Apache Guacamole in a Container with TLS

This Docker Compose setup makes it very easy (only 3 cli commands) to run Apache Guacamole behind a NGINX reverse proxy TLS secured with Let's Encrypt.

Although this repo is 4 years old it still works today and is up to date (Sept. 2021) because it uses the latest offical guacamole images.

Unique Features

• Unlike other solutions this setup is much simpler to setup and is inline with docker/docker-compse best practice.
• Here we use official Apache Guacamole Docker Images guacamole/guacamole:latest always up to date.
• Automatically created and configured Nginx Reverse Proxy in front of the Guacamole Service.
• TLS encrypted traffic with Let's Encrypt for your public domain.
• Minimal configuration of only two mandatory environment variables.

Run

Before you start the service, define three mandatory variables. The easiest way is to create a .env file in your working directory eg.:

Step 1 - Define your Domain and DB Password

cut > .env <<EOF
POSTGRES_PASSWORD=*****
VIRTUAL_HOST=workshop.8gears.com
LETSENCRYPT_EMAIL=user@domain.com
EOF

Step 2 - Populate DB

Copy the docker-compose.yml from this repository to your computer.

Run the service init-guac-db once before starting all other services. This one off job will export the application database schema so Postgres can pick it up when it starts and initialize the database with values and schema for Guacamole.

docker-compose up init-guac-db

The job should start and terminate after the schema is created:

Step 3 - Start Guacamole and other Services:

Finally we can start Guacamole.

docker-compose up -d

Now go to your application https://workshop.domain.org/guacamole and login as guacadmin/guacadmin. Don't forget to change the password in the next step.

Advanced Topics

Extension

It is possible to add extensions (.jar) to this compose project. See a working example from contributor @marekschneider.