UNOFFICIAL/UNSUPPORTED Guide to using Inventree with Nginx Proxy Manager in Docker

[RedEchidnaUK]

I've seen a few requests from people asking about using Nginx Poxy Manager (NPM) rather than the supplied proxy when running Inventree in Docker. Which is understandable, as running another proxy seems unnecessary, and a proxy in front of another proxy is just another layer of complication (although it does appear to work).

Warning

This is NOT a solution supported by the developers, and if you have issues with it, please DO NOT ask them for support.
Ask for support on this discussion and I or someone else may be able to help.

Now the disclaimer is out of the way, below is a guide on how to make it all work, and when I say work, I mean it seems to be working for me, but I'm not an Nginx expert so YMMV. If nothing else, this may provide some inspiration or guidance.

Prerequisites

• An understanding of Docker and Docker Compose
• A working Inventree Docker Compose setup
• A working NPM Docker Compose setup that can access the inventree-server container

NPM Compose Modifications

The Inventree Proxy doesn't just proxy requests to the Inventree Server, it also serves static files. Therefore, you need to add a volume to the NPM Compose file so that NPM can be configured to serve the files.

Add a line under the volumes section to mount the Inventree data files inside NPM:

volumes:
      - /docker/npm/data:/data
      - /docker/npm/letsencrypt:/etc/letsencrypt
      - /docker/inventree:/inventree-data

The example above maps /docker/inventree on the host to /inventree-data in the NPM container. Note that host path is the same as the Inventree environment variable INVENTREE_EXT_VOLUME. If you change the location of the Inventree data inside the NPM container, you will have to modify the NPM advanced configuration shown later.

Inventree Compose Modifications

Comment out all of the inventree-proxy sections:

    # caddy acts as reverse proxy and static file server
    # https://hub.docker.com/_/caddy
    #inventree-proxy:
    #    container_name: inventree-proxy
    #    image: caddy:alpine
    #    restart: always
    #    depends_on:
    #        - inventree-server
    #    ports:
    #        - ${INVENTREE_WEB_PORT:-80}:80
    #        - 443:443
    #    env_file:
    #        - .env
    #    volumes:
    #        - ./Caddyfile:/etc/caddy/Caddyfile:ro,z
    #        - ${INVENTREE_EXT_VOLUME}/static:/var/www/static:z
    #        - ${INVENTREE_EXT_VOLUME}/media:/var/www/media:z
    #        - ${INVENTREE_EXT_VOLUME}:/var/log:z
    #        - ${INVENTREE_EXT_VOLUME}:/data:z
    #        - ${INVENTREE_EXT_VOLUME}:/config:z

    # alternative: run nginx as reverse proxy
    # inventree-proxy:
    #     container_name: inventree-proxy
    #     image: nginx:stable
    #     restart: always
    #     depends_on:
    #         - inventree-server
    #     ports:
    #         - ${INVENTREE_WEB_PORT:-80}:80
    #         - 443:443
    #     volumes:
    #         - ./nginx.conf:/etc/nginx/conf.d/default.conf:ro,z
    #         - ${INVENTREE_EXT_VOLUME}:/var/www:z

Configure NPM

Create a new proxy in NPM.

Details Tab

• Add a scheme of http with a forward hostname of inventree-server on a port of 8000
• Enable Websockets

Custom locations Tab

• Define a location of / that forwards to a scheme of http with a forward hostname of inventree-server on a port of 8000
• Add the following config:

proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-By $server_addr:$server_port;
proxy_set_header CLIENT_IP $remote_addr;

proxy_pass_request_headers on;
proxy_redirect off;
client_max_body_size 100M;
proxy_buffering off;
proxy_request_buffering off;

Note: The Inventree Nginx config has other headers set, but NPM provides that config by default so it isn't required.

SSL Tab

• Select a certificate
• Enable Force SSL

Advanced Tab

• Add the following configuration:

location /static/ {
    alias /inventree-data/static/;
    autoindex on;
    expires 30d;
    add_header Pragma public;
    add_header Cache-Control "public";
}

location /media/ {
    alias /inventree-data/media/;
    auth_request /auth;
    add_header Content-disposition "attachment";
}

location /auth {
    internal;
    proxy_pass http://inventree-server:8000/auth/;
    proxy_pass_request_body off;
    proxy_set_header Content-Length "";
    proxy_set_header X-Original-URI $request_uri;
}

[matmair]

Let’s be clear: we do not support proxy setups outside of the ones we provide. Running caddy is very efficient and ensures your instance does not break. We only test that setup and will not ensure this guide keeps working.
I will remove this guide if it starts creating confusion or noise, we are already swamped with requests.

[RedEchidnaUK]

I’ve edited the title to try and make it even clearer to people it is not supported.

My intention is not to create more issues, but to try and contain them as I keep seeing people asking if it is possible. I fully understand though if it creates more issues for you as developers then please do remove it.

[lukaspavelka]

looks good to me

[orrinwitt]

My question (and I suspect many others') is, how do I adapt these instructions or the official ones if I'm already running a standalone Nginx Proxy Manager? Do I really need this or the Caddy component in that case?

[RedEchidnaUK]

Maybe I’m reading it wrong, but I’m slightly confused by your question…

This guide is about using NPM to replace the official Caddy proxy. The only reason to do that is if you already have NPM in place, if you don’t, just use Caddy. Remember, Caddy is the official proxy for Inventree and is the one the developers support.

If you already have NPM, you are confident in the changes that need to be made and you do not require official support then just follow the guide to get Inventree working with NPM.

I can’t stress enough that any issues caused by using an unofficial proxy will not be supported. If you ever need support you must confirm it is not your proxy causing the issue by removing it and putting Caddy back.

[jeromebruzaud]

Hi @RedEchidnaUK,

Thank you for your guide.

I cannot make it work. I have Inventree installed not with docker but from the installer script on my system. I use NPM.
When I set the advanced configuration and go to the webpage, all I see is a blank page with this text :
"If you see this text there might be an issue with your update.
See INVE-E1 in the docs for help."

If I remove this advanced configuration, I can access to the server, however user media such as part images, are broken.

This is the advanced congifuration:

location /static/ {
    alias /opt/inventree/data/static/;
    autoindex on;
    expires 30d;
    add_header Pragma public;
    add_header Cache-Control "public";
}

location /media/ {
    alias /opt/inventree/data/media/;
    auth_request /auth;
    add_header Content-disposition "attachment";
}

location /auth {
    internal;
    proxy_pass http://192.168.**redacted**/auth/;
    proxy_pass_request_body off;
    proxy_set_header Content-Length "";
    proxy_set_header X-Original-URI $request_uri;
}

I set the permission 777 to the directories /opt/inventree/data/media/ and /opt/inventree/data/static/

My NPM is on anoher host (LXC) than Inventree.

[RedEchidnaUK]

@jeromebruzaud

This guide was written for Docker and I don't know how the install script differs from the Docker install. I'm also not an expert with Nginx or Linux, just someone who works in IT and got this to work with a bit of trial and error.

However, I can see at least one potential issue with your install. In my Docker configuration above, NPM has access to the media and static files of Inventree as it mounts them via a Docker volume. If you are running NPM on a different host to Inventree, have you mounted those folders on that host so it can access the files? I also notice you haven't said if you have added a custom location of / in NPM with the following,

proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-By $server_addr:$server_port;
proxy_set_header CLIENT_IP $remote_addr;

proxy_pass_request_headers on;
proxy_redirect off;
client_max_body_size 100M;
proxy_buffering off;
proxy_request_buffering off;

[jeromebruzaud]

I finally made it work.

Instead of only relying on NPM, I simply started a nginx server on the host with inventree, using the default configuration, and then I pointed my NPM to this server, with no specific locations nor advanced configuration, only Websocket enabled.

The default nginx configuration is

server {
    # Listen for connection on (internal) port 80
    # If you are exposing this server to the internet, you should use HTTPS!
    # In which case, you should also set up a redirect from HTTP to HTTPS, and listen on port 443
    # See the Nginx documentation for more details
    listen 80;
    real_ip_header proxy_protocol;

    location / {
        proxy_set_header      Host              $http_host;
        proxy_set_header      X-Forwarded-By    $server_addr:$server_port;
        proxy_set_header      X-Forwarded-For   $remote_addr;
        proxy_set_header      X-Forwarded-Proto $scheme;
        proxy_set_header      X-Real-IP         $remote_addr;
        proxy_set_header      CLIENT_IP         $remote_addr;

        proxy_pass_request_headers on;
        proxy_redirect off;

        client_max_body_size 100M;
        proxy_buffering off;
        proxy_request_buffering off;

        # Do not touch this unless you have a specific reason - this and the docker-compose need to match
        proxy_pass http://localhost:6000;
    }

    # Redirect any requests for static files
    location /static/ {
        alias /opt/inventree/data/static/;
        autoindex on;

        # Caching settings
        expires 30d;
        add_header Pragma public;
        add_header Cache-Control "public";
    }

    # Redirect any requests for media files
    location /media/ {
        alias /opt/inventree/data/media/;

        # Media files require user authentication
        auth_request /auth;

        # Content header to force download
        add_header Content-disposition "attachment";
    }

    # Use the 'user' API endpoint for auth
    location /auth {
        internal;

        proxy_pass http://localhost:6000/auth/;

        proxy_pass_request_body off;
        proxy_set_header Content-Length "";
        proxy_set_header X-Original-URI $request_uri;
    }
} 

and then my NPM leads to http://inventree-host:80