docker-osticket

Introduction

Docker image for running version 1.14.3 of OSTicket.

This image has been created from the original docker-osticket image by Petter A. Helset.

It has a few modifications:

Documentation added, hurray!
Base OS image fixed to Alpine Linux
AJAX issues fixed that made original image unusable
Now designed to work with a linked MySQL docker container.
Automates configuration file & database installation
EMail support

OSTicket is being served by nginx using PHP-FPM with PHP 7.2. PHP7's mail function is configured to use msmtp to send out-going messages.

The setup/ directory has been renamed as setup_hidden/ and the file system permissions deny nginx access to this location. It was not removed as the setup files are required as part of the automatic configuration during container start.

Quick Start

Ensure you have a MySQL 5+ container running that OSTicket can use to store its data.

docker run --name osticket_mysql -d -e MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD=secret -e MYSQL_USER=osticket -e MYSQL_PASSWORD=secret -e MYSQL_DATABASE=osticket mysql:5

Now run this image and link the MySQL container.

docker run --name osticket -d --link osticket_mysql:mysql -p 8080:80 campbellsoftwaresolutions/osticket

Wait for the installation to complete then browse to your OSTicket staff control panel at http://localhost:8080/scp/. Login with default admin user & password:

username: ostadmin
password: Admin1

Now configure as required. If you are intending on using this image in production, please make sure you change the passwords above and read the rest of this documentation!

Note (1): If you want to change the environmental database variables on the OSTicket image to run, you can do it as follows.

docker run --name osticket -d -e MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD=new_root_password -e MYSQL_USER=new_root_user -e MYSQL_PASSWORD=new_secret -e MYSQL_DATABASE=osticket --link osticket_mysql:mysql -p 8080:80 campbellsoftwaresolutions/osticket

Note (2): OSTicket automatically redirects http://localhost:8080/scp to http://localhost/scp/. Either serve this on port 80 or don't omit the trailing slash after scp/!

MySQL connection

The recommended connection method is to link your MySQL container to this image with the alias name mysql. However, if you are using an external MySQL server then you can specify the connection details using environmental variables.

OSTicket requires that the MySQL connection specifies a user with full permissions to the specified database. This is required for the automatic database installation.

The OSTicket configuration file is re-created from the template every time the container is started. This ensures the MySQL connection details are always kept up to date automatically in case of any changes.

Linked container Settings

There are no mandatory settings required when you link your MySQL container with the alias mysql as per the quick start example.

External MySQL connection settings

The following environmental variables should be set when connecting to an external MySQL server.

MYSQL_HOST

The host name or IP address of the MySQL host to connect to. This is not required when you link a container with the alias mysql. This must be provided if not using a linked container.

MYSQL_PORT

The TCP port number to connect to on the MySQL host. This is only required if you are not using a linked container and also are not using the default MySQL port on your server (3306).

MYSQL_PASSWORD

The password for the specified user used when connecting to the MySQL server. By default will use the environmental variable MYSQL_PASSWORD from the linked MySQL container if this is not explicitly specified. This must be provided if not using a linked container.

MYSQL_PREFIX

The table prefix for this installation. Unlikely you will need to change this as customisable table prefixes are designed for shared hosting with only a single MySQL database available. Defaults to 'ost_'.

MYSQL_DATABASE

The name of the database to connect to. Defaults to 'osticket'.

MYSQL_USER

The user name to use when connecting to the MySQL server. Defaults to 'osticket'.

Mail Configuration

The image does not run a MTA. Although one could be installed quite easily, getting the setup so that external mail servers will accept mail from your host & domain is not trivial due to anti-spam measures. This is additionally difficult to do from ephemeral docker containers that run in a cloud where the host may change etc.

Hence this image supports OSTicket sending of mail by sending directly to designated a SMTP server. However, you must provide the relevant SMTP settings through environmental variables before this will function.

To automatically collect email from an external IMAP or POP3 account, configure the settings for the relevant email address in your admin control panel as normal (Admin Panel -> Emails).

SMTP Settings

SMTP_HOST

The host name (or IP address) of the SMTP server to send all outgoing mail through. Defaults to 'localhost'.

SMTP_PORT

The TCP port to connect to on the server. Defaults to '25'. Usually one of 25, 465 or 587.

SMTP_FROM

The envelope from address to use when sending email (note that is not the same as the From: header). This must be provided for sending mail to function. However, if not specified, this will default to the value of SMTP_USER if this is provided.

SMTP_TLS

Boolean (1 or 0) value indicating if TLS should be used to create a secure connection to the server. Defaults to true.

SMTP_TLS_CERTS

If TLS is in use, indicates file containing root certificates used to verify server certificate. Defaults to system installed ca certificates list. This would normally only need changed if you are using your own certificate authority or are connecting to a server with a self signed certificate.

SMTP_USER

The user identity to use for SMTP authentication. Specifying a value here will enable SMTP authentication. This will also be used for the SMTP_FROM value if this is not explicitly specified. Defaults to no value.

SMTP_PASSWORD

The password associated with the user for SMTP authentication. Defaults to no value.

IMAP/POP3 Settings

CRON_INTERVAL

Specifies how often (in minutes) that OSTicket cron script should be ran to check for incoming emails. Defaults to 5 minutes. Set to 0 to disable running of cron script. Note that this works in conjuction with the email check interval specified in the admin control panel, you need to specify both to the value you'd like!

Volumes

This image currently supports three volumes. None of these need to used if you do not require them.

/data/upload/include/plugins

This is the location where any OSTicket plugins, like the core plugins, can be placed. Plugins are not included in this image and hence should be maintained in a separate linked Docker container or the host filesystem.

/data/upload/include/i18n

This is the location where language packs can be added. There are several languages included in this image. If you want to add / change them, you can use this volume.

/var/log/nginx

nginx will store it's access & error logs in this location. If you wish to expose these to automatic log collection tools then you should mount this volume.

Environmental Variables

INSTALL_SECRET

Secret string value for OST installation. A random value is generated on start-up and persisted within the container if this is not provided.

If using in production you should specify this so that re-creating the container does not cause your installation secret to be lost!

INSTALL_CONFIG

If you require a configuration file for OSTicket with custom content then you should create one and mount it in your container as a volume. The placeholders for the MySQL connection must be retained as these will be populated automatically when the container starts. Set this environmental variable to the fully qualified file name of your custom configuration. If not specified, the default OSTicket sample configuration file is used.

INSTALL_EMAIL

Helpdesk email account. This is placed in the configuration file as well as the DB during installation. Defaults to 'helpdesk@example.com'

INSTALL_URL

The full URL of the OST ticket installation that will be set in the DB during installation. This should be set to match the public facing URL of your OSTicket site. For example: https://help.example.com/osticket. Defaults to http://localhost:8080/.

This has no effect if the database has already been installed. In this case, you should change the Helpdesk URL in System Settings and Preferences in the admin control panel.

Database Installation Only

The remaining environmental variables can be used as a convenience to provide defaults during the automated database installation but most of these settings can be changed through the admin panel if required. These are only used when creating the initial database.

INSTALL_NAME

The name of the helpdesk to create if installing. Defaults to "My Helpdesk".

ADMIN_FIRSTNAME

First name of automatically created administrative user. Defaults to 'Admin'.

ADMIN_LASTNAME

Last name of automatically created administrative user. Defaults to 'User'.

ADMIN_EMAIL

Email address of automatically created administrative user. Defaults to 'admin@example.com'.

ADMIN_USERNAME

User name to use for automatically created administrative user. Defaults to 'ostadmin'.

ADMIN_PASSWORD

Password to use for automatically created administrative user. Defaults to 'Admin1'.

Modifications

This image was put together relatively quickly and could probably be improved to meet other use cases.

Please feel free to open an issue if you have any changes you would like to see. All pull requests are also appreciated!

License

This image and source code is made available under the MIT licence. See the LICENSE file for details.

Governikus/docker-osticket