Install PlantUML Server Inside Docker Container on Linux

PlantUML Server is a web-based service that allows users to generate diagrams using PlantUML without the need to install any local software or tools. It is essentially an online server that processes PlantUML text descriptions and returns the corresponding diagram, often in image formats like PNG or SVG.

This tutorial explains how to install PlantUML Server inside a Docker container on 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.

Install PlantUML Server

• Host network

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

docker run -d --name=plantuml-server --restart=always --network=host \
    plantuml/plantuml-server:tomcat

• User-defined bridge network

User-defined bridge network can be used for listening on different port. By default, PlantUML Server service is listening on port 8080. It can be changed with -p option.

docker network create app-net

docker run -d --name=plantuml-server --restart=always --network=app-net \
    -p 8081:8080 \
    plantuml/plantuml-server:tomcat

Testing PlantUML Server

To access the web application, go to http://<IP_ADDRESS>:8080, replacing <IP_ADDRESS> with the system's IP address.

Uninstall PlantUML Server

To completely remove PlantUML Server, remove its container:

docker rm --force plantuml-server

Remove PlantUML Server image:

docker rmi plantuml/plantuml-server:tomcat

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

docker network rm app-net