Self-host n8n + Alohub: Hướng dẫn cho Developer

1. Tại sao self-host n8n?

Self-host phù hợp khi: Volume cao (>10,000 executions/tháng), data privacy requirements, cần custom nodes, muốn control infrastructure.

2. Server requirements

3. Docker setup

docker-compose.yml:

version: '3.8'

services:
  n8n:
    image: n8nio/n8n:latest
    restart: always
    ports:
      - "5678:5678"
    environment:
      - N8N_HOST=n8n.yourdomain.com
      - N8N_PORT=5678
      - N8N_PROTOCOL=https
      - NODE_ENV=production
      - WEBHOOK_URL=https://n8n.yourdomain.com/
      - GENERIC_TIMEZONE=Asia/Ho_Chi_Minh
      
      # Database
      - DB_TYPE=postgresdb
      - DB_POSTGRESDB_HOST=postgres
      - DB_POSTGRESDB_PORT=5432
      - DB_POSTGRESDB_DATABASE=n8n
      - DB_POSTGRESDB_USER=n8n
      - DB_POSTGRESDB_PASSWORD=${DB_PASSWORD}
      
      # Security
      - N8N_BASIC_AUTH_ACTIVE=true
      - N8N_BASIC_AUTH_USER=${N8N_USER}
      - N8N_BASIC_AUTH_PASSWORD=${N8N_PASSWORD}
      - N8N_ENCRYPTION_KEY=${ENCRYPTION_KEY}
      
    volumes:
      - n8n_data:/home/node/.n8n
    depends_on:
      - postgres

  postgres:
    image: postgres:15
    restart: always
    environment:
      - POSTGRES_USER=n8n
      - POSTGRES_PASSWORD=${DB_PASSWORD}
      - POSTGRES_DB=n8n
    volumes:
      - postgres_data:/var/lib/postgresql/data

volumes:
  n8n_data:
  postgres_data:

.env file:

DB_PASSWORD=your_secure_db_password
N8N_USER=admin
N8N_PASSWORD=your_secure_admin_password
ENCRYPTION_KEY=your_32_char_hex_key

Generate encryption key:

openssl rand -hex 32

Deploy:

docker-compose up -d

4. Nginx reverse proxy + SSL

/etc/nginx/sites-available/n8n:

server {
    listen 80;
    server_name n8n.yourdomain.com;
    return 301 https://$server_name$request_uri;
}

server {
    listen 443 ssl http2;
    server_name n8n.yourdomain.com;

    ssl_certificate /etc/letsencrypt/live/n8n.yourdomain.com/fullchain.pem;
    ssl_certificate_key /etc/letsencrypt/live/n8n.yourdomain.com/privkey.pem;

    location / {
        proxy_pass http://localhost:5678;
        proxy_http_version 1.1;
        proxy_set_header Upgrade $http_upgrade;
        proxy_set_header Connection "upgrade";
        proxy_set_header Host $host;
        proxy_read_timeout 300s;
    }
}

Get SSL certificate:

sudo certbot --nginx -d n8n.yourdomain.com

5. Cài đặt Alohub node

Alohub – giải pháp AI Contact Center & nền tảng CPaaS tại Việt Nam – cung cấp community node cho n8n.

Option 1: Cài trong container

# SSH vào container
docker exec -it n8n-n8n-1 /bin/sh

# Install Alohub node
npm install n8n-nodes-alohub

# Exit và restart
exit
docker-compose restart n8n

Option 2: Thêm vào docker-compose.yml (recommended)

environment:
  - N8N_CUSTOM_EXTENSIONS=n8n-nodes-alohub

Cấu hình credentials:

1. Trong n8n UI, vào Settings → Credentials
2. Add new → Alohub API
3. Nhập API Key từ Alohub dashboard

Chi tiết: Tích hợp Alohub node trên n8n.

6. Security best practices

sudo ufw allow 22/tcp
sudo ufw allow 80/tcp
sudo ufw allow 443/tcp
sudo ufw enable

Backup script (crontab)

# Backup PostgreSQL daily (2:00 AM)
0 2 * * * docker exec n8n-postgres-1 pg_dump -U n8n n8n > /backups/n8n_$(date +\%Y\%m\%d).sql

# Backup n8n data weekly (Sunday 3:00 AM)
0 3 * * 0 docker run --rm -v n8n_n8n_data:/data -v /backups:/backup alpine tar czf /backup/n8n_data_$(date +\%Y\%m\%d).tar.gz /data

7. Monitoring

Healthcheck endpoint:

curl https://n8n.yourdomain.com/healthz
# Returns: {"status":"ok"}

Uptime monitoring: Dùng UptimeRobot (free) hoặc Uptime Kuma (self-hosted) để monitor /healthz endpoint.

8. Troubleshooting

FAQ