Files and folders
Where everything lives on disk, and which paths are rewritten on every apply.
Where everything lives
| Path | What it is | Safe to edit |
|---|---|---|
/data/docker/failoverlb | The software, and the .env settings file | The .env file, yes |
/opt/nginx-fleet-manager | The host agent | No |
/opt/nginx-installer.sh | A copy of the nginx installer, so rebuilds work from the GUI | Only to add modules |
/etc/nginx | nginx configuration | The parts this software does not generate |
/etc/nginx/nginxmgr | Everything this software generates | No |
/etc/nginx/nginxmgr/certs | Certificates and keys | No |
/var/backups/nginx-fleet-manager | The configuration before each apply | Read only, but read it when you need it |
/var/log/nginx | nginx's own logs | Rotate them, do not edit them |
/var/www/certbot | Where challenge tokens are written | No |
/run/nginxmgr/agent.sock | How the GUI talks to the agent | No |
Docker volume nfm-data | The configuration database | Back it up, do not edit it |
Do not edit anything under /etc/nginx/nginxmgr
It is written again from scratch on every apply, so your change will disappear without warning at the least convenient moment, and the disappearance will happen long enough after the edit that nobody connects the two.
If you need something the screen does not offer, use the raw configuration box on a site. What you put there is stored in the database and survives every apply. That is why it exists.
The one file worth guarding separately
.env holds the secret key that encrypts stored passwords, authenticator seeds
and peer keys. Without it, a restored database cannot read its own encrypted values.
Every node needs its own. Copying one between machines means both share a secret key, and it means the second machine believes it is the first one. The installer refuses to join when it spots that.
What to back up
The backup feature covers the configuration
database and the certificate files in one encrypted archive. Beyond that, take a copy of
the .env files and, if your servers are virtual machines, a snapshot of the
machine covers everything above at once.