Complete Guide to Dokploy From Basics to Advanced Server Management

Introduction
Basic Features Overview
Application Management
Database Management
SSL Certificate Management
Monitoring and Alerting
Advanced Docker Configurations
Custom Monitoring Metrics
Automated Backup Strategies
Security Best Practices
Regular Maintenance
Conclusion

1. Introduction

Managing Linux servers can be complex and time-consuming. Dokploy, an elegant open-source server management panel, simplifies these tasks with its intuitive interface and powerful features. This comprehensive guide covers everything from basic usage to advanced configurations.

2. Basic Features Overview

Dokploy offers:

Application and database management
Docker Compose integration
Automated backups
Pre-built templates
Monitoring and alerting
SSL certificate management

3. Application Management

App Store Installation

One-click installation for popular applications:

WordPress
Nginx
MySQL/MariaDB
Redis
MongoDB
PHP
Node.js

Basic Docker Compose Example

version: '3'
services:
  wordpress:
    image: wordpress:latest
    ports:
      - "8080:80"
    environment:
      WORDPRESS_DB_HOST: db
      WORDPRESS_DB_USER: wordpress
      WORDPRESS_DB_PASSWORD: wordpress_password
      WORDPRESS_DB_NAME: wordpress

Advanced Multi-Container Setup

version: '3.8'
services:
  frontend:
    image: nginx:alpine
    volumes:
      - ./frontend:/usr/share/nginx/html
    networks:
      - app-network
    depends_on:
      - backend
    deploy:
      resources:
        limits:
          cpus: '0.50'
          memory: 512M

  backend:
    image: node:16-alpine
    volumes:
      - ./backend:/app
    environment:
      NODE_ENV: production
      DB_HOST: db
    networks:
      - app-network
      - db-network
    healthcheck:
      test: ["CMD", "curl", "-f", "http://localhost:3000/health"]
      interval: 30s
      timeout: 10s
      retries: 3

  db:
    image: postgres:13-alpine
    volumes:
      - postgres_data:/var/lib/postgresql/data
    networks:
      - db-network
    environment:
      POSTGRES_PASSWORD_FILE: /run/secrets/db_password
    secrets:
      - db_password

networks:
  app-network:
    driver: bridge
  db-network:
    driver: bridge
    internal: true

volumes:
  postgres_data:

secrets:
  db_password:
    file: ./secrets/db_password.txt

4. Database Management

Basic Backup Configuration

Database: MySQL
Frequency: Daily at 2 AM
Retention: 7 days
Location: /backup/mysql/
Format: .gz compression

Advanced Backup Strategy

backup:
  databases:
    mysql:
      schedule: "0 2 * * *"  # Every day at 2 AM
      retention: 
        local: "7d"
        remote: "30d"
      compression: "gzip"
      pre_backup_script: "/scripts/pre_backup.sh"
      post_backup_script: "/scripts/post_backup.sh"
      destinations:
        - type: "local"
          path: "/backup/mysql"
        - type: "s3"
          bucket: "my-backup-bucket"
          prefix: "mysql"
          region: "us-east-1"
        - type: "sftp"
          host: "backup.example.com"
          path: "/backups/mysql"

    postgres:
      schedule: "0 3 * * *"  # Every day at 3 AM
      options:
        format: "custom"
        jobs: 4
        compress: 9

File Backup Configuration

backup:
  files:
    wordpress:
      source: "/var/www/wordpress"
      schedule: "0 1 * * *"  # Every day at 1 AM
      exclude:
        - "*.log"
        - "cache/*"
        - "tmp/*"
      retention:
        daily: 7
        weekly: 4
        monthly: 3

5. SSL Certificate Management

Basic Configuration

server {
    listen 443 ssl;
    server_name your-domain.com;
    ssl_certificate /etc/letsencrypt/live/your-domain.com/fullchain.pem;
    ssl_certificate_key /etc/letsencrypt/live/your-domain.com/privkey.pem;
}

Advanced SSL Configuration

# Strong SSL configuration
ssl_protocols TLSv1.2 TLSv1.3;
ssl_prefer_server_ciphers on;
ssl_ciphers ECDHE-ECDSA-AES128-GCM-SHA256:ECDHE-RSA-AES128-GCM-SHA256;
ssl_session_tickets off;
ssl_session_cache shared:SSL:10m;
ssl_session_timeout 10m;
ssl_stapling on;
ssl_stapling_verify on;
resolver 8.8.8.8 8.8.4.4 valid=300s;
resolver_timeout 5s;

# Security headers
add_header Strict-Transport-Security "max-age=31536000; includeSubDomains" always;
add_header X-Frame-Options "SAMEORIGIN" always;
add_header X-XSS-Protection "1; mode=block" always;
add_header X-Content-Type-Options "nosniff" always;
add_header Referrer-Policy "strict-origin-when-cross-origin" always;
add_header Content-Security-Policy "default-src 'self';" always;

6. Monitoring and Alerting

Basic Monitoring

CPU utilization
Memory usage
Disk space
Network traffic
Process status

Advanced Custom Metrics

monitoring:
  custom_metrics:
    - name: nginx_active_connections
      type: gauge
      command: "curl -s http://localhost/nginx_status | awk 'NR==3 {print $1}'"
      interval: 60s
      
    - name: php_fpm_processes
      type: gauge
      command: "ps aux | grep php-fpm | wc -l"
      interval: 30s
      
    - name: disk_io_usage
      type: counter
      command: "iostat -x | awk '/sda/ {print $14}'"
      interval: 120s

  alerts:
    - metric: nginx_active_connections
      condition: "> 1000"
      duration: "5m"
      severity: warning
      
    - metric: php_fpm_processes
      condition: "> 50"
      duration: "2m"
      severity: critical

Application Performance Monitoring

// Node.js application monitoring
const metrics = {
  http_request_duration_seconds: new client.Histogram({
    name: 'http_request_duration_seconds',
    help: 'Duration of HTTP requests in seconds',
    labelNames: ['method', 'route', 'status_code'],
    buckets: [0.1, 0.5, 1, 2, 5]
  }),

  active_users: new client.Gauge({
    name: 'active_users',
    help: 'Number of active users'
  }),

  database_queries: new client.Counter({
    name: 'database_queries_total',
    help: 'Total number of database queries',
    labelNames: ['query_type']
  })
};

7. Security Best Practices

Firewall Configuration

# Basic firewall rules
ufw default deny incoming
ufw default allow outgoing
ufw allow ssh
ufw allow http
ufw allow https

# Rate limiting
ufw limit ssh/tcp

# Advanced rules
ufw allow from 192.168.1.0/24 to any port 3306  # MySQL
ufw allow from 192.168.1.0/24 to any port 6379  # Redis

Docker Security

{
  "log-driver": "json-file",
  "log-opts": {
    "max-size": "10m",
    "max-file": "3"
  },
  "userns-remap": "default",
  "no-new-privileges": true,
  "seccomp-profile": "/etc/docker/seccomp-profile.json",
  "selinux-enabled": true,
  "userland-proxy": false,
  "live-restore": true
}

Network Security

# Create isolated networks
docker network create --driver overlay --attachable frontend-net
docker network create --driver overlay --attachable backend-net
docker network create --driver overlay --internal db-net

# Configure network policies
iptables -A DOCKER-USER -i eth0 -j DROP
iptables -A DOCKER-USER -i eth0 -p tcp --dport 80 -j ACCEPT
iptables -A DOCKER-USER -i eth0 -p tcp --dport 443 -j ACCEPT

8. Regular Maintenance

Routine Tasks

Check for system updates
Review logs
Verify backup integrity
Monitor certificate expiration
Clean temporary files

Log Management

logging:
  location: /var/log/dokploy/
  retention: 30 days
  compression: enabled
  rotate: daily
  max_size: 100M

9. Conclusion

Dokploy provides a comprehensive solution for modern server management, combining ease of use with powerful features. Whether you're managing a single website or multiple applications, these configurations and best practices will help you maintain a secure, efficient, and well-monitored server environment.

10. Next Steps

Explore container orchestration
Implement CI/CD pipelines
Set up high availability
Configure disaster recovery

Remember to regularly check the official documentation for updates and new features. Happy server managing!