Skip to content

windows-self-hosting.md

Latest commit

 

History

History
338 lines (221 loc) · 7.93 KB

windows-self-hosting.md

File metadata and controls

338 lines (221 loc) · 7.93 KB

Self-Hosting DroneOpsCommand on Windows

Complete guide for running DroneOpsCommand on a Windows 10/11 machine using Docker Desktop.

System Requirements

Requirement Minimum Recommended
OS Windows 10 (version 2004+) or Windows 11 Windows 11
RAM 8 GB 16 GB
Disk 25 GB free 50 GB free
CPU 4 cores 8 cores
Virtualization Enabled in BIOS —

The AI report engine (Ollama/Qwen 2.5 3B) reserves ~8 GB of RAM. With 8 GB total you will be tight — 16 GB is strongly recommended. Alternatively, use LLM_PROVIDER=claude with an Anthropic API key to skip the local model entirely.

Step 1: Enable WSL 2

Docker Desktop on Windows requires WSL 2 (Windows Subsystem for Linux). Open PowerShell as Administrator and run:

wsl --install

This enables WSL 2 and installs Ubuntu. Restart your computer when prompted.

After reboot, verify:

wsl --version

You should see WSL version 2.x. If you see version 1, upgrade:

wsl --set-default-version 2

Troubleshooting WSL 2

  • "Virtualization not enabled" — Enter your BIOS/UEFI settings and enable Intel VT-x or AMD-V. The setting is usually under CPU Configuration or Security.
  • Windows Home edition — WSL 2 works on Windows Home. No need for Pro/Enterprise.
  • Corporate machines with Group Policy restrictions — Contact your IT department to enable Hyper-V and WSL 2.

Step 2: Install Docker Desktop

  1. Download Docker Desktop from docker.com/products/docker-desktop
  2. Run the installer — accept defaults
  3. When prompted, choose "Use WSL 2 instead of Hyper-V"
  4. Restart if required

After installation, open Docker Desktop and verify it's running (whale icon in the system tray).

Configure Docker Resources

Open Docker Desktop → Settings → Resources → WSL Integration:

  • Ensure your WSL 2 distro (Ubuntu) is enabled
  • Under Resources → Advanced, allocate at least:
    • CPUs: 6 (if you have 8 total)
    • Memory: 10 GB (if you have 16 GB total)
    • Disk: 40 GB

Click Apply & Restart.

Step 3: Install Git for Windows

If you don't already have Git:

  1. Download from git-scm.com/download/win
  2. Run the installer — accept defaults
  3. Important: When asked about line endings, choose "Checkout as-is, commit as-is" to avoid CRLF issues

Verify in PowerShell:

git --version

Step 4: Clone and Configure

Open PowerShell (regular, not Admin) and run:

# Clone the repo
git clone https://github.com/BigBill1418/DroneOpsCommand.git
cd DroneOpsCommand

# Create your config file
copy .env.example .env

Now edit .env with Notepad (or any text editor):

notepad .env

Change these two values at minimum (do not use the defaults in production):

POSTGRES_PASSWORD=your_secure_database_password
JWT_SECRET_KEY=your_random_secret_string_here

Note: There is no ADMIN_PASSWORD env var. The admin account is created via the setup wizard on first visit in your browser.

Tip: To generate a random secret, run this in PowerShell:

[Convert]::ToBase64String((1..32 | ForEach-Object { Get-Random -Maximum 256 }) -as [byte[]])

Also update the DATABASE_URL to match your new password:

DATABASE_URL=postgresql+asyncpg://doc:your_secure_database_password@db:5432/doc

Save and close the file.

Step 5: Launch

In PowerShell, from the DroneOpsCommand directory:

docker compose up -d

The first run will:

  1. Build the backend, frontend, and flight-parser images (5-10 minutes)
  2. Download PostgreSQL, Redis, and Ollama base images (~2 GB)
  3. Pull the AI model — Qwen 2.5 3B is ~1.5 GB

Watch the model download progress:

docker compose logs -f ollama-setup

Press Ctrl+C when you see "Model pulled." — the app is ready.

Step 6: Open the App

Open your browser and go to:

On first visit, the setup wizard will prompt you to create your admin account. On subsequent visits, log in with the credentials you created.

Common Windows Issues

Port 3080 is already in use

Another application is using port 3080. Edit .env and change:

FRONTEND_PORT=3090

Then restart:

docker compose down
docker compose up -d

Access the app at http://localhost:3090 instead.

Docker Desktop says "Docker Engine stopped"

  1. Open Docker Desktop
  2. Click the restart button, or quit and reopen
  3. If it persists, run in PowerShell as Admin: 
    wsl --shutdown
    Then reopen Docker Desktop.

Build fails with "no space left on device"

Docker's virtual disk is full. Open Docker Desktop → Settings → Resources → Disk image size → increase it. Or clean up unused images:

docker system prune -a

Warning: This removes all unused images. You will need to rebuild on next docker compose up -d.

WSL 2 is using too much memory

Create or edit the file C:\Users\<YourUsername>\.wslconfig:

[wsl2]
memory=10GB
processors=6
swap=4GB

Then restart WSL:

wsl --shutdown

Windows Defender / Antivirus blocking Docker

Add these exclusions to your antivirus:

  • C:\Program Files\Docker\
  • C:\Users\<YourUsername>\AppData\Local\Docker\
  • The DroneOpsCommand folder

Cannot access from other devices on the network

By default the app listens on all interfaces. In .env, make sure FRONTEND_PORT is set to just the port number (not bound to localhost):

FRONTEND_PORT=3080

Then access from other devices using your Windows machine's IP address (find it with ipconfig):

http://192.168.1.xxx:3080

You may need to allow port 3080 through Windows Firewall:

# Run as Administrator
netsh advfirewall firewall add rule name="DroneOpsCommand" dir=in action=allow protocol=TCP localport=3080

Managing the App

Start / Stop / Restart

# Start (runs in background)
docker compose up -d

# Stop
docker compose down

# Restart
docker compose restart

# View logs
docker compose logs -f

# View logs for a specific service
docker compose logs -f backend

Updating

# Pull latest code
git pull origin main

# Rebuild and restart
docker compose up -d --build

Backup Your Data

The app stores data in Docker volumes. To back up:

# Database backup
docker compose exec db pg_dump -U doc doc > backup.sql

# Find where uploads/reports are stored
docker volume inspect droneopscommand_app_data

Or use the built-in backup feature in Settings → Account → Backup & Restore in the web UI.

Reset Everything

If you need a clean start:

docker compose down -v
docker compose up -d

Warning: docker compose down -v deletes all data (database, uploads, reports). Back up first.

Optional: DJI API Key

If you fly newer DJI drones with encrypted flight logs, you need a DJI API key for the flight parser:

  1. Register at developer.dji.com
  2. Create an application and obtain an API key
  3. Add it to .env: 
    DJI_API_KEY=your_key_here
  4. Restart: docker compose restart flight-parser

Optional: Cloudflare Tunnel (Remote Access)

To access your DroneOpsCommand instance from anywhere without opening router ports, set CLOUDFLARE_TUNNEL_TOKEN in your .env file. Get a token from the Cloudflare Zero Trust dashboard under Networks → Tunnels.

Optional: Email (SMTP) Setup

Configure email delivery for sending reports to customers. Either:

  • Edit .env with your SMTP settings, or
  • Configure in the web UI: Settings → Email & Billing

After configuring, use the Test Email button in Settings to verify.