Discourse is an open-source discussion platform that you can use to host a forum for your community. Installing Discourse on your own server or cloud environment provides flexibility and control compared to using a hosted forum service. However, the installation process can be complex and time-consuming – especially for those with minimal technical experience.
To help understand what is involved, we have written this guide to walk through how to install Discourse from scratch using Docker. The process takes around an hour for those with some basic technical experience. However, if you have never used a terminal, registered a domain name, provisioned a cloud server, or worked with Docker before, self-hosting Discourse may prove challenging.
When considering whether to self-host Discourse or use a managed hosting solution, it’s important to weigh the pros and cons carefully. Self-hosting offers greater control and flexibility, but also comes with added responsibilities and technical challenges.
One of the biggest advantages of self-hosting Discourse is the level of control and customization it offers. With your own installation, you have full access to the server environment and can configure Discourse to match your exact requirements. This includes the ability to install plugins and themes without restrictions, giving you the freedom to extend and tailor your community platform as needed. Self-hosting also ensures you maintain complete ownership and control over your forum data, which may be important for compliance or privacy reasons.
In terms of cost, self-hosting Discourse can be more economical than subscribing to a hosted plan, particularly for larger or high-traffic communities. With self-hosting, you’re responsible for providing the server infrastructure, but you avoid the recurring fees associated with hosted services. If you already have servers or cloud instances available, running Discourse on them could result in significant cost savings over time.
While self-hosting Discourse offers advantages in control and customization, it also comes with significant responsibilities and potential drawbacks. One of the main challenges is the technical expertise required to install, configure, and maintain a self-hosted Discourse instance. You’ll need to be comfortable provisioning servers, managing Docker containers, configuring web and email settings, and troubleshooting issues that may arise. If you don’t have experience with system administration or DevOps, the learning curve can be steep.
Ongoing maintenance is another key consideration when self-hosting Discourse. As the platform owner, you’ll be responsible for keeping your instance updated with the latest features, bug fixes, and security patches. This includes monitoring the Discourse release cycle, testing updates before deploying to production, and being prepared to roll back or troubleshoot if issues occur. You’ll also need to ensure your server infrastructure scales with your community’s growth, manage backups and disaster recovery, and handle any performance or stability problems that come up. For teams without dedicated technical resources, the maintenance overhead can quickly become a burden.
Now that we’ve covered the considerations for self-hosting Discourse, let’s walk through the step-by-step process of installing Discourse on your own server.
Installing Discourse involves:
If those tasks sound unfamiliar or intimidating, you may want to consider a managed Discourse hosting service instead or choosing a cloud-hosted community platform like, like Hall. Using a cloud-hosted and managed community platform trades some flexibility for a simpler and faster setup process. You won’t have full control over the server environment, but for many communities, a hosted solution is a better fit.
Before installing Discourse, you’ll need:
A domain name: Discourse requires a domain name like forum.example.com. The install won’t work with just an IP address. If you don’t already have a domain, you can register one at a registrar like Namecheap or Google Domains.
An SMTP email provider: Discourse requires SMTP credentials to send transactional emails. You can use a free or paid SMTP service – see the Discourse email setup guide for recommendations. You’ll need to configure valid SPF and DKIM records for your domain.
A cloud server or VPS: Discourse needs to run on a 64-bit Linux server with a minimum of 1 GB RAM (2 GB+ recommended). A basic DigitalOcean or Linode VPS works well. I recommend using the latest Ubuntu LTS release.
A SSH key: For security, set up SSH key access to your server instead of relying on password authentication. GitHub has a good guide on generating SSH keys.
If you’re comfortable with the prerequisites listed above and want full control over your Discourse instance, then let’s proceed with the self-hosted installation steps.
Once you have your server provisioned, connect to it via SSH:
ssh root@your_server_ip
First, install the Docker container engine and Git:
sudo apt update
sudo apt install docker.io git
We’ll install Discourse in the /var/discourse directory:
sudo -s
git clone https://github.com/discourse/discourse_docker.git /var/discourse
cd /var/discourse
Discourse provides a handy setup script. Run it and answer the prompts:
./discourse-setup
Key configuration options:
forum.example.comOnce configuration is done, the Discourse setup script will automatically begin bootstrapping your instance. This takes anywhere from 4-10 minutes.
When it finishes, visit your Discourse hostname in a web browser. If everything went smoothly, you’ll see a Congratulations page.
Click the Register button to create an admin account using one of the email addresses you specified in the setup script. You’ll get an activation email. Click the link to complete registration.
After activating the admin account, you’ll see the Discourse setup wizard.
Go through the wizard to name your community, configure basic settings, and personalize the look and feel.
If you provided a Let’s Encrypt email earlier, Discourse will automatically set up SSL. To enable it, edit your Discourse configuration:
cd /var/discourse
nano containers/app.yml
Add the following lines at the bottom, replacing forum.example.com with your domain:
expose:
- "80:80"
- "443:443"
params:
- "LETSENCRYPT_ACCOUNT_EMAIL=you@example.com"
- "VIRTUAL_HOST=forum.example.com"
- "VIRTUAL_PROTO=https"
Save and close the file, then rebuild the app:
./launcher rebuild app
Now your Discourse forum will have a valid SSL certificate and redirect users to HTTPS.
Congratulations, if you made it through all those steps successfully, you should now be ready to start using Discourse! Take some time to familiarize yourself with the admin interface and available configuration options.
A few key areas to review:
It should be noted that Discourse does not come with many features expected in a community platform, and that additional features will have to be installed and managed via the Discourse plugin system. Popular options include Discourse Chat, enhanced spam protection, and more.
Keep in mind that installing and updating plugins will be your responsibility, similar to maintaining Discourse itself. If specific plugin features are critical to your community, you may be better off with using a cloud-hosted community platform like like Hall that comes bundled with many of these features out-of-the-box.
During the Discourse installation process, you may encounter issues related to the specific steps involved. Here are some common problems and how to troubleshoot them:
If you encounter errors during the Docker installation process, double-check that you’re following the official installation guide for your operating system. Common issues include:
apt-transport-https and ca-certificates.sudo or as the root user.Proper email configuration is critical for Discourse to function correctly. If you’re not receiving emails from your Discourse instance or encountering errors related to email delivery, check the following:
If you’ve double-checked your email configuration and are still having issues, take a look at the Discourse troubleshooting guide for email-related problems.
If you’re having trouble enabling SSL for your Discourse instance, first make sure you’ve followed the instructions in the Configure SSL section of this guide. Common issues include:
VIRTUAL_HOST parameter in your app.yml file.If you continue to have issues with SSL, consult the Discourse documentation on troubleshooting SSL for more advanced steps and considerations.
If you encounter other errors during the Discourse installation process, here are a few general troubleshooting tips:
/var/discourse/shared/standalone/log/rails/production.log file for errors or stack traces.If you’re unable to resolve your installation issues after attempting these troubleshooting steps, it may be worth considering a managed Discourse hosting service or a cloud-hosted community platform like Hall to avoid the complexities of self-hosting.
Because you are hosting Discourse yourself, you are responsible for keeping your instance up-to-date, applying security patches, and maintaining server resources. If something goes wrong with your self-hosted forum, you’ll need to diagnose and fix issues yourself or hire someone to assist you.
Managed Discourse hosting removes this burden, taking care of all updates, patches, backups, and server monitoring on your behalf. The provider handles all maintenance, giving you a single point of contact for support. If maintaining a stable and secure forum while controlling software and server configuration is too much overhead for your team, outsource that complexity to a reputable provider.
To update Discourse to the latest version, visit the /admin/upgrade URL while logged in as an admin. Click the Upgrade button to automatically pull down the latest code changes and rebuild your forum. Stay on top of new Discourse releases to ensure you have the latest features, bug fixes, and security updates.
As your community grows, you may need to scale your Discourse instance to handle increased traffic and user activity. Discourse can be scaled vertically by increasing the resources (CPU, RAM, disk space) allocated to your server. This is often the simplest approach and can be done by upgrading your hosting plan or resizing your cloud instance.
For larger communities, horizontal scaling may be necessary. This involves running multiple Discourse instances behind a load balancer to distribute traffic and improve performance. Discourse provides official documentation on configuring a clustered setup for scaling and high availability.
Monitoring your Discourse instance’s performance is crucial to ensure a smooth user experience and avoid unexpected downtime. Keep an eye on server CPU, memory, and disk usage to identify potential bottlenecks before they impact your community.
Tools like Netdata or Prometheus can be used to collect and visualize performance metrics for your Discourse server. Discourse also provides a built-in /admin/dashboard URL that shows useful statistics and graphs for monitoring your instance.
Set up alerts to notify you when resource usage exceeds predefined thresholds, so you can take proactive measures to scale or optimize your setup.
Regular backups are essential to protect your community data from loss due to server failures, accidents, or security breaches. Discourse provides a built-in backup system that can automatically create daily, weekly, and monthly backups of your instance.
To set up automatic backups, visit the /admin/backups URL in your Discourse instance and configure the backup frequency and retention policy. You can also trigger manual backups from this page.
In addition to the built-in backup system, it’s a good idea to implement an off-site backup strategy. This can involve syncing your backup files to a remote storage service like Amazon S3, Google Cloud Storage, or Backblaze B2. This ensures you have a copy of your data in case of a disaster affecting your primary server.
Test your backups regularly to ensure they can be successfully restored in case of an emergency. Documenting your backup and restoration process is also important, especially if multiple team members are involved in managing your Discourse instance.
When you encounter issues or have questions about your self-hosted Discourse instance, you can engage with the official Discourse community at meta.discourse.org. The community forum is a great place to search for solutions, ask for help, and learn from other Discourse administrators.
However, keep in mind that as an open-source project, the level of support you receive may vary compared to a commercial or cloud-hosted solution. While the Discourse community is generally helpful and responsive, there’s no guarantee of immediate or personalized assistance. In contrast, cloud-hosted community platforms like Hall often provide dedicated support channels, SLAs, and professional services to ensure your questions and issues are addressed promptly by experienced staff.
Self-hosting Discourse isn’t for everyone. But if you have the technical expertise and are willing to invest the setup time, running your own Discourse instance is a powerful way to build an engaged community and facilitate meaningful discussions around your product, service, or industry.
Carefully consider the tradeoffs before diving into a self-hosted installation. You’ll have full control and flexibility but also take on the responsibility of server management, software upgrades, and troubleshooting any issues that arise.
For many organizations, a cloud-hosted community platform like Hall offers the right balance of convenience and customization. You can still reap the benefits of Discourse’s vibrant ecosystem while offloading back-end complexities to a trusted partner. You can read our detailed comparison guide of Hall and Discourse to better understand the tradeoffs.
If you do forge ahead with a self-hosted deployment, use this guide as a reference and don’t hesitate to tap into the wealth of community resources available to Discourse admins. With the right approach and ongoing care, your Discourse forum can become a solid foundation that enriches your customer community for years to come.
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