NGINX proxy manager is what it says on the tin, its a proxy manager allowing you to point a domain to an IP and port on your server so that the user can see the service without needing the IP and port.

What is Cloudflare

Cloudflare is a content delivery network (CDN). This will not only improve latency to your website, it will also hide the IP that visitors see when they are connected to your self hosted services.

Setup

NGINX Proxy Manager Setup

Install Dependancies

Firstly, we will install docker-compose as this is what NPM will use to host itself in a docker container. You can do this by typing the commands below.

sudo apt install docker-compose

Check the version has been installed correctly by doing

docker-compose -v

Creating the NGINX docker-compose file

mkdir NGINX-Proxy-Manager
cd NGINX-Proxy-Manager
touch docker-compose.yml
nano docker-compose.yml

Copy the following yml code into your newly created docker compose file

version: '3'
services:
  app:
    image: 'jc21/nginx-proxy-manager:latest'
    restart: unless-stopped
    ports:
      - '80:80'
      - '81:81'
      - '443:443'
    volumes:
      - ./data:/data
      - ./letsencrypt:/etc/letsencrypt

The run

docker-compose up -d

Head to yourip:81 and then login with the default

username: admin
password: changeme

You will be prompted to change the login details.

Cloudflare Setup

Head to https://dash.cloudflare.com/ and make an account
You will be prompted to change the name servers of your domain provider, each provider is differnt on how to do this but cloudflare provides guides for common ones.

This may take a while for the name servers to propergate. {: .prompt-tip }

Once the names have propergated, head to the dns tab

Add an A Name record and fill in the details below

Type: A
Name: Your domain i.e kieranrobson.com
Target: Your IP i.e 11.11.111.111
Proxied: On
TTL: Auto

Add a second A record so that you can setup subdomains such as docs.kieranrobson.com

Type: A
Name: The name of the subdomain you'd like i.e docs
Target: Your IP i.e 11.11.111.111 
Proxied: Off
TTL: Auto

NGINX Proxy Host Setup

Click the green proxy buttom
Click add proxy host at the top right of the wite box
Enter the following details

Domain Names: The subdomain.domain.com i.e docs.kieranrobson.com
Scheme: http or https (This will more than often use http unless youre using port 80 or 443)
Forward Hostname: Your IP i.e 11.11.1111.111
Forward Port: The Port in which the service is running on externally i.e 9000 is portainers default external port

Turn on Block Common Exploits

Head to the SSL tab

Select a new SSL certifcate
Force SSL
HTTP/2 Support (Optional)
Agree to the terms and conditions

If you recieve an error, double check proxied is turned off in the cloudflare dashboard. {: .prompt-tip }

Once the proxy shows Lets Encrypt under the SSL heading, head back to cloudflare and turn on the proxied options.

Finally head to your subdomain and it should have worked!

If this doesnt work and youre getting an error, feel free to hit me up on discord Kieran#0981 and we will get it working!

What is Cloudflare#

Setup#

NGINX Proxy Manager Setup#

Install Dependancies#

Creating the NGINX docker-compose file#

Cloudflare Setup#

NGINX Proxy Host Setup#