Skip to content

Installation

Dokku Pro runs as a single service on the same host as Dokku. It reads its settings from an environment file and is supervised by systemd on a standard install, or by runit inside the Dokku Docker image. This guide walks through a fresh install; see Configuration for the full list of settings, and Backup and Restore before upgrading an existing server.

Prerequisites

  • A server that already meets the Requirements: Dokku 0.38.22+ on a Debian-based AMD64 or ARM64 host, with up-to-date plugins.
  • Your Dokku Pro license key and the dokku-pro.deb package. Both are provided through the software distribution service, and can be re-downloaded from there if needed.

Configure the Service

Create /etc/default/dokku-pro. This file holds the environment variables that configure the service:

API_JWT_ACCESSSECRET=asdfghjklzxc
API_JWT_REFRESHSECRET=qwertyuiopzxcvbnmas
ROOT_TOKEN=password
LICENSE_KEY_FILE=/etc/dokku-pro/license.key

Warning

Set API_JWT_ACCESSSECRET, API_JWT_REFRESHSECRET, and ROOT_TOKEN to strong, random values. The JWT secrets sign every authentication token, and ROOT_TOKEN is the password for the built-in root user.

Then store your license key in the file referenced above:

mkdir -p /etc/dokku-pro
# write the downloaded license key into /etc/dokku-pro/license.key

Alternatively, skip the file and set the key inline with LICENSE_KEY instead of LICENSE_KEY_FILE.

Install the Package

Install the Debian package with dpkg:

dpkg -i path/to/dokku-pro.deb

Start the Service

The service does not start on boot until you enable it. Reload systemd and start it:

sudo systemctl daemon-reload
sudo systemctl start dokku-pro.target
sudo systemctl start dokku-pro.service
sudo systemctl enable dokku-pro.target

By default the service listens on port 5000. See Configuration to change the port and other values, and General Operating Instructions for day-to-day start and stop commands.

Running in the Dokku Docker Image

The Dokku Docker image uses runit instead of systemd for service supervision. The Debian package installs a runit service at /etc/service/dokku-pro/run for this case. Create /etc/default/dokku-pro before installing the package, and runit picks up the service automatically after installation.

Manage the service with the sv command:

sv status dokku-pro
sv restart dokku-pro
sv stop dokku-pro

Log output is appended to /var/log/services/dokku-pro.

Next Steps