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Tutorial

Dockerize FileZilla FTP

A guide to running FileZilla as a Docker container with browser-based access, covering Docker Compose configuration, user/group permissions, and RAID array mounting.

Hake HardwarePublished Updated ~5 minintermediate

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Contents

Overview

Running an FTP client in Docker provides convenient browser-based access to file systems. This guide covers deploying FileZilla in a containerized environment, particularly useful for headless servers managing RAID arrays or shared storage.

Docker Image Selection

Two popular options exist:

The jlesage implementation was chosen for this setup due to comprehensive documentation.

Docker Compose Configuration

docker-compose.ymlyaml
services:
  filezilla:
    image: jlesage/filezilla
    container_name: filezilla
    ports:
      - "5800:5800"  # Web interface
    volumes:
      - "/mnt/raid5:/storage:rw"  # Mounting RAID array
      - "config:/config:rw"  # Configuration
    environment:
      - USER_ID=1000
      - GROUP_ID=1001
      - TZ=America/Phoenix
      - UMASK=0002
      - DARK_MODE=1
    restart: unless-stopped

volumes:
  config:

Key Configuration Points

Storage mounting: The RAID array mounts to /storage for direct file downloads to primary storage location.

Named volumes: Configuration uses Docker-managed volumes for simplified management.

User/Group IDs: USER_ID corresponds to the host user account; GROUP_ID matches the group with storage permissions (1001 for 'smbusers').

UMASK setting: A UMASK of 0002 allows newly created files to permit read-write access for the group by default.

Dark mode: Enabled via environment variable.

Identifying System IDs

Retrieve user and group identifiers with:

bash
id <username>

Output displays UID and GID values needed for environment configuration. Add users to appropriate groups before container deployment if necessary.

Terminal output of the id hakehardware command showing uid=1000(hakehardware) gid=1000(hakehardware) with groups including 1001(smbusers)

File System Permissions

Ensure proper directory permissions:

  • Root user has read/write access
  • Target group members have read/write access
  • Container operates with specified USER_ID and GROUP_ID
Terminal output of ls -la showing directory permissions with drwxrwxr-x ownership by root:smbusers, confirming correct group permissions for FTP access

This permissions structure enables the containerized application to read and write files within the mounted storage volume appropriately.

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