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Vultr profile image Sanskriti Harmukh
Sanskriti Harmukh for Vultr

Posted on with Aashish Chaurasiya • Originally published at docs.vultr.com

Deploying CouchDB JSON Document Store on Ubuntu 24.04

#database #docker #devops #nosql

CouchDB is an open-source NoSQL document database that stores data as JSON, exposes a full RESTful HTTP API, and replicates between nodes natively. This guide deploys CouchDB using Docker Compose with Traefik handling automatic HTTPS, then verifies it with a database and document round-trip. By the end, you'll have CouchDB serving JSON documents over HTTPS at your domain.

Set Up the Directory Structure

1. Create the project directory structure:

$ mkdir -p ~/couchdb-logging/couchdb-data
$ cd ~/couchdb-logging
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2. Set ownership for the CouchDB data directory:

$ sudo chown -R 5984:5984 couchdb-data
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3. Create the environment file:

$ nano .env
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DOMAIN=couchdb.example.com
LETSENCRYPT_EMAIL=admin@example.com
COUCHDB_USER=admin
COUCHDB_PASSWORD=changeme
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Deploy with Docker Compose

1. Create the Docker Compose manifest:

$ nano docker-compose.yaml
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services:
  traefik:
    image: traefik:v3.6
    container_name: traefik
    command:
      - "--providers.docker=true"
      - "--providers.docker.exposedbydefault=false"
      - "--entrypoints.web.address=:80"
      - "--entrypoints.websecure.address=:443"
      - "--entrypoints.web.http.redirections.entrypoint.to=websecure"
      - "--entrypoints.web.http.redirections.entrypoint.scheme=https"
      - "--certificatesresolvers.letsencrypt.acme.httpchallenge=true"
      - "--certificatesresolvers.letsencrypt.acme.httpchallenge.entrypoint=web"
      - "--certificatesresolvers.letsencrypt.acme.email=${LETSENCRYPT_EMAIL}"
      - "--certificatesresolvers.letsencrypt.acme.storage=/letsencrypt/acme.json"
    ports:
      - "80:80"
      - "443:443"
    volumes:
      - "letsencrypt:/letsencrypt"
      - "/var/run/docker.sock:/var/run/docker.sock:ro"
    restart: unless-stopped

  couchdb:
    image: couchdb:latest
    container_name: couchdb
    hostname: couchdb
    expose:
      - "5984"
    volumes:
      - "./couchdb-data:/opt/couchdb/data"
    environment:
      - COUCHDB_USER=${COUCHDB_USER}
      - COUCHDB_PASSWORD=${COUCHDB_PASSWORD}
    labels:
      - "traefik.enable=true"
      - "traefik.http.routers.couchdb.rule=Host(`${DOMAIN}`)"
      - "traefik.http.routers.couchdb.entrypoints=websecure"
      - "traefik.http.routers.couchdb.tls.certresolver=letsencrypt"
      - "traefik.http.services.couchdb.loadbalancer.server.port=5984"
    restart: unless-stopped

volumes:
  letsencrypt:
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2. Start the services:

$ docker compose up -d
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3. Verify the services are running:

$ docker compose ps
$ docker compose logs
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Access CouchDB

1. Create a database:

$ curl -X PUT https://admin:changeme@couchdb.example.com/logs
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2. Insert a document:

$ curl -X POST https://admin:changeme@couchdb.example.com/logs \
    -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
    -d '{"level":"info","message":"first entry"}'
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3. List all documents:

$ curl https://admin:changeme@couchdb.example.com/logs/_all_docs
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The built-in admin UI (Fauxton) is available at https://couchdb.example.com/_utils/.

Next Steps

CouchDB is running and serving JSON documents over HTTPS. From here you can:

  • Create design documents with map/reduce views for structured queries
  • Set up continuous replication between CouchDB nodes or to PouchDB clients
  • Add per-database security objects to scope read/write access

For the full guide with additional tips, visit the original article on Vultr Docs.

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