Install FreeScout Inside Docker Container in Linux

FreeScout is a web-based help desk and shared mailbox. It allows businesses and organizations to manage their customer support requests from a centralized platform.

This tutorial explains how to install FreeScout inside a Docker container in the Linux. Commands have been tested on Ubuntu.

Prepare environment

Make sure you have installed Docker in your system. If you are using Ubuntu, installation instructions can be found in the post.

You also need to have a running MySQL container. Instructions can be found in the post.

Install FreeScout

Before starting, create freescout database:

docker exec -it mysql mysql -u root -p -e "CREATE DATABASE freescout"

• Host network

Run the following command to create a container for FreeScout that uses host network:

docker run -d --name=freescout --restart=always --network=host \
    -v /opt/freescout/data:/data \
    -e ADMIN_EMAIL=admin@example.com \
    -e ADMIN_PASS=pwd123 \
    -e DB_USER=root \
    -e DB_PASS=pwd123 \
    -e DB_NAME=freescout \
    -e DB_HOST=127.0.0.1 \
    -e SITE_URL=http://192.168.0.12 \
    tiredofit/freescout

MySQL container should run on host network as well.

• User-defined bridge network

User-defined bridge network can be used for listening on different port. By default, FreeScout service is listening on port 80. It can be changed with -p option.

docker network create app-net

docker run -d --name=freescout --restart=always --network=app-net \
    -p 8080:80 \
    -v /opt/freescout/data:/data \
    -e ADMIN_EMAIL=admin@example.com \
    -e ADMIN_PASS=pwd123 \
    -e DB_USER=root \
    -e DB_PASS=pwd123 \
    -e DB_NAME=freescout \
    -e DB_HOST=mysql \
    -e SITE_URL=http://192.168.0.12:8080 \
    tiredofit/freescout

MySQL container should run on the same user-defined bridge network as well.

Notes:

• Don't forget to change SITE_URL which defines site URL.
• The DB_USER and DB_PASS can be used to specify MySQL credentials.
• When user-defined bridge network is used, don't forget to change DB_HOST. It specifies MySQL container name.

Testing FreeScout

Open a web browser and go to http://<IP_ADDRESS>, where <IP_ADDRESS> is the IP address of the system. Login to the dashboard using username and password.

Uninstall FreeScout

To completely remove FreeScout, remove its container:

docker rm --force freescout

Remove FreeScout image:

docker rmi tiredofit/freescout

You can also remove FreeScout data:

sudo rm -rf /opt/freescout

The freescout database can be removed as well:

docker exec -it mysql mysql -u root -p -e "DROP DATABASE freescout"

If a user-defined bridge network was created, you can delete it as follows:

docker network rm app-net