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# ejabberd Container Images

ejabberd is an open-source, robust, scalable and extensible realtime platform built using Erlang/OTP, that includes XMPP Server, MQTT Broker and SIP Service.

This page documents those container images (images comparison):

- published in ghcr.io/processone/ejabberd, built using ejabberd repository, both for stable ejabberd releases and the `master` branch, in x64 and arm64 architectures.

- published in docker.io/ejabberd/ecs, built using docker-ejabberd/ecs repository for ejabberd stable releases in x64 architectures.

For Microsoft Windows, see Docker Desktop for Windows 10, and Docker Toolbox for Windows 7.

For Kubernetes Helm, see help-ejabberd.

## Start ejabberd

### daemon

Start ejabberd in a new container:

    docker run --name ejabberd -d -p 5222:5222 ghcr.io/processone/ejabberd

That runs the container as a daemon, using ejabberd default configuration file and XMPP domain `localhost`.

Restart the stopped ejabberd container:

    docker restart ejabberd

Stop the running container:

    docker stop ejabberd

Remove the ejabberd container:

    docker rm ejabberd

### with Erlang console

Start ejabberd with an interactive Erlang console attached using the `live` command:

    docker run --name ejabberd -it -p 5222:5222 ghcr.io/processone/ejabberd live

That uses the default configuration file and XMPP domain `localhost`.

### with your data

Pass a configuration file as a volume and share the local directory to store database:

    mkdir conf && cp ejabberd.yml.example conf/ejabberd.yml

    mkdir database && chown ejabberd database

    docker run --name ejabberd -it \
      -v $(pwd)/conf/ejabberd.yml:/opt/ejabberd/conf/ejabberd.yml \
      -v $(pwd)/database:/opt/ejabberd/database \
      -p 5222:5222 ghcr.io/processone/ejabberd live

Notice that ejabberd runs in the container with an account named `ejabberd` with UID 9000 and group `ejabberd` with GID 9000, and the volumes you mount must grant proper rights to that account.

## Next steps

### Register admin account

#### 🔅

If you set the `REGISTER_ADMIN_PASSWORD` environment variable, an account is automatically registered with that password, and admin privileges are granted to it. The account created depends on what variables you have set:

- `EJABBERD_MACRO_ADMIN=juliet@example.org` -> `juliet@example.org`
- `EJABBERD_MACRO_HOST=example.org` -> `admin@example.org`
- None of those variables are set -> `admin@localhost`

The account registration is shown in the container log:

    $ podman run -it \
      --env EJABBERD_MACRO_HOST=example.org \
      --env EJABBERD_MACRO_ADMIN=juliet@example.org \
      --env REGISTER_ADMIN_PASSWORD=somePassw0rd \
      ghcr.io/processone/ejabberd

    :> ejabberdctl register juliet example.org somePassw0rd
    User juliet@example.org successfully registered

This is implemented internally by using Commands on start.

Alternatively, you can register the account manually yourself and edit `conf/ejabberd.yml` and add the ACL as explained in ejabberd Docs: Administration Account.

####

The default ejabberd configuration has already granted admin privilege to an account that would be called `admin@localhost`, so you just need to register it, for example:

    docker exec -it ejabberd ejabberdctl register admin localhost passw0rd

### Check ejabberd log

Check the content of the log files inside the container, even if you do not put it on a shared persistent drive:

    docker exec -it ejabberd tail -f logs/ejabberd.log

### Inspect container files

The container uses Alpine Linux. Start a shell inside the container:

    docker exec -it ejabberd sh

### Open debug console

Open an interactive debug Erlang console attached to a running ejabberd in a running container:

    docker exec -it ejabberd ejabberdctl debug

### CAPTCHA

ejabberd includes two example CAPTCHA scripts. If you want to use any of them, first install some additional required libraries:

    docker exec --user root ejabberd apk add imagemagick ghostscript-fonts bash

Now update your ejabberd configuration file, for example:

    docker exec -it ejabberd vi conf/ejabberd.yml

and add this option:

    captcha_cmd: "$HOME/bin/captcha.sh"

Finally, reload the configuration file or restart the container:

    docker exec ejabberd ejabberdctl reload_config

If the CAPTCHA image is not visible, there may be a problem generating it (the ejabberd log file may show some error message); or the image URL may not be correctly detected by ejabberd, in that case you can set the correct URL manually, for example:

    captcha_url: https://localhost:5443/captcha

For more details about CAPTCHA options, please check the CAPTCHA documentation section.

## Advanced

### Ports 🟠

The container image exposes several ports (check also Docs: Firewall Settings):

- `5222`: The default port for XMPP clients.
- `5269`: For XMPP federation. Only needed if you want to communicate with users on other servers.
- `5280`: For admin interface (URL is `admin/`).
- `5443`: With encryption, used for admin interface, API, CAPTCHA, OAuth, Websockets and XMPP BOSH.
- `1880`: For admin interface (URL is `/`, useful for podman-desktop and docker-desktop) 🔅
- `1883`: Used for MQTT
- `5478` UDP: STUN service 🟠
- `50000-50099` UDP: TURN service 🟠
- `7777`: SOCKS5 file transfer proxy 🟠
- `5210`: Erlang connectivity when `ERL_DIST_PORT` is set, alternative to EPMD 🔅
- `4369-4399`: EPMD and Erlang connectivity, used for `ejabberdctl` and clustering

### Volumes

ejabberd produces two types of data: log files and database spool files (Mnesia). This is the kind of data you probably want to store on a persistent or local drive (at least the database).

The volumes you may want to map:

- `/opt/ejabberd/conf/`: Directory containing configuration and certificates
- `/opt/ejabberd/database/`: Directory containing Mnesia database. You should back up or export the content of the directory to persistent storage (host storage, local storage, any storage plugin)
- `/opt/ejabberd/logs/`: Directory containing log files
- `/opt/ejabberd/upload/`: Directory containing uploaded files. This should also be backed up.

All these files are owned by an account named `ejabberd` with group `ejabberd` in the container. Its corresponding `UID:GID` is `9000:9000`. If you prefer bind mounts instead of volumes, then you need to map this to valid `UID:GID` on your host to get read/write access on mounted directories.

If using Docker, try:

    mkdir database
    sudo chown 9000:9000 database

If using Podman, try:

    mkdir database
    podman unshare chown 9000:9000 database

It's possible to install additional ejabberd modules using volumes, check this Docs tutorial.

### Commands on start

The ejabberdctl script reads the `CTL_ON_CREATE` environment variable the first time the container is started, and reads `CTL_ON_START` every time the container is started. Those variables can contain one ejabberdctl command, or several commands separated with the blankspace and `;` characters.

If any of those commands returns a failure, the container starting gets aborted. If there is a command with a result that can be ignored, prefix that command with `!`

All this works when starting ejabberd with the default method `foreground`, not when using `live`, `iexlive`, ...

This example registers an `admin@localhost` account when the container is first created. Everytime the container starts, it shows the list of registered accounts, checks that the admin account exists and password is valid, changes the password of an account if it exists (ignoring any failure), and shows the ejabberd starts (check also the full example):

        environment:
          - CTL_ON_CREATE=register admin localhost asd
          - CTL_ON_START=stats registeredusers ;
                         check_password admin localhost asd ;
                         ! change_password bot123 localhost qqq ;
                         status

Same example using Podman:

    $ podman run -it \
      --env CTL_ON_CREATE="register admin localhost asd" \
      --env CTL_ON_START="stats registeredusers ; \
                          check_password admin localhost asd ; \
                          ! change_password bot123 localhost qqq ; \
                          status" \
      ghcr.io/processone/ejabberd

    ...

    :> ejabberdctl register admin localhost asd
    User admin@localhost successfully registered

    :> ejabberdctl stats registeredusers
    1

    :> ejabberdctl check_password admin localhost asd

    :> ejabberdctl change_password bot123 localhost qqq
    {not_found,"unknown_user"}
    :> FAILURE in command 'change_password bot123 localhost qqq' !!! Ignoring result

    :> ejabberdctl status
    The node ejabberd@localhost is started. Status: started
    ejabberd 25.10.0 is running in that node

### Macros in environment

ejabberd reads `EJABBERD_MACRO_*` environment variables and uses them to define the corresponding macros, overwriting the corresponding macro definition if it was set in the configuration file. This is supported since ejabberd 24.12.

For example, if you configure this in `ejabberd.yml`:

    acl:
      admin:
        user: ADMIN

now you can define the admin account JID using an environment variable:

        environment:
          - EJABBERD_MACRO_ADMIN=admin@localhost

Check the full example for other example.

### ejabberd-contrib

This section addresses those topics related to ejabberd-contrib:

- Download source code
- Install a module
- Install git for dependencies
- Install your module

#### Download source code

The `ejabberd` container image includes the ejabberd-contrib git repository source code, but `ecs` does not, so first download it:

    $ docker exec ejabberd ejabberdctl modules_update_specs

#### Install a module

Compile and install any of the contributed modules, for example:

    docker exec ejabberd ejabberdctl module_install mod_statsdx

    Module mod_statsdx has been installed and started.
    It's configured in the file:
      /opt/ejabberd/.ejabberd-modules/mod_statsdx/conf/mod_statsdx.yml
    Configure the module in that file, or remove it
    and configure in your main ejabberd.yml

#### Install git for dependencies

Some modules depend on erlang libraries, but the container images do not include `git` or `mix` to download them. Consequently, when you attempt to install such a module, there will be error messages like:

    docker exec ejabberd ejabberdctl module_install ejabberd_observer_cli

    I'll download "recon" using git because I can't use Mix to fetch from hex.pm:
      /bin/sh: mix: not found
    Fetching dependency observer_cli:
      /bin/sh: git: not found
    ...

the solution is to install `git` in the container image:

    docker exec --user root ejabberd apk add git

    fetch https://dl-cdn.alpinelinux.org/alpine/v3.21/main/x86_64/APKINDEX.tar.gz
    fetch https://dl-cdn.alpinelinux.org/alpine/v3.21/community/x86_64/APKINDEX.tar.gz
    (1/3) Installing pcre2 (10.43-r0)
    (2/3) Installing git (2.47.2-r0)
    (3/3) Installing git-init-template (2.47.2-r0)
    Executing busybox-1.37.0-r12.trigger
    OK: 27 MiB in 42 packages

and now you can upgrade the module:

    docker exec ejabberd ejabberdctl module_upgrade ejabberd_observer_cli

    I'll download "recon" using git because I can't use Mix to fetch from hex.pm:
    /bin/sh: mix: not found
    Fetching dependency observer_cli: Cloning into 'observer_cli'...
    Fetching dependency os_stats: Cloning into 'os_stats'...
    Fetching dependency recon: Cloning into 'recon'...
    Inlining: inline_size=24 inline_effort=150
    Old inliner: threshold=0 functions=[{insert,2},{merge,2}]
    Module ejabberd_observer_cli has been installed.
    Now you can configure it in your ejabberd.yml
    I'll download "recon" using git because I can't use Mix to fetch from hex.pm:
    /bin/sh: mix: not found

#### Install your module

If you developed an ejabberd module, you can install it in your container image:

1. Create a local directory for `ejabberd-modules`:

       mkdir docker-modules

2. Then create the directory structure for your custom module:

       cd docker-modules

       mkdir -p sources/mod_hello_world/
       touch sources/mod_hello_world/mod_hello_world.spec

       mkdir sources/mod_hello_world/src/
       mv mod_hello_world.erl sources/mod_hello_world/src/

       mkdir sources/mod_hello_world/conf/
       echo -e "modules:\n  mod_hello_world: {}" > sources/mod_hello_world/conf/mod_hello_world.yml

       cd ..

3. Grant ownership of that directory to the UID that ejabberd will use inside the Docker image:

       sudo chown 9000 -R docker-modules/

4. Start ejabberd in the container:

       sudo docker run \
         --name hellotest \
         -d \
         --volume "$(pwd)/docker-modules:/home/ejabberd/.ejabberd-modules/" \
         -p 5222:5222 \
         -p 5280:5280 \
         ejabberd/ecs

5. Check the module is available for installing, and then install it:

       sudo docker exec -it hellotest ejabberdctl modules_available
       mod_hello_world []

       sudo docker exec -it hellotest ejabberdctl module_install mod_hello_world

6. If the module works correctly, you will see `Hello` in the ejabberd logs when it starts:

       sudo docker exec -it hellotest grep Hello logs/ejabberd.log
       2020-10-06 13:40:13.154335+00:00 [info]
         <0.492.0>@mod_hello_world:start/2:15 Hello, ejabberd world!

### ejabberdapi

When the container is running (and thus ejabberd), you can exec commands inside the container using `ejabberdctl` or any other of the available interfaces, see Understanding ejabberd "commands"

Additionally, the container image includes the `ejabberdapi` executable. Please check the ejabberd-api homepage for configuration and usage details.

For example, if you configure ejabberd like this:

    listen:
      -
        port: 5282
        module: ejabberd_http
        request_handlers:
          "/api": mod_http_api

    acl:
      loopback:
        ip:
          - 127.0.0.0/8
          - ::1/128
          - ::FFFF:127.0.0.1/128

    api_permissions:
      "admin access":
        who:
          access:
            allow:
              acl: loopback
        what:
          - "register"

Then you could register new accounts with this query:

    docker exec -it ejabberd ejabberdapi register --endpoint=http://127.0.0.1:5282/ --jid=admin@localhost --password=passw0rd

### Clustering

When setting several containers to form a cluster of ejabberd nodes, each one must have a different Erlang Node Name and the same Erlang Cookie.

For this you can either:

- edit `conf/ejabberdctl.cfg` and set variables `ERLANG_NODE` and `ERLANG_COOKIE`
- set the environment variables `ERLANG_NODE_ARG` and `ERLANG_COOKIE`

Example to connect a local `ejabberdctl` to a containerized ejabberd:

1. When creating the container, export port 5210, and set `ERLANG_COOKIE`:

       docker run --name ejabberd -it \
         -e ERLANG_COOKIE=`cat $HOME/.erlang.cookie` \
         -p 5210:5210 -p 5222:5222 \
         ghcr.io/processone/ejabberd

2. Set `ERL_DIST_PORT=5210` in `ejabberdctl.cfg` of container and local ejabberd
3. Restart the container
4. Now use `ejabberdctl` in your local ejabberd deployment

To connect using a local `ejabberd` script:

    ERL_DIST_PORT=5210 _build/dev/rel/ejabberd/bin/ejabberd ping

Example using environment variables (see full example docker-compose.yml):

        environment:
          - ERLANG_NODE_ARG=ejabberd@node7
          - ERLANG_COOKIE=dummycookie123

Once you have the ejabberd nodes properly set and running, you can tell the secondary nodes to join the master node using the `join_cluster` API call.

Example using environment variables (see the full `docker-compose.yml` clustering example):

    environment:
      - ERLANG_NODE_ARG=ejabberd@replica
      - ERLANG_COOKIE=dummycookie123
      - CTL_ON_CREATE=join_cluster ejabberd@main

### Change Mnesia Node Name

To use the same Mnesia database in a container with a different hostname, it is necessary to change the old hostname stored in Mnesia.

This section is equivalent to the ejabberd Documentation Change Computer Hostname, but particularized to containers that use this `ecs` container image from ejabberd 23.01 or older.

#### Setup Old Container

Let's assume a container running ejabberd 23.01 (or older) from this `ecs` container image, with the database directory binded and one registered account. This can be produced with:

    OLDCONTAINER=ejaold
    NEWCONTAINER=ejanew

    mkdir database
    sudo chown 9000:9000 database
    docker run -d --name $OLDCONTAINER -p 5222:5222 \
           -v $(pwd)/database:/opt/ejabberd/database \
           ghcr.io/processone/ejabberd:23.01
    docker exec -it $OLDCONTAINER ejabberdctl started
    docker exec -it $OLDCONTAINER ejabberdctl register user1 localhost somepass
    docker exec -it $OLDCONTAINER ejabberdctl registered_users localhost

Methods to know the Erlang node name:

    ls database/ | grep ejabberd@
    docker exec -it $OLDCONTAINER ejabberdctl status
    docker exec -it $OLDCONTAINER grep "started in the node" logs/ejabberd.log

#### Change Mnesia Node

First of all let's store the Erlang node names and paths in variables. In this example they would be:

    OLDCONTAINER=ejaold
    NEWCONTAINER=ejanew
    OLDNODE=ejabberd@95145ddee27c
    NEWNODE=ejabberd@localhost
    OLDFILE=/opt/ejabberd/database/old.backup
    NEWFILE=/opt/ejabberd/database/new.backup

1. Start your old container that can still read the Mnesia database correctly. If you have the Mnesia spool files, but don't have access to the old container anymore, go to Create Temporary Container and later come back here.

2. Generate a backup file and check it was created:

       docker exec -it $OLDCONTAINER ejabberdctl backup $OLDFILE
       ls -l database/*.backup

3. Stop ejabberd:

       docker stop $OLDCONTAINER

4. Create the new container. For example:

       docker run \
              --name $NEWCONTAINER \
              -d \
              -p 5222:5222 \
              -v $(pwd)/database:/opt/ejabberd/database \
              ghcr.io/processone/ejabberd:latest

5. Convert the backup file to new node name:

       docker exec -it $NEWCONTAINER ejabberdctl mnesia_change_nodename $OLDNODE $NEWNODE $OLDFILE $NEWFILE

6. Install the backup file as a fallback:

       docker exec -it $NEWCONTAINER ejabberdctl install_fallback $NEWFILE

7. Restart the container:

       docker restart $NEWCONTAINER

8. Check that the information of the old database is available. In this example, it should show that the account `user1` is registered:

       docker exec -it $NEWCONTAINER ejabberdctl registered_users localhost

9. When the new container is working perfectly with the converted Mnesia database, you may want to remove the unneeded files: the old container, the old Mnesia spool files, and the backup files.

#### Create Temporary Container

In case the old container that used the Mnesia database is not available anymore, a temporary container can be created just to read the Mnesia database and make a backup of it, as explained in the previous section.

This method uses `--hostname` command line argument for docker, and `ERLANG_NODE_ARG` environment variable for ejabberd. Their values must be the hostname of your old container and the Erlang node name of your old ejabberd node. To know the Erlang node name please check Setup Old Container.

Command line example:

    OLDHOST=${OLDNODE#*@}
    docker run \
           -d \
           --name $OLDCONTAINER \
           --hostname $OLDHOST \
           -p 5222:5222 \
           -v $(pwd)/database:/opt/ejabberd/database \
           -e ERLANG_NODE_ARG=$OLDNODE \
           ghcr.io/processone/ejabberd:latest

Check the old database content is available:

    docker exec -it $OLDCONTAINER ejabberdctl registered_users localhost

Now that you have ejabberd running with access to the Mnesia database, you can continue with step 2 of previous section Change Mnesia Node.

## Build Container Image

The container image includes ejabberd as a standalone OTP release built using Elixir.

### Build `ejabberd`

The ejabberd Erlang/OTP release is configured with:

- `mix.exs`: Customize ejabberd release
- `vars.config`: ejabberd compilation configuration options
- `config/runtime.exs`: Customize ejabberd paths
- `ejabberd.yml.template`: ejabberd default config file

#### Direct build

Build ejabberd Community Server container image from ejabberd master git repository:

    docker buildx build \
        -t personal/ejabberd \
        -f .github/container/Dockerfile \
        .

#### Podman build

Some minor remarks:

- When building, it mentions that `healthcheck` is not supported by the Open Container Initiative image format
- To start with command `live`, you may want to add environment variable `EJABBERD_BYPASS_WARNINGS=true`

    podman build \
        -t ejabberd \
        -f .github/container/Dockerfile \
        .

    podman run --name eja1 -d -p 5222:5222 localhost/ejabberd

    podman exec eja1 ejabberdctl status

    podman exec -it eja1 sh

    podman stop eja1

    podman run --name eja1 -it -e EJABBERD_BYPASS_WARNINGS=true -p 5222:5222 localhost/ejabberd live

### Build `ecs`

The ejabberd Erlang/OTP release is configured with:

- `rel/config.exs`: Customize ejabberd release
- `rel/dev.exs`: ejabberd environment configuration for development release
- `rel/prod.exs`: ejabberd environment configuration for production release
- `vars.config`: ejabberd compilation configuration options
- `conf/ejabberd.yml`: ejabberd default config file

Build ejabberd Community Server base image from ejabberd master on Github:

    docker build -t personal/ejabberd .

Build ejabberd Community Server base image for a given ejabberd version:

    ./build.sh 18.03

## Composer Examples

### Minimal Example

This is the barely minimal file to get a usable ejabberd.

If using Docker, write this `docker-compose.yml` file and start it with `docker-compose up`:

    services:
      main:
        image: ghcr.io/processone/ejabberd
        container_name: ejabberd
        ports:
          - "5222:5222"
          - "5269:5269"
          - "5280:5280"
          - "5443:5443"

If using Podman, write this `minimal.yml` file and start it with `podman kube play minimal.yml`:

    apiVersion: v1

    kind: Pod

    metadata:
      name: ejabberd

    spec:
      containers:

      - name: ejabberd
        image: ghcr.io/processone/ejabberd
        ports:
        - containerPort: 5222
          hostPort: 5222
        - containerPort: 5269
          hostPort: 5269
        - containerPort: 5280
          hostPort: 5280
        - containerPort: 5443
          hostPort: 5443

### Customized Example

This example shows the usage of several customizations: it uses a local configuration file, defines a configuration macro using an environment variable, stores the mnesia database in a local path, registers an account when it's created, and checks the number of registered accounts every time it's started.

Prepare an ejabberd configuration file:

    mkdir conf && cp ejabberd.yml.example conf/ejabberd.yml

Create the database directory and allow the container access to it:

- Docker:

      mkdir database && sudo chown 9000:9000 database

- Podman:

      mkdir database && podman unshare chown 9000:9000 database

If using Docker, write this `docker-compose.yml` file and start it with `docker-compose up`:

    version: '3.7'

    services:

      main:
        image: ghcr.io/processone/ejabberd
        container_name: ejabberd
        environment:
          - EJABBERD_MACRO_HOST=example.com
          - EJABBERD_MACRO_ADMIN=admin@example.com
          - REGISTER_ADMIN_PASSWORD=somePassw0rd
          - CTL_ON_START=registered_users example.com ;
                         status
        ports:
          - "5222:5222"
          - "5269:5269"
          - "5280:5280"
          - "5443:5443"
        volumes:
          - ./conf/ejabberd.yml:/opt/ejabberd/conf/ejabberd.yml:ro
          - ./database:/opt/ejabberd/database

If using Podman, write this `custom.yml` file and start it with `podman kube play custom.yml`:

    apiVersion: v1

    kind: Pod

    metadata:
      name: ejabberd

    spec:
      containers:

      - name: ejabberd
        image: ghcr.io/processone/ejabberd
        env:
        - name: EJABBERD_MACRO_HOST
          value: example.com
        - name: EJABBERD_MACRO_ADMIN
          value: admin@example.com
        - name: REGISTER_ADMIN_PASSWORD
          value: somePassw0rd
        - name: CTL_ON_START
          value: registered_users example.com ;
                 status
        ports:
        - containerPort: 5222
          hostPort: 5222
        - containerPort: 5269
          hostPort: 5269
        - containerPort: 5280
          hostPort: 5280
        - containerPort: 5443
          hostPort: 5443
        volumeMounts:
        - mountPath: /opt/ejabberd/conf/ejabberd.yml
          name: config
          readOnly: true
        - mountPath: /opt/ejabberd/database
          name: db

      volumes:
      - name: config
        hostPath:
          path: ./conf/ejabberd.yml
          type: File
      - name: db
        hostPath:
          path: ./database
          type: DirectoryOrCreate

### Clustering Example

In this example, the main container is created first. Once it is fully started and healthy, a second container is created, and once ejabberd is started in it, it joins the first one.

An account is registered in the first node when created (and we ignore errors that can happen when doing that - for example when account already exists), and it should exist in the second node after join.

Notice that in this example the main container does not have access to the exterior; the replica exports the ports and can be accessed.

If using Docker, write this `docker-compose.yml` file and start it with `docker-compose up`:

    version: '3.7'

    services:

      main:
        image: ghcr.io/processone/ejabberd
        container_name: main
        environment:
          - ERLANG_NODE_ARG=ejabberd@main
          - ERLANG_COOKIE=dummycookie123
          - CTL_ON_CREATE=! register admin localhost asd
        healthcheck:
          test: netstat -nl | grep -q 5222
          start_period: 5s
          interval: 5s
          timeout: 5s
          retries: 120

      replica:
        image: ghcr.io/processone/ejabberd
        container_name: replica
        depends_on:
          main:
            condition: service_healthy
        environment:
          - ERLANG_NODE_ARG=ejabberd@replica
          - ERLANG_COOKIE=dummycookie123
          - CTL_ON_CREATE=join_cluster ejabberd@main
          - CTL_ON_START=registered_users localhost ;
                         status
        ports:
          - "5222:5222"
          - "5269:5269"
          - "5280:5280"
          - "5443:5443"

If using Podman, write this `cluster.yml` file and start it with `podman kube play cluster.yml`:

    apiVersion: v1

    kind: Pod

    metadata:
      name: cluster

    spec:
      containers:

      - name: first
        image: ghcr.io/processone/ejabberd
        env:
        - name: ERLANG_NODE_ARG
          value: main@cluster
        - name: ERLANG_COOKIE
          value: dummycookie123
        - name: CTL_ON_CREATE
          value: register admin localhost asd
        - name: CTL_ON_START
          value: stats registeredusers ;
                 status
        - name: EJABBERD_MACRO_PORT_C2S
          value: 6222
        - name: EJABBERD_MACRO_PORT_C2S_TLS
          value: 6223
        - name: EJABBERD_MACRO_PORT_S2S
          value: 6269
        - name: EJABBERD_MACRO_PORT_HTTP_TLS
          value: 6443
        - name: EJABBERD_MACRO_PORT_HTTP
          value: 6280
        - name: EJABBERD_MACRO_PORT_MQTT
          value: 6883
        - name: EJABBERD_MACRO_PORT_PROXY65
          value: 6777
        volumeMounts:
        - mountPath: /opt/ejabberd/conf/ejabberd.yml
          name: config
          readOnly: true

      - name: second
        image: ghcr.io/processone/ejabberd
        env:
        - name: ERLANG_NODE_ARG
          value: replica@cluster
        - name: ERLANG_COOKIE
          value: dummycookie123
        - name: CTL_ON_CREATE
          value: join_cluster main@cluster ;
                 started ;
                 list_cluster
        - name: CTL_ON_START
          value: stats registeredusers ;
                 check_password admin localhost asd ;
                 status
        ports:
        - containerPort: 5222
          hostPort: 5222
        - containerPort: 5280
          hostPort: 5280
        volumeMounts:
        - mountPath: /opt/ejabberd/conf/ejabberd.yml
          name: config
          readOnly: true

      volumes:
      - name: config
        hostPath:
          path: ./conf/ejabberd.yml
          type: File

## Images Comparison

Let's summarize the differences between both container images. Legend:

- ❇️: is the recommended alternative
- 🟠: changed in ejabberd 26.01
- 🔆: changed in ...
- 🔅: changed in ejabberd 25.03

Source code | ejabberd/.github/container | docker-ejabberd/ecs
Generated by | container.yml | tests.yml
Built for | stable releases `master` branch | stable releases `master` branch zip
Architectures | `linux/amd64` `linux/arm64` | `linux/amd64`
Software | Erlang/OTP 28.4.1.0-alpine 🟠 Elixir 1.19.5 🟠 | Alpine 3.22 Erlang/OTP 26.2 Elixir 1.18.3
Published in | ghcr.io/processone/ejabberd | docker.io/ejabberd/ecs ghcr.io/processone/ecs
Additional content |  |
ejabberd-contrib | included | not included
ejabberdapi | included 🔅 | included
Ports |  |
1880 for WebAdmin | yes 🔅 | yes 🔅
5210 for `ERL_DIST_PORT` | supported | supported 🔅
Paths |  |
`$HOME` | `/opt/ejabberd/` | `/home/ejabberd/`
User data | `$HOME` ❇️ `/home/ejabberd/` 🔅 | `$HOME` `/opt/ejabberd/` ❇️
`ejabberdctl` | `ejabberdctl` ❇️ `bin/ejabberdctl` 🔅 | `bin/ejabberdctl` `ejabberdctl` ❇️
`captcha.sh` | `$HOME/bin/captcha.sh` 🔅 | `$HOME/bin/captcha.sh` 🔅
`*.sql` files | `$HOME/sql/*.sql` ❇️ 🔅 `$HOME/database/*.sql` 🔅 | `$HOME/database/*.sql` `$HOME/sql/*.sql` ❇️ 🔅
Mnesia spool files | `$HOME/database/` ❇️ `$HOME/database/NODENAME/` 🔅 | `$HOME/database/NODENAME/` `$HOME/database/` ❇️ 🔅
Variables |  |
`EJABBERD_MACRO_*` | supported | supported
Macros used in `ejabberd.yml` | yes 🔅 | yes 🔅
`EJABBERD_MACRO_ADMIN` | Grant admin rights 🔅 (default `admin@localhost`) | Hardcoded `admin@localhost`
`REGISTER_ADMIN_PASSWORD` | Register admin account 🔅 | unsupported
`CTL_OVER_HTTP` | enabled 🔅 | unsupported