How to Deploy Wiki.js 2.5.299 in Docker Swarm Behind Traefik v2.0

Wiki.js is one of the most powerful and extensible open-source Wiki software platforms available today. Running on Node.js and written entirely in JavaScript, Wiki.js is a modern, lightweight, and heavily optimized wiki application.

In this post, I am going to show you how to deploy Wiki.js 2.5.299 to our Docker Swarm Cluster using Docker Compose, sitting securely behind a Traefik v2.0 reverse proxy.

Make your documentation a joy to write using Wiki.js’s beautiful and intuitive interface!

Learn more by visiting the official Wiki.js website and its Wikipedia page.

Prerequisites

Please ensure you fulfill the following requirements before proceeding with the deployment:

1. A Docker Swarm Cluster configured with GlusterFS for persistent storage.
2. Traefik v2.0 deployed as the ingress reverse proxy to expose microservices externally.
3. A running MariaDB database stack to host the application databases.

Introduction to Wiki.js

If you are looking to build documentation for your product to reduce the footprint of IT support tickets, manage project documentation for internal teams, or simply host a private repository of knowledge, Wiki.js is one of the best solutions to consider.

Wiki.js is a modern, lightweight, and powerful wiki app built on NodeJS, Git, and Markdown.

It features a persistent global navigation menu displayed across all pages, which usually consists of important links or external resources.

It also auto-generates a Table of Contents based on your headers, and provides breadcrumbs representing your folder structure.

Why Choose Wiki.js?

Wiki.js offers ultimate flexibility by providing built-in editors tailored to user preference. You can choose between a Code editor, a Markdown editor, or a rich Visual Editor. You can also import existing pages directly.

Wiki.js offers various editors depending on the type of content you want to write or simply user preference. Developers will usually go with the Markdown editor, while non-technical users may prefer the Visual Editor.

Wiki.js Features & Modules

Wiki.js is bundled with a massive range of modules that can be turned on or off on demand. Not all teams need the same set of features. That’s why it has a wide set of modules to fulfill whatever requirement you have.

Database Support

For the best performance, feature support, and future compatibility, it’s highly recommended to use PostgreSQL (version 9.5 or later). However, Wiki.js 2.x is also compatible with:

• MySQL 8.0+
• MariaDB 10.2.7+
• MS SQL Server 2012+
• SQLite 3.9+ (Not recommended for production)

Note: These alternative engines may not be supported in the next major version of Wiki.js. Make sure you understand the implications of migrating your database to PostgreSQL if you plan on upgrading to 3.x+ in the coming years.

High Availability

Wiki.js supports high availability deployments (available from version 2.3 and up). When running Wiki.js with multiple replicas (e.g., in a Kubernetes cluster or Docker Swarm), you must enable High-Availability to ensure changes propagate to all instances.

• Set HA_ACTIVE to true.

You must be using a PostgreSQL database to enable HA. It will not work with any other database engine!

Key Modules

Wiki.js features modules for Analytics, Authentication, Logging, Storage, and Search Engines.

It also has an incredibly powerful built-in commenting module, alongside native integrations with external engines like Commento and Disqus.

Learn more about Wiki.js modules and features here.

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Prepare the Deployment Environment

We will use Docker Compose to define the deployment environment.

Navigate to the /opt directory on your Swarm manager node and create the configuration directory for Wiki.js:

cd /opt
sudo mkdir -p wiki
cd wiki
sudo touch wiki.yml

Wiki.js Docker Compose Configuration

Open wiki.yml using your editor:

sudo nano wiki.yml

Paste the following Docker Compose configuration. I am using the MariaDB database service that was deployed earlier as the backend storage system.

version: "3.7"

services:
  wiki:
    image: requarks/wiki:latest
    secrets:
      - wiki_password
    environment:
      - DB_TYPE=mariadb
      - DB_HOST=db
      - DB_PORT=3306
      - DB_NAME=wiki
      - DB_USER=root
      - DB_PASS_FILE=/run/secrets/wiki_password
    ports:
      - "3000:3000"
    networks:
      - proxy
    deploy:
      placement:
        constraints: [node.role == worker]
      replicas: 1
      update_config:
        parallelism: 2
        delay: 10s
      restart_policy:
        condition: on-failure
      labels:
        - "traefik.enable=true"
        - "traefik.docker.network=proxy"
        - "traefik.http.routers.wiki.rule=Host(`wiki.example.com`)"
        - "traefik.http.routers.wiki.tls=true"
        - "traefik.http.routers.wiki.tls.certresolver=default"
        - "traefik.http.routers.wiki.entrypoints=websecure"
        - "traefik.http.services.wiki.loadbalancer.server.port=3000"

secrets:
  wiki_password:
    external: true

networks:
  proxy:
    external: true

Deploy Wiki.js to Docker Swarm

Now, deploy the stack to your Swarm using the following command:

docker stack deploy --compose-file wiki.yml wiki

In Docker Swarm, whatever you deploy via compose is called a “stack,” and it contains multiple “services.”

Check the status of the deployment to ensure it scheduled properly:

docker stack ps wiki

Access and Configure Wiki.js

Open your browser and navigate to wiki.example.com (ensure you replace example.com with your actual domain). Traefik will secure the connection and route you to the initial setup screen.

Follow the on-screen prompts to complete the administrator setup.

Reference Images from the Deployment:

Check out the Wiki.js documentation to learn more about advanced configurations.

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial! Please share your thoughts or feedback in the comments below. It helps me bring more open-source self-hosting articles to the blog.

Stay tuned for more deployments in upcoming posts!