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Proxy Management

New

Introduced in 0.5.0, Enhanced in 0.6.0

proxy:build-config [--parallel count] [--all|<app>] # (Re)builds config for given app
proxy:clear-config [--all|<app>] # Clears config for given app
proxy:disable [--parallel count] [--all|<app>]      # Disable proxy for app
proxy:enable [--parallel count] [--all|<app>]       # Enable proxy for app
proxy:report [<app>] [<flag>]                       # Displays a proxy report for one or more apps
proxy:set [<app>|--global] <key> (<value>)          # Set or clear a proxy property for an app

In Dokku 0.5.0, port proxying was decoupled from the nginx-vhosts plugin into the proxy plugin. Dokku 0.6.0 introduced the ability to map host ports to specific container ports. This allows other proxy software - such as HAProxy or Caddy - to be used in place of nginx.

Usage

Changing the proxy

The default proxy shipped with Dokku is nginx. It can be changed via the proxy:set command.

dokku proxy:set node-js-app type caddy
=====> Setting type to caddy

The proxy may also be set on a global basis. This is usually preferred as running multiple proxy implementations may cause port collision issues.

dokku proxy:set --global type caddy
=====> Setting type to caddy

Changing the proxy does not stop or start any given proxy implementation. Please see the documentation for your proxy implementation for details on how to perform a change.

Disabling and enabling the proxy

The proxy can be disabled on a per-app basis via the proxy:disable command. While disabled, no proxy configuration will be generated for the app and incoming requests will not be routed through the configured proxy.

dokku proxy:disable node-js-app
-----> Disabling proxy for app

The proxy can be re-enabled with the proxy:enable command:

dokku proxy:enable node-js-app
-----> Enabling proxy for app

Setting proxy ports

When an app's domains are disabled (see domains documentation), Dokku still exposes the app on a high port so that internal services can reach it at a stable port across deploys. The non-SSL and SSL ports used for this can be configured via the proxy:set command:

dokku proxy:set node-js-app proxy-port 5000
dokku proxy:set node-js-app proxy-ssl-port 5443

Either property may also be set globally. Per-app values take precedence over the global value.

dokku proxy:set --global proxy-port 5000
dokku proxy:set --global proxy-ssl-port 5443

The default value for either property may be restored by passing an empty value:

dokku proxy:set node-js-app proxy-port

Regenerating proxy config

In certain cases, your app proxy configs may drift from the correct config for your app. You may regenerate the config at any point via the proxy:build-config command. This command will trigger a rebuild for the configured proxy implementation (default: nginx) for a given app. The command may fail if there are no current web listeners for your app.

dokku proxy:build-config node-js-app

All apps may have their proxy config rebuilt by using the --all flag.

dokku proxy:build-config --all

By default, rebuilding proxy configs for all apps happens serially. The parallelism may be controlled by the --parallel flag.

dokku proxy:build-config --all --parallel 2

Finally, the number of parallel workers may be automatically set to the number of CPUs available by setting the --parallel flag to -1

dokku proxy:build-config --all --parallel -1

Clearing the generated proxy config

New

Introduced in 0.27.0

Generated proxy configurations can also be cleared using the proxy:clear-config command.

dokku proxy:clear-config node-js-app

All apps may have their proxy config cleared by using the --all flag.

dokku proxy:clear-config --all

Clearing a proxy configuration has different effects depending on the proxy plugin in use. Consul the documentation for your proxy implementation for further details.

Displaying proxy reports for an app

New

Introduced in 0.8.1

You can get a report about the app's proxy status using the proxy:report command:

dokku proxy:report
=====> node-js-app proxy information
       Proxy computed type: nginx
       Proxy enabled:       true
       Proxy global type:
       Proxy type:
=====> python-sample proxy information
       Proxy computed type: nginx
       Proxy enabled:       true
       Proxy global type:
       Proxy type:
=====> ruby-sample proxy information
       Proxy computed type: nginx
       Proxy enabled:       true
       Proxy global type:
       Proxy type:

The type and global-type keys hold the raw per-app and global value respectively, and are empty when nothing has been set. The computed-type key holds the effective value used at deploy time, falling back to the global value (where one has been set) and then to the built-in default of nginx.

You can run the command for a specific app also.

dokku proxy:report node-js-app
=====> node-js-app proxy information
       Proxy computed type: nginx
       Proxy enabled:       true
       Proxy global type:
       Proxy type:

You can pass flags which will output only the value of the specific information you want. For example:

dokku proxy:report node-js-app --proxy-computed-type

Proxy Port Scheme

See the port scheme documentation for more information on the port mapping scheme used by dokku.

Proxy port mapping

See the port management documentation for more information on how port mappings are managed for an application.

Container network interface binding

Info

Changed as of 0.11.0

From Dokku versions 0.5.0 until 0.11.0, enabling or disabling an application's proxy would also control whether or not the application was bound to all interfaces - e.g. 0.0.0.0. As of 0.11.0, this is now controlled by the network plugin. Please see the network documentation for more information.

Implementing a Proxy

Custom plugins names must have the suffix -vhosts or scheduler overriding via proxy:set may not function as expected.

At this time, the following dokku commands are used to interact with a complete proxy implementation.

  • domains:add: Adds a given domain to an app.
    • triggers: post-domains-update
  • domains:clear: Clears out an app's associated domains.
    • triggers: post-domains-update
  • domains:disable: Disables domains for an app.
    • triggers: pre-disable-vhost
  • domains:enable: Enables domains for an app.
    • triggers: pre-enable-vhost
  • domains:remove: Removes a domain from an app.
    • triggers: post-domains-update
  • domains:reset: Reset app domains to global-configured domains.
    • triggers: post-domains-update
  • domains:set: Sets all domains for a given app.
    • triggers: post-domains-update
  • proxy:build-config: Builds - or rebuilds - external proxy configuration.
    • triggers: proxy-build-config
  • proxy:clear-config: Clears out external proxy configuration.
    • triggers: proxy-clear-config
  • proxy:disable: Disables the proxy configuration for an app.
    • triggers: proxy-disable
  • proxy:enable: Enables the proxy configuration for an app.
    • triggers: proxy-enable
  • ports:add: Adds one or more port mappings to an app
    • triggers: post-proxy-ports-update
  • ports:clear: Clears out all port mappings for an app.
    • triggers: post-proxy-ports-update
  • ports:remove: Removes one or more port mappings from an app.
    • triggers: post-proxy-ports-update
  • ports:set: Sets all port mappings for an app.
    • triggers: post-proxy-ports-update

Proxy implementations may decide to omit some functionality here, or use plugin triggers to supplement config with information from other plugins.

Individual proxy implementations may trigger app rebuilds, depending on how proxy metadata is exposed for the proxy implementation.

Finally, proxy implementations may install extra software needed for the proxy itself in whatever manner deemed fit. Proxy software can run on the host itself or within a running Docker container with either exposed ports or host networking.

Properties

Settable properties

Note

The Report flags column lists the CLI argument names accepted by proxy:report. The JSON keys emitted by proxy:report --format json are the same names with the leading --proxy- stripped (e.g. type, global-type, computed-type). Legacy keys with the proxy- prefix (e.g. proxy-type) are also emitted during the 0.38.x deprecation window and will be removed in a future major release.

Property Scope Default Report flags Description
disabled app only false --proxy-disabled, --proxy-computed-disabled (also exposed inverted as --proxy-enabled) When true, disables proxy integration for this app (proxy:enable/proxy:disable write this)
proxy-port app + global none --proxy-proxy-port, --proxy-global-proxy-port, --proxy-computed-proxy-port Override port used for the HTTP listener in the generated proxy config
proxy-ssl-port app + global none --proxy-proxy-ssl-port, --proxy-global-proxy-ssl-port, --proxy-computed-proxy-ssl-port Override port used for the HTTPS listener in the generated proxy config
type app + global nginx --proxy-type, --proxy-global-type, --proxy-computed-type Proxy implementation handling traffic for the app (nginx, caddy, haproxy, traefik, openresty, or a custom plugin)

Read-only flags

The following flags surface in proxy:report but are not managed by proxy:set:

Flag Description
--proxy-enabled true when the app's disabled property is not true