Simple Unifi controller setup using docker-compose

Updated 2022-12-24: Added --bind_ip 127.0.0.1 to prevent remote MongoDB access in context with network_mode: host. Thanks Matt Johnson for the suggestion :-)

This setup runs both MongoDB and unifi using network_mode: host, this is why we are running MongoDB on a nonstandard port (so it will not interfere with other MongoDB instances). This has the huge benefit of allowing direct Layer 2 network access allowing L2 access point adoption.

Create a directory such as /opt/unifi and create docker-compose.yml

services:
  mongo:
    image: mongo:3.6
    network_mode: host
    restart: always
    volumes:
      - ./mongo_db:/data/db
      - ./mongo/dbcfg:/data/configdb
    command: mongod --bind_ip 127.0.0.1 --port 29718
  controller:
    image: "jacobalberty/unifi:latest"
    depends_on:
      - mongo
    init: true
    network_mode: host
    restart: always
    volumes:
      - ./unifi_dir:/unifi
      - ./unifi_data:/unifi/data
      - ./unifi_log:/unifi/log
      - ./unifi_cert:/unifi/cert
      - ./unifi_init:/unifi/init.d
      - ./unifi_run:/var/run/unifi
      - ./unifi_backup:/unifi/data/backup
    environment:
      - DB_URI=mongodb://localhost:29718/unifi
      - STATDB_URI=mongodb://localhost:29718/unifi_stat
      - DB_NAME=unifi
  logs:
    image: bash
    depends_on:
      - controller
    command: bash -c 'tail -F /unifi/log/*.log'
    restart: always
    volumes:
      - ./unifi_log:/unifi/log

Now create the directories with the correct permissions:

mkdir -p unifi_backup unifi_cert unifi_data unifi_dir unifi_init unifi_log unifi_run
chown -R 999:999 unifi_backup unifi_cert unifi_data unifi_dir unifi_init unifi_log unifi_run

Now you can use our script from Create a systemd service for your docker-compose project in 10 seconds to automatically start the controller on boot (and start it immediately):

curl -fsSL https://techoverflow.net/scripts/create-docker-compose-service.sh | sudo bash /dev/stdin

Now access https://<IP of controller>:8443 to get started with the setup or import a backup.