Docker Compose nodebb + postgres | Error connecting to database

Wong Jiong Yu

Hi all! Super excited to give nodebb a try.

I'm trying to set up nodebb using docker compose and Postgres as my database. However, I always encounter the "There was an error connecting to your database. Please try again." error when trying to setup using the NodeBB installer.

The logs read

2024-03-08 14:05:21 Welcome to NodeBB v1.19.7!
2024-03-08 14:05:21 
2024-03-08 14:05:21 This looks like a new installation, so you'll have to answer a few questions about your environment before we can proceed.
2024-03-08 14:05:21 Press enter to accept the default setting (shown in brackets).
2024-03-08 14:05:21 2024-03-08T06:05:21.169Z [30] - info: [install/checkSetupFlagEnv] checking env vars for setup info...
2024-03-08 14:05:21 2024-03-08T06:05:21.209Z [30] - info: 
2024-03-08 14:05:21 Now configuring postgres database:
2024-03-08 14:05:21 2024-03-08T06:05:21.217Z [30] - warn: NodeBB Setup Aborted.
**2024-03-08 14:05:21  Error: connect ECONNREFUSED 127.0.0.1:5432**
2024-03-08 14:05:21     at /usr/src/app/node_modules/pg-pool/index.js:45:11
2024-03-08 14:05:21     at process.processTicksAndRejections (node:internal/process/task_queues:95:5)
2024-03-08 14:05:21     at async postgresModule.init (/usr/src/app/src/database/postgres.js:54:17)
2024-03-08 14:05:21     at async completeConfigSetup (/usr/src/app/src/install.js:201:2)
2024-03-08 14:05:21     at async setupConfig (/usr/src/app/src/install.js:186:2)
2024-03-08 14:05:21     at async install.setup (/usr/src/app/src/install.js:562:3)
2024-03-08 14:05:21     at async Object.setup (/usr/src/app/src/cli/setup.js:23:15)

My current dockercompose file reads

version: '3.9'

services:

  nodebb:
    image: nodebb/docker
    restart: unless-stopped
    environment:
      - DATABASE_URL=postgres://postgres:password@db:5432/postgres
    volumes:
      - ./data/nodebb:/data
    ports:
      - "4567:4567"

  db:
    image: postgres
    restart: always
    # set shared memory limit when using docker-compose
    shm_size: 128mb
    # or set shared memory limit when deploy via swarm stack
    volumes:
      - './data:/data/db'
    environment:
      POSTGRES_DB: postgres
      POSTGRES_USER: postgres
      POSTGRES_PASSWORD: password
    expose:
      - "5432"
    ports:
      - "5432:5432"

  adminer:
    image: adminer
    restart: always
    ports:
      - 8080:8080

This is the DB configuration on the setup page:

If anyone with docker knowledge can help, it'd be great!!

phenomlab

@Wong-Jiong-Yu Is your Postgres install listening on port 5432 and 127.0.0.1 ?

Wong Jiong Yu

@phenomlab Hi Phenomlab! This is the log from the Postgres container

2024-03-09 12:30:28 initdb: warning: enabling "trust" authentication for local connections
2024-03-09 12:30:28 initdb: hint: You can change this by editing pg_hba.conf or using the option -A, or --auth-local and --auth-host, the next time you run initdb.
2024-03-09 12:30:28 2024-03-09 04:30:28.666 UTC [1] LOG:  starting PostgreSQL 16.2 (Debian 16.2-1.pgdg120+2) on x86_64-pc-linux-gnu, compiled by gcc (Debian 12.2.0-14) 12.2.0, 64-bit
2024-03-09 12:30:28 2024-03-09 04:30:28.667 UTC [1] LOG:  listening on IPv4 address "0.0.0.0", port 5432
2024-03-09 12:30:28 2024-03-09 04:30:28.667 UTC [1] LOG:  listening on IPv6 address "::", port 5432
2024-03-09 12:30:28 2024-03-09 04:30:28.682 UTC [1] LOG:  listening on Unix socket "/var/run/postgresql/.s.PGSQL.5432"
2024-03-09 12:30:28 2024-03-09 04:30:28.697 UTC [62] LOG:  database system was shut down at 2024-03-09 04:30:28 UTC
2024-03-09 12:30:28 2024-03-09 04:30:28.711 UTC [1] LOG:  database system is ready to accept connections

I've changed the configuration to 0.0.0.0 but it still gives the same error

artur9010

As you named your postgres container db, you should use db as database host.