Skip to content

Instantly share code, notes, and snippets.

@Lvdwardt
Last active June 4, 2025 23:49
Show Gist options
  • Save Lvdwardt/707d9c3fb4581d38102399f91a21c9c6 to your computer and use it in GitHub Desktop.
Save Lvdwardt/707d9c3fb4581d38102399f91a21c9c6 to your computer and use it in GitHub Desktop.
Rustdesk + Nginx proxy manager
version: '3'
networks:
rustdesk-net:
external: false
services:
nginx-proxy-manager:
image: 'jc21/nginx-proxy-manager:latest'
restart: unless-stopped
ports:
# These ports are in format <host-port>:<container-port>
- '80:80' # Public HTTP Port
- '443:443' # Public HTTPS Port
- '8081:81' # Admin Web Port
# Add any other Stream port you want to expose
# - '21:21' # FTP
# Ports needed for Rustdesk:
- '21115:21115'
- '21116:21116'
- '21116:21116/udp'
- '21117:21117'
- '21118:21118'
- '21119:21119'
# Uncomment the next line if you uncomment anything in the section
# environment:
# Uncomment this if you want to change the location of
# the SQLite DB file within the container
# DB_SQLITE_FILE: "/data/database.sqlite"
# Uncomment this if IPv6 is not enabled on your host/
# DISABLE_IPV6: 'true'
volumes:
- ./data:/data
- ./letsencrypt:/etc/letsencrypt
networks:
- rustdesk-net
hbbs:
container_name: hbbs
image: rustdesk/rustdesk-server:latest
command: hbbs -r rustdesk.yourDomain.com:21117
volumes:
- ./data:/root
networks:
- rustdesk-net
depends_on:
- hbbr
restart: unless-stopped
hbbr:
container_name: hbbr
image: rustdesk/rustdesk-server:latest
command: hbbr
volumes:
- ./data:/root
networks:
- rustdesk-net
restart: unless-stopped
@okynnor
Copy link

okynnor commented Feb 18, 2025

I'm starting to believe that rustdesk doesn't work for self hosted behind a router in a multi-layer environment. From all the videos and articles and posts, everyone who were successful, had hosted them with a cloud service (meaning, not hosted locally but with something like AWS, Digital Ocean, etc)

RUSTDESK SERVER LAYERED SECURITY MODEL

@echoparkbaby
Copy link

no it works. I rebuilt my NPM with rust desk like his example, and it's now working. It's a few steps. But I followed all above and it works for me. I host mine on my Proxmox, UDM, Spectrum and cloudflare dynamic dns solution.

@baitinghollow
Copy link

I know this is fundamental question, but I really want to learn this. I'm ok with steps 2-6 as I have many docker images running (ollama, piwigo, nginx, searxng, frigate NVR). But the "create a stack" has me baffled. I have read all over the net, but I'm really confused.

Could you point me in the right direction or explain what creating a stack is? And how is it deployed?
Many thanks

@Lvdwardt
Copy link
Author

I know this is fundamental question, but I really want to learn this. I'm ok with steps 2-6 as I have many docker images running (ollama, piwigo, nginx, searxng, frigate NVR). But the "create a stack" has me baffled. I have read all over the net, but I'm really confused.

Could you point me in the right direction or explain what creating a stack is? And how is it deployed? Many thanks

Hey!

I used portainer for this and there it is called a stack, but I believe it's the name of the folder you create your docker-compose in. To check you can do step two and then get the name by running docker network ls and finding the one that has _rustdesk-net after it.

@baitinghollow
Copy link

baitinghollow commented Mar 11, 2025 via email

@okynnor
Copy link

okynnor commented Mar 11, 2025

@echoparkbaby I run mine with xcp-ng 8.3. The other stuff is the same as you being UDM, Cloudflare dynamic dns solution. Not sure what Spectrum is though.
I even tried it by running not in a VM but in actual metal hardware with Docker and with this rustdesk Docker yml file. Would the UDM be the point of block? How do I check?

@TR7Mike
Copy link

TR7Mike commented Mar 14, 2025

@Lvdwardt thanks for the step-by-step. Just wanted to mention that there is a typo in the guide: "Make sure that port 21117 has both TCP and UDP selected.". That should be port 21116.

Your image is right, but not the written guide. I fell fowl of that unfortunately, but all good now.

@hack2spider
Copy link

I used to run this fine for months until recently ... for some odd reason I can`t remote to some abroad sites where I used to do it just fine before .. so I started updating all rustdesk windows installations I had ..

It still works locally on my lan fine however I can`t get it to work remotely anynmore ..

Looking at the logs I can see there is a request for relay on my hbbr container however it returns a relay error after a while .. keys and sites and forwarders also the nginx streams all set working fine except since the update I interestingly get an offline mark on my nginx stream on port 21119 ... checked and rechecked everything but can`t find the issue ..

anyone ?

@hack2spider
Copy link

image

  • [ ]

image

image

annoyingly the error is not specific so it can point you in the right direction .. no matter which direction I`m trying to connect to returns the same ..

@okynnor
Copy link

okynnor commented Apr 23, 2025

If you're using a FQDN like rustdesk.your_domain.com, have you added this FQDN to your internal DNS server yet?

If you're using Pi-Hole, Under Settings --> Local DNS Records.
Note to use only the external FQDN.

@hack2spider
Copy link

Im using pihole, but pihole wont route the incoming traffic to my container .. nginx will do ... only using traffic internally unbound. I also have local dns setup for but I`m not sure I can setup external FQDNS into my internal instance as from what I know this will screw everything up.

my rustdesk.external.com domain points to my wan ip and from there ngnix takes traffic where it needs to go via streams ...

Im using 2 nginx instances .. the old one I always had which routes https traffic to the required containers and authelia as required and also using nginx for rustdesk where Im pointing the traffic from my LXC local ip internally to docker bridge network created by rustdesk ...

the setup was working fine until recently

so on my main desktop (as I have a few on my lan) when opening rustdesk all history connections show up fine .. if I log in locally it works ... but the remote ones even if shown with green dot, when I try to connect to them it hangs for a while .. and throws a relay problem ... same when i try to connect from one of them remotec desktops into my own desktop ..

I tried so far :

  1. rebooting all desktops and updating to latest verisons
  2. force-recreated the containers with nginx and rustdesk (the compose file) to make sure the latest containers are downloaded
  3. re-checked the forwarding ports in my unifi
  4. re-checked the firewall rules
  5. rechecked my main ngnix rules

all above looking good, I can connect to all my servers behind the ngnix, Im using quite a few .. its only rustdesk that stopped working

@okynnor
Copy link

okynnor commented Apr 24, 2025

I wouldn't try to use nginx as per the original post has suggested. Routing traffic through nginx, as shown in this post, means that you dont have a router. Most people have a router. Why route traffic twice before it hits the Rustdesk containers?

Simplify is your friend. Remove useless layers of complexity.

Here's what I got going on my home lab.

After traffic hits my router, my router forwards the rustdesk named opened ports to the rustdesk containers

Screenshot 2025-04-24 at 10 02 58 AM

Since you're running Pi-hole, do this:

Screenshot 2025-04-24 at 10 05 09 AM

Yes, it is that simple.

Sign up for free to join this conversation on GitHub. Already have an account? Sign in to comment