Ubuntu Tutorial: Dozzle

0 - Introduction

When managing Docker containers, monitoring logs efficiently is crucial for debugging and performance analysis. Dozzle is a lightweight, real-time log viewer that simplifies this process by providing an easy-to-use web interface. In this tutorial, we’ll walk you through the steps to set up Dozzle on an Ubuntu machine using Docker Compose. Whether you’re running a single host or a multi-node Docker Swarm, this guide will help you get Dozzle up and running in no time.

1 - Setup

Let’s start by creating a folder for the app’s data, in it also create a file named ‘docker-compose.yml’:

mkdir dozzle
cd dozzle
nano docker-compose.yml

In the docker compose file, paste the following configuration:

services:
  dozzle:
    image: amir20/dozzle:latest
    container_name: dozzle
    restart: unless-stopped
    volumes:
      - /var/run/docker.sock:/var/run/docker.sock
    ports:
      - "8080:8080"

Once you save the file, run the following command:

docker compose up -d

When the container starts up, you can then go to your machine’s IP colon 8080, to use the app:

http://yourip:8080

Be careful! This application should be kept private. Anyone with access to this application can read all the logs on your containers, which might give sensitive info, like API keys and JWT secrets.

On the dashboard, you should see all the containers running on your machine as well as some stats:

Clicking on one of the containers will allow you to read the logs of that container:

If you want to deploy Dozzle on multiple machines, create a docker swarm with:

docker swarm init

Running this command will give you a join command on screen, copy it and run it on all your other machines. After that, create this compose file in your main machine:

services:
  dozzle:
    image: amir20/dozzle:latest
    environment:
      - DOZZLE_MODE=swarm
    volumes:
      - /var/run/docker.sock:/var/run/docker.sock
    ports:
      - "8080:8080"
    networks:
      - dozzle
    deploy:
      mode: global
networks:
  dozzle:
    driver: overlay

To deploy the container to every node in the swarm, run the command below:

docker stack deploy -c docker-compose.yml dozzle

You can then access Dozzle on any one of the node’s IPs and you will be able to check the logs of every node on any one of them:

And that’s all. Thanks for reading, and stay tuned for more tech insights and tutorials. Until next time, keep exploring the world of tech!