docker-netatalk: A Shell repository from ManuelLR

This repo is a fork of this excellent repo https://github.com/cptactionhank/docker-netatalk to updating and improving the base implementation.

Changelog from original repo

Changed Debian version from Jessie to Buster-slim
Install netatalk from official Debian repository
Added docker-compose.yml for ease of use
Option to create multiple users
Updated afp.conf to remove anonymous access
Remove avahi ENV var (always run)
Other configurations by env vars

I'm in the fast lane! Get me started

To quickly get started with running an Netatalk container first you can run the following command:

docker run \
    --detach \
    --publish 548:548 \
    manuellr/netatalk

Important: This does not announce the AFP service on the network; connecting to the server should be performed by Finder's Go -> Connect Server (CMD+K) and then typing afp://[docker_host].

Default configuration of Netatalk has two share called Share which shares the containers /media/share and called TimeMachine which shares the containers /media/timemachine mounting point. Host mounting a volume to this path will be the quickest way to start sharing files on your network.

docker run \
    --detach \
    --volume [host_path]:/media/share \
    --volume [host_path]:/media/timemachine \
    --publish 548:548 \
    manuellr/netatalk

Alternatively, it can be executed using docker-compose with the following command:

docker-compose up -d

The slower road

With the slower roads documentation some knowledge in administering Docker and Netatalk assumed.

Configuring shares

There are two ways of configuring the Netatalk which is either by mounting a configuration file or editing the file from the container itself. Documentation of the configuration file /etc/afp.conf can be found here.

Host mounted configuration

This is quite a simple way to change the configuration by supplying an additional docker flag when creating the container.

docker run \
    --detach \
    --volume [host_path]:/etc/afp.conf \
    --volume [host_path]:/media/share \
    --volume [host_path]:/media/timemachine \
    --publish 548:548 \
    manuellr/netatalk

Setting up with environment variables

That variables could be setted in a file called netatalk.env. This file is used by the docker-compose.yml file or by using the flag --env-file when exec the docker run command.

Configuration

Variable	Description
AFP_SPOTLIGHT	(yes/no) Enables the possibility that, when searching in spotlight on the mac, shows results of these volumes
AFP_ZEROCONF	(yes/no) Enables the possibility that it can be detected on local networks. This must be complemented using `host` network when executing the container
AFP_NAME	(def: Netatalk-server) Name of the device to be displayed

Access credentials

To setup access credentials you should supply the following environment variables from the table below.

Variable	Description
AFP_USER	create a user in the container and allow it access to /media/share
AFP_USER_PASSWORD	password
AFP_USER_UID	(optional) uid of the created user
AFP_USER_GID	(optional) gid of the created user

If you need to add more user you can do it adding the user number. For example, AFP_USER_2, AFP_USER_2_PASSWORD or AFP_USER_15.

Service discovery

This image includes an avahi daemon which makes it discoverable on the network. Enable by setting the environment variable AFP_ZEROCONF=true.

Service discovery works only when the container use the same network as the users which is why you need to run the container in host network, but do consider that it is considered a security threat. That option could be enable be supply --net=host flag to Docker or by enabling docker-compose.override-net.yml with the command:

ln -s docker-compose.override-net.yml docker-compose.override.yml

Alternatively you can install and setup an mDNS server on the host and have this describing the AFP service for your container.

Acknowledgments

Thanks to @rrva for his work updating this image to Netatalk version 3.1.8 and slimming down this image for everyone to enjoy.

Contributions

This image has been created with the best intentions and an expert understanding of docker, but it should not be expected to be flawless. Should you be in the position to do so, I request that you help support this repository with best-practices and other additions.

If you see out of date documentation, lack of tests, etc., you can help out by either

creating an issue and opening a discussion, or
sending a pull request with modifications

This work is made possible with the great services from Docker and GitHub.

ManuelLR/docker-netatalk