailcow specific. There are enough ressources on the net explaining how to host multiple sites. The mailcow specific things are at the Reverse Proxy page.

tblancher

esackbauer Yep, I found most of what I need on the Reverse Proxy documentation page. I already have multiple sites hosted on my VPS, and that much is working well.

I do have some questions about the Reverse Proxy documentation, I made the following post regarding setting up the reverse proxy where I had some specific questions about it. No one has responded to this yet, possibly because I made a secondary reply with a follow up question.