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.