A GeoServer docker image

This Dockerfile can be used to create images for all geoserver versions since 2.5.

• Based on the official tomcat docker image, in particular:
  • Tomcat 9
  • JDK11 (eclipse temurin)
  • Ubuntu Jammy (22.04 LTS)
• GeoServer installation is configurable and supports
  • Dynamic installation of extensions
  • Custom fonts (e.g. for SLD styling)
  • CORS
  • Additional libraries
  • PostgreSQL JNDI
  • HTTPS

This README.md file covers use of official docker image, additional build and release instructions are available.

How to run official release?

To pull an official image use docker.osgeo.org/geoserver:{{VERSION}}, e.g.:

docker pull docker.osgeo.org/geoserver:2.25.3

All the images can be found at: https://repo.osgeo.org and the latest stable and maintenance version numbers can be obtained from https://geoserver.org/download/

Afterwards you can run the pulled image locally with:

docker run -it -p 80:8080 docker.osgeo.org/geoserver:2.25.3

Or if you want to start the container daemonized, use e.g.:

docker run -d -p 80:8080 docker.osgeo.org/geoserver:2.25.3

Check http://localhost/geoserver to see the geoserver page, and login with geoserver default admin:geoserver credentials.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Please change the default geoserver and master passwords.

For more information see the user-guide docker installation instructions.

How to mount an external folder for use as a data directory

To use an external folder as your geoserver data directory.

docker run -it -p 80:8080 \
  --mount src="/absolute/path/on/host",target=/opt/geoserver_data/,type=bind \
  docker.osgeo.org/geoserver:2.25.3

An empty data directory will be populated on first use. You can easily update GeoServer while using the same data directory.

How to start a GeoServer without sample data?

This image populates /opt/geoserver_data/ with demo data by default. For production scenarios this is typically not desired.

The environment variable SKIP_DEMO_DATA can be set to true to create an empty data directory.

docker run -it -p 80:8080 \
  --env SKIP_DEMO_DATA=true \
  docker.osgeo.org/geoserver:2.25.3

How to set the application context path?

By default, GeoServer is served from http://localhost/geoserver. Use the environment variable WEBAPP_CONTEXT to change the context path.

examples:

The following will serve GeoServer from the root (http://localhost/):

docker run -it -p 80:8080 \
  --env WEBAPP_CONTEXT="" \
  docker.osgeo.org/geoserver:2.25.1

The following will serve GeoServer from http://localhost/my_context_path:

docker run -it -p 80:8080 \
  --env WEBAPP_CONTEXT="my_context_path" \
  docker.osgeo.org/geoserver:2.25.1

How to issue a redirect from the root ("/") to GeoServer web interface ("/geoserver/web")?

By default, the ROOT webapp is not available which makes requests to the root endpoint "/" return a 404 error. The environment variable ROOT_WEBAPP_REDIRECT can be set to true to issue a permanent redirect to the web interface.

How to download and install additional extensions on startup?

The startup.sh script allows some customization on startup:

• DOWNLOAD_EXTENSIONS to true to download extensions from build server
• INSTALL_EXTENSIONS to true to install extensions from the /opt/additional_libs directory
• STABLE_EXTENSIONS list of extensions to download and install
• CORS_ENABLED to true to enable CORS support. The following environment variables can be used to customize the CORS configuration.
  • CORS_ALLOWED_ORIGINS (default *)
  • CORS_ALLOWED_METHODS (default GET,POST,PUT,DELETE,HEAD,OPTIONS)
  • CORS_ALLOWED_HEADERS (default *)
  • CORS_ALLOW_CREDENTIALS (default false) Setting this to true will only have the desired effect if CORS_ALLOWED_ORIGINS defines explicit origins (not *)
• PROXY_BASE_URL to the base URL of the GeoServer web app if GeoServer is behind a proxy. Example: https://example.com/geoserver.

The CORS variables customize tomcat's web.xml file. If you need more customization, you can provide your own customized web.xml file to tomcat by mounting it into the container at /opt/config_overrides/web.xml.

Example installing wps and ysld extensions:

docker run -it -p 80:8080 \
  --env DOWNLOAD_EXTENSIONS=true --env INSTALL_EXTENSIONS=true --env STABLE_EXTENSIONS="wps,ysld" \
  docker.osgeo.org/geoserver:2.25.3

The list of extensions (taken from SourceForge download page):

app-schema   gdal            jp2k          ogr-wps          web-resource
authkey      geofence        libjpeg-turbo oracle           wmts-multi-dimensional
cas          geofence-server mapml         params-extractor wps-cluster-hazelcast
charts       geopkg-output   mbstyle       printing         wps-cluster-hazelcast
control-flow grib            mongodb       pyramid          wps-download
css          gwc-s3          monitor       querylayer       wps-jdbc
csw          h2              mysql         sldservice       wps
db2          imagemap        netcdf-out    sqlserver        xslt
dxf          importer        netcdf        vectortiles      ysld
excel        inspire         ogr-wfs       wcs2_0-eo

How to install additional extensions from local folder?

If you want to add geoserver extensions/libs, place the respective jar files in a directory and mount it like

docker run -it -p 80:8080 \
  --mount src="/dir/with/libs/on/host",target=/opt/additional_libs,type=bind \
  docker.osgeo.org/geoserver:2.25.3

How to add additional fonts to the docker image (e.g. for SLD styling)?

If you want to add custom fonts (the base image only contains 26 fonts) by using a mount:

docker run -it -p 80:8080 \
  --mount src="/dir/with/fonts/on/host",target=/opt/additional_fonts,type=bind \
  docker.osgeo.org/geoserver:2.25.3

Note: Do not change the target value!

How to enable a PostgreSQL JNDI resource?

To enable a PostgreSQL JNDI resource, provide the following environment variables:

• POSTGRES_JNDI_ENABLED to true
• POSTGRES_HOST
• POSTGRES_PORT (optional; defaults to 5432)
• POSTGRES_DB
• POSTGRES_USERNAME
• POSTGRES_PASSWORD
• POSTGRES_JNDI_RESOURCE_NAME (optional; defaults to jdbc/postgres)

In geoserver, you can then reference this JNDI resource using the name java:comp/env/jdbc/postgres (if using default).

How to use custom (tomcat) configuration files

This image provides default (tomcat) configurations that are located in the ./config/ subdir.

• context.xml (see/compare JNDI feature from above)
• server.xml (security hardened version by default)

In case you want to fully overwrite such a config file, you can do so by mounting it to the /opt/config_overrides/ directory of a container. The startup.sh script will then copy (and overwrite) these files to the catalina conf directory before starting tomcat.

Example:

docker run -it -p 80:8080 \
  --mount src="/path/to/my/server.xml",target=/opt/config_overrides/server.xml,type=bind \
  docker.osgeo.org/geoserver:2.25.3

How to enable HTTPS?

To enable HTTPS, mount a JKS file to the container (ex. /opt/keystore.jks) and provide the following environment variables:

• HTTPS_ENABLED to true
• HTTPS_KEYSTORE_FILE (defaults to /opt/keystore.jks)
• HTTPS_KEYSTORE_PASSWORD (defaults to changeit)
• HTTPS_KEY_ALIAS (defaults to server)

How to add community extensions?

To add community extensions, set the COMMUNITY_EXTENSIONS environment variable to a comma-separated list of extensions to install.

If you add community extensions on an official release you will see the following warning:

WARNING: Installing community extensions on an official release version. Be sure to check compatibility.

Community modules have not yet met the requirements for production use. Developers have shared these to attract participation, feedback and funding. You an add them on your own risk. Please make sure to check the compatibility of the community modules with the GeoServer version you are using. In case of an issue make sure to report the usage of community modules in the issue descriptions.

How to use the docker-compose demo?

The docker-compose-demo.yml to build with your own data directory and extensions.

Stage geoserver data directory contents into geoserver_data, and any extensions into additional_libs folder.

Run docker-compose:

docker-compose -f docker-compose-demo.yml up --build

Environment Variables

Following is the list of the all the environment variables that can be passed down to the geoserver docker image, you can check the default values for an image using docker inspect [IMAGE_NAME]

VAR NAME	DESCRIPTION	SAMPLE VALUE
PATH	Used by geoserver internally to find all the libs	/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:
CATALINA_HOME	CATALINA home path	/usr/local/tomcat (see also here)
EXTRA_JAVA_OPTS	Used to pass params to the JAVA environment. Check ref	-Xms256m -Xmx1g
CORS_ENABLED	CORS enabled configuration	false
CORS_ALLOWED_ORIGINS	CORS origins configuration	*
CORS_ALLOWED_METHODS	CORS method configuration	GET,POST,PUT,DELETE,HEAD,OPTIONS
CORS_ALLOWED_HEADERS	CORS headers configuration	*
DEBIAN_FRONTEND	Configures the Debian package manager frontend	noninteractive
CATALINA_OPTS	Catalina options. Check ref	-Djava.awt.headless=true
GEOSERVER_DATA_DIR	Geoserver data directory location	/opt/geoserver_data/
GEOSERVER_REQUIRE_FILE	Geoserver configuration used interally	/opt/geoserver_data/global.xml
DOWNLOAD_EXTENSIONS	Indicates whether additional GeoServer extensions should be installed	false
INSTALL_EXTENSIONS	Indicates whether additional GeoServer extensions should be installed	true
WAR_ZIP_URL	Specifies the URL for a GeoServer Web Archive (WAR) file
STABLE_EXTENSIONS	Specifies stable GeoServer extensions
STABLE_PLUGIN_URL	Specifies the URL for downloading the latest stable GeoServer plugins	https://build.geoserver.org/geoserver/2.25.x/ext-latest
COMMUNITY_EXTENSIONS	Specifies community-contributed GeoServer extensions
COMMUNITY_PLUGIN_BASE_URL	Specifies the base URL for downloading the latest community-contributed GeoServer plugins.	https://build.geoserver.org/geoserver
COMMUNITY_PLUGIN_URL	Specifies the URL for downloading the latest community-contributed GeoServer plugins defaults to ${COMMUNITY_PLUGIN_BASE_URL}/${GEOSERVER_RELEASE_BRANCH}/community-latest
ADDITIONAL_LIBS_DIR	Sets the directory for additional libraries used by GeoServer	/opt/additional_libs/
ADDITIONAL_FONTS_DIR	Sets the directory for additional fonts used by GeoServer	/opt/additional_fonts/
SKIP_DEMO_DATA	Indicates whether to skip the installation of demo data provided by GeoServer	false
ROOT_WEBAPP_REDIRECT	Indicates whether to issue a permanent redirect to the web interface	false
HEALTHCHECK_URL	URL to the resource / endpoint used for docker health checks	http://localhost:8080/geoserver/web/wicket/resource/org.geoserver.web.GeoServerBasePage/img/logo.png
GEOSERVER_ADMIN_USER	Admin username
GEOSERVER_ADMIN_PASSWORD	Admin password
WGET_OPTS	Options for the wget command in case you need some (unset by default)	--no-check-certificate
GEOSERVER_VERSION	Geoserver version (used internally)	2.24-SNAPSHOT
GEOSERVER_RELEASE_BRANCH	Geoserver release branch (used internally) is derived from GEOSERVER_VERSION	2.24.x or main
GEOSERVER_BUILD	Geoserver build (used internally) must not be changed	1628

Troubleshooting

How to watch geoserver.log from host?

To watch geoserver.log of a running container:

docker exec -it {CONTAINER_ID} tail -f /opt/geoserver_data/logs/geoserver.log