Disclaimers:

First thing first, I’m new to the whole Fediverse, and Lemmy thing, so please don’t hesitate to point out any problems you’re foreseeing.

Secondly, I’m by no means saying this is the ideal implementation, something something see above. Please don’t hesitate to make recommendations for improvements.

Lastly, I’m not sure if it is completely working. I’m still noticing a few issues that I will document and monitor towards the end of the post. If you know of the cause or how to debug further, please do let me know!

Notes and Assumptions:

1. I am using an ARM server. So I’m using ARM images, you will need to make sure you’re using the correct architecture image.
2. I assume you have Traefik up and running in a separate network. I used docker compose to bring traefik up, minimal configurations, and I’m just hijacking the default network there (project folder was gateway so the complete network name is gateway_default)… there’s probably better ways to do this.
3. On note of networks, I really don’t like the fact that the default postgres was left wide open on the lemmyexternalproxy network. I think I’ve locked my down, but you may wish to double check my work.
4. I’m not sure if what I am doing with the hostnames are correct, but it seems to work for the most part, so I’m not complaining. If there is a better way, please do advise!
5. I used an override file for docker compose to apply extra settings. This allows me to keep the original docker-compose.yml untouched, and I can just pull in new changes (theoretically).
6. Since I’m using traefik, I don’t need nginx running doing nothing. I replaced it with a light weight alpine image that just shuts down successfully, so it doesn’t use resources.

Without further delays, here’s my files:

docker-compose.override.yml:

version: "3.3"

networks:
  lemmyexternalproxy:
    internal: true
  lemmygateway:
    name: gateway_default
    external: true

services:
  lemmy:
    image: dessalines/lemmy:0.17-linux-arm64
    labels:
      - "traefik.enable=true"
      - "traefik.http.routers.lemmy.entrypoints=websecure"
      - "traefik.http.routers.lemmy.rule=Host(`lemmy.chiisana.net`) && HeadersRegexp(`Accept`, `^application/`) || Host(`lemmy.chiisana.net`) && Method(`POST`) || Host(`lemmy.chiisana.net`) && PathPrefix(`/{path:(api|pictrs|feeds|nodeinfo|.well-known)}`)"
      - "traefik.http.routers.lemmy.tls=true"
      - "traefik.http.services.lemmy-svc.loadbalancer.server.port=8536"
      - "traefik.docker.network=gateway_default"
    networks:
      - lemmygateway
  lemmy-ui:
    image: dessalines/lemmy-ui:0.17-linux-arm64
    environment:
      - LEMMY_UI_HOST=0.0.0.0:1234
      - LEMMY_UI_LEMMY_INTERNAL_HOST=lemmy:8536
      - LEMMY_UI_LEMMY_EXTERNAL_HOST=lemmy.chiisana.net
      - LEMMY_UI_HTTPS=true
      - LEMMY_UI_DEBUG=false
    labels:
      - "traefik.enable=true"
      - "traefik.http.routers.lemmy-ui.entrypoints=websecure"
      - "traefik.http.routers.lemmy-ui.rule=Host(`lemmy.chiisana.net`)"
      - "traefik.http.routers.lemmy-ui.tls=true"
      - "traefik.http.services.lemmy-ui-svc.loadbalancer.server.port=1234"
      - "traefik.docker.network=gateway_default"
    networks:
      - lemmygateway
  proxy:
    image: alpine:latest
    command: "true"
    entrypoint: "true"
    restart: "no"
  pictrs:
    image: asonix/pictrs:0.4.0-rc.3

lemmy.hjson:

  setup: {
    admin_username: "chiisana"
    admin_password: "password-redacted-duh"
    site_name: "chiisana lemmy site"
  }
  database: {
    host: "postgres"
    user: "lemmy"
    password: "password-redacted-duh"
    database: "lemmy"
  }
  email: {
    smtp_server: "smtp.mailgun.org:587"
    smtp_login: "[email protected]"
    smtp_password: "password-redacted-duh"
    smtp_from_address: "[email protected]"
    tls_type: "tls"
  }
  pictrs: {
    url: "http://pictrs:8080/"
    api_key: "API_KEY"
  }
  hostname: "lemmy.chiisana.net"
  bind: "0.0.0.0"
  port: 8536
  tls_enabled: true
}

---

Known issue(s)?

1. I have my registration disabled as the instance is supposed to be just for my own auth not be depended on other instances. In my /admin section, I’m seeing a ton of users from endlesstalk.org pop up as banned users. I have no idea what that is about, as endlesstalk.org seems to also be used only by one user. I’ll be monitoring this and see what’s to come of it. Edit: Looks like this is just the way the system is designed, and not a configuration error on my part! All good here. Thanks for clarifying it @[email protected] !
2. I’m not sure if I’m getting all the messages federated. In this community, for example, I can see most if not all recent threads. However, most threads have no comments in it. Some newer threads, I see comments, but it seems to be incomplete. I’m not sure if I’m only supposed to receive new messages, or if something else is happening. I’ll be monitoring this, and hoping the federation will just catch up over time.
3. Edit: It would appear this post itself is not federating to [email protected] for some reason… I’m partially hoping it is just caught in some kind of moderation queue, but seeing other posts made after this appear on the list leads me to believe there’s still something amiss.

If you encounter any other issue, please do post back so we can try to debug it together. Hope this helps someone!