Self hosted CMS
Docker is an application to package and run any application in a pre-configured container. This makes it much easier to deploy a Xibo CMS following the recommended configuration.
Containers provided are for x86-64/AMD64 architecture only which are suitable for most servers: Docker
Getting Started
You will need a Linux host machine
Docker must be installed and working
Download and extract the Xibo Docker archive
To install Xibo, you’ll need to be the root user in your command line shell by:
running sudo su
or logging in as root directly
Download the latest Docker Installation: Docker Installation Download
The archive should be extracted in a suitable location on your host machine. We suggest /opt/xibo, your library content and database will be written under this folder.Please note that the archive already contains a sub-folder called xibo-docker-n.n.n, which is ‘best practice’ for archives.For the subsequent instructions, please make sure you are inside the sub-folder contained in the archive.
Check and edit configuration
The first time Xibo is installed, a configuration file is needed to tell Docker how the environment is configured.
This file is called config.env This file covers where you want files to be stored, email config, etc.
A template file with detailed instructions is provided in the release archive and is called config.env.template
Take a copy of this file, renaming it to
config.envand then edit the file in a text editor, e.g. nano, gedit, etc.
If you don’t want Xibo to have the ability to send email messages, then you can opt to not configure those options.
Docker will map data folders to contain database data and any custom files for the CMS. These will appear by default in the folder containing the release archive in a shared sub-folder.
Installing the CMS containers
Once you’ve made your changes to config.env and have saved the file, open a terminal/command window in the folder where you extracted the archive.
As a user who has permissions to run the docker command, run:
You may experience a delay whilst the CMS finishes setting up after the command is run.
This will bootstrap and start your Xibo CMS.
The CMS will be fully installed with the default credentials:
Username: xibo_admin
Password: password
Log in to the CMS and change the password on that account.
You can log on to the CMS at http://localhost.
If you configured an alternative port number then be sure to add that to the URL, for example, http://localhost:8080.
Configuration adjustments
If you are running an iptables based firewall on your computer you will need to allow the ports you’ve configured the CMS to run on inbound.
If you haven’t specifically configured alternative ports, then the following is required:
Inbound TCP Port 9505 (for XMR Push Messaging)
Inbound TCP Port 80 (for HTTP Traffic) AND/OR
Inbound TCP Port 443 (for HTTPS Traffic - if you are using SSL)
Docker installs come with XMR running automatically for you, and with most of the configuration in place. However, you do need to adjust a few settings, on first log in, as detailed below:
XMR WebSocket Address
The XMR web socket address of the CMS defaults to empty, which means players will try to connect to your CMS at /xmr. The Apache container provided will handle web socket requests at that URL, but if you run Xibo from a sub-folder, or wish to run XMR separately you should adjust the XMR web socket address to suit.
We recommend including this address in your reverse proxy configuration so that it can handle SSL termination.
XMR public address
The XMR public address of the CMS is how any player which does not support web sockets will connect to XMR for push messaging.
This only needs to be done on the first bootstrap:
Navigate to the Settings page under the Administration section of the CMS main menu and select the Displays tab.
The XMR public Address field defaults to tcp://cms.example.org:9505 which needs to be adjusted to be suitable for your network. The format of the address needs to be:
tcp://<ip_address>:<port>
The default <port> is 9505 and should be set to that unless you have specified a custom port in your docker-compose configuration.
If your CMS is available by a DNS name - for example, if your CMS web page is available at https://mydomain.com, then simply swap cms.example.org for mydomain.com .
If your CMS is only available by an IP address, then enter the IP address instead.
Reverse Proxy - HTTPS/SSL
Xibo should be run over SSL if running on anything other than a secure private network. The Docker containers do not provide SSL and this must be provided by an external web server which handles SSL termination and reverse proxy into the cms-web container.
There are many good resources for achieving this architecture, for example: nginx-proxy container
If you already have a web server running on your Host machine, configuring a reverse proxy should be straightforward.
The CMS will need to be configured to trust your reverse proxy; add the reverse proxy IP to your custom/settings-custom.php file:
Starting and Stopping Xibo
Once the CMS containers have been initialised with docker compose up -d, it is possible to start and stop them without removing the underlying container.
The stop command will stop the Xibo CMS services running. If you want to start them up again, issue the start command.
Uninstalling / removing
The CMS installation and its associated containers can be completely removed by issuing the down command.
Before running docker compose down, please be sure that your media and database files are being correctly written to the shared directory.
To do so, upload for example an image into the CMS, and check that the same image appears in the shared/cms/library directory.
Another good check is to make sure that shared/backup/db/latest.tar.gz was created within the last 24 hours.
If either of those checks fail, please do not run docker compose down as this will lead to data loss. Seek support to resolve the situation.
If your intention is to remove all traces of Xibo you may delete the /opt/xibo folder after running the down command.
Backing up your CMS/Database
As with any system containing user data, it is vital to maintain regular backups of your Xibo CMS.
Docker installations automatically take a daily database backup for you, as well as one as part of the upgrade routine.
As part of your backup plan, you should regularly take a backup of at least the following files/directories:
Custom Scripts and Pages
If you want to use the environment provided by Docker to run custom developments, themes, modules or standalone files you can do so using the /shared folders.
The following locations are available:
/shared/cms/custom: Used for custom middleware/shared/cms/web/theme/custom: Used for custom themes/shared/cms/web/userscripts: Use for standalone files, will be served ashttp://localhost/userscripts
Other shared folders
Docker also makes the library and backup available as shared folders:
/shared/backup/shared/cms/library
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