Installing Traefik with Docker

Traefik is a modern, efficient, and highly flexible reverse proxy and load balancer. It is a popular choice among developers for managing microservices due to its seamless integration with Docker and other container orchestrators. This blog will guide you through installing and configuring Traefik using Docker

Why Use Traefik?

• Dynamic Configuration: Automatically discovers services and updates routes without manual configuration.

• SSL Management: Built-in support for Let’s Encrypt for automatic SSL certificate generation and renewal.

• Dashboard: A user-friendly interface to monitor services and routes.

• Integrations: Compatible with Docker, Kubernetes, and other container orchestrators.

Prerequisites

Before diving into the installation, ensure you have the following:

• Docker Installed
• Docker Compose Installed

For reference, the following folder structure was used:

./traefik
├── config
│   └── traefik.yml
├── data
│   └── certs
│       └── cloudflare-acme.json
└── .env
└── docker-compose.yml

Create a Directory for Traefik Configuration

First, create a directory to store Traefik’s configuration files

mkdir traefik && cd traefik

create docker compose file and add contents

touch docker-compose.yaml
nano docker-compose.yaml

Docker Compose Contents docker-compose.yaml

---
services:
  traefik:
    image: traefik:v3.2
    container_name: traefik
    ports:
      - 80:80
      - 443:443
    volumes:
      - /run/docker.sock:/run/docker.sock:ro
      - ./config/traefik.yaml:/etc/traefik/traefik.yaml:ro
      - ./data/certs/:/var/traefik/certs/:rw
    environment:
      - CF_DNS_API_TOKEN=${CF_DNS_API_TOKEN}
    labels:
      - "traefik.http.routers.traefik.tls=true"
      - "traefik.http.routers.traefik.tls.certresolver=cloudflare"
      - "traefik.http.routers.traefik.tls.domains[0].main=local.ahmedbouayed.tn"
      - "traefik.http.routers.traefik.tls.domains[0].sans=*.local.ahmedbouayed.tn"
      - "traefik.http.routers.traefik.service=api@internal"
    networks:
      - proxy
    restart: unless-stopped
networks:
  proxy:
    external: true

create .env file

touch .env
nano .env

.env contents

CF_DNS_API_TOKEN = XXXXX

config folder

mkdir config && cd config

Traefik Config

touch traefik.yaml
nano traefik.yaml

traefik.yaml contents

global:
  checkNewVersion: false
  sendAnonymousUsage: false

# accessLog: {}

log:
  level: DEBUG

api:
  dashboard: false
  # insecure: true
  # debug: false

entryPoints:
  web:
    address: :80
    http:
      redirections:
        entryPoint:
          to: websecure
          scheme: https
  websecure:
    address: :443
certificatesResolvers:
  cloudflare:
    acme:
      email: "bou3a.ahmed1999@gmail.com"
      storage: /var/traefik/certs/cloudflare-acme.json
      caServer: "https://acme-v02.api.letsencrypt.org/directory"
      #caServer: "https://acme-staging-v02.api.letsencrypt.org/directory"
      dnsChallenge:
        provider: cloudflare
        resolvers:
          - "1.1.1.1:53"
          - "8.8.8.8:53"

serversTransport:
  insecureSkipVerify: true

providers:
  docker:
    exposedByDefault: false
    endpoint: 'unix:///var/run/docker.sock'

create folder data

mkdir data
cd data
touch cloudflare-acme.json
chmod 600 cloudflare-acme.json

Create a Docker Network

docker network create proxy

Start the stack

docker-compose up -d --force-recreate

deployement app

contents docker-compose.yaml nginx

services:
  nginx:
    container_name: nginx
    image: nginx:latest
    networks:
      - proxy
    labels:
      - traefik.enable=true
      - traefik.http.routers.traefik.tls=true
      - traefik.http.routers.traefik.tls.certresolver=cloudflare
      - traefik.http.routers.traefik.entrypoints=websecure
      - traefik.http.routers.traefik.rule=Host(`nginx.local.ahmedbouayed.tn`)
    restart: unless-stopped
networks:
  proxy:
    external: true

DNS

Add DNS Record

*.local.ahmedbouayed.tn  IN     A      192.168.10.118

run application

docker-compose up -d

Troubleshooting

Common ways to troubleshoot

docker ps
docker logs traefik
docker exec -it traefik /bin/sh

DNS

nslookup app.local.example.com