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Meshcentral in docker

guide-by-example

Purpose & Overview

Powerful remote desktop toolset.

Web based, can be a replacement for TeamViewer or Anydesk.
The server is written in javascript, running in node.js runtime. The client application is written mostly in C runnig Duktape javascript engine.

The architecture is relatively simple.

a server is running online, with ports 80/443 open
clients can visit the servers web and from it install Mesh Agent which allows full control of the device straight from servers webpage

For database the server uses a build in neDB, which should be enough for less than 100 clients deployments. Or MongoDB can be deployed for better performance and robustness but added complexity.

Files and directory structure

/home/
└── ~/
    └── docker/
        └── meshcentral/
            ├── data/
            ├── meshcentral/
            ├── .env
            └── docker-compose.yml

data/ - persistent data for the MongoDB database
meshcentral/ - web app persistent data
.env - a file containing environment variables for docker compose
docker-compose.yml - a docker compose file, telling docker how to run the containers

You only need to provide the two files.
The directories are created by docker compose on the first run.

docker-compose

There is no official docker image. So This one is used.

Going with the more robust MongoDB version.

docker-compose.yml

services:
    meshcentral_db:
        image: mongo:latest
        container_name: meshcentral_db
        hostname: meshcentral_db
        restart: unless-stopped
        expose:
            - 27017
        volumes:
            - ./meshcentral_db:/data/db
    meshcentral:
        image: typhonragewind/meshcentral:mongodb
        container_name: meshcentral
        hostname: meshcentral
        restart: unless-stopped
        env_file: .env
        depends_on:
            - meshcentral_db
        volumes:
            - ./meshcentral/data:/opt/meshcentral/meshcentral-data
            - ./meshcentral/user_files:/opt/meshcentral/meshcentral-files

networks:
  default:
    name: $DOCKER_MY_NETWORK
    external: true

.env

# GENERAL
MY_DOMAIN=example.com
DOCKER_MY_NETWORK=caddy_net
TZ=Europe/Bratislava

# RUSTDESK
HOSTNAME=mesh.example.com
REVERSE_PROXY=10     #set to your reverse proxy IP
REVERSE_PROXY_TLS_PORT=443
IFRAME=false #set to true if you wish to enable iframe support
ALLOW_NEW_ACCOUNTS=false    
WEBRTC=false  #set to true to enable WebRTC - per documentation it is not officially released with meshcentral, but is solid enough to work with. Use with caution
NODE_ENV=production

Port forwarding

as can be seen in the compose

21115 - 21119 TCP need to be forwarded to docker host
21116 is TCP and UDP

21115 is used for the NAT type test, 21116/UDP is used for the ID registration and heartbeat service, 21116/TCP is used for TCP hole punching and connection service, 21117 is used for the Relay services, and 21118 and 21119 are used to support web clients.

source

The usage on clients

download and install the client apps from the official site
three dots near ID > ID/Relay Server > ID Server: rust.example.com > OK
the green dot at the bottom should stay green saying "ready"
done
in the docker server logs you should see machines public IP and ID code it was given

Encrypted use

For encrypted communication and to prevent undesirables access to the server

the encryption public key is on the docker host:
~/docker/rustdesk/data/id_ed25519.pub
you can manually add it to any client application
three dots near ID > ID/Relay Server > Key: 3AVva64bn1ea2vsDuOuQH3i8+2M=
to only allow clients with the key on server:
in the env_file set ENCRYPTED_ONLY=1 and down/up the compose.

On windows one can deploy client with these settings pre-set by renaming the installation file to: rustdesk-host=<host-ip-or-name>,key=<public-key-string>.exe

example: rustdesk-host=rust.example.com,key=3AVva64bn1ea2vsDuOuQH3i8+2M=.exe

If by chance the public key contains symbols not usable in windows filenames, down the container, delete the files id_ed25519 and id_ed25519.pub, up the container

Trouble shooting

From what I read, most client side issues come from two differently set rustdesk client applications running on the same machine.

Uninstall/remove all, plus delete:

C:\Windows\ServiceProfiles\LocalService\AppData\Roaming\RustDesk
%AppData%\RustDesk

restart and do fresh client install

Update

Manual image update:

docker-compose pull
docker-compose up -d
docker image prune

Backup and restore

Backup

Using borg that makes daily snapshot of the entire directory.

Restore

down the bookstack containers docker-compose down
delete the entire bookstack directory
from the backup copy back the bookstack directory
start the containers docker-compose up -d

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