Install n8n on Oracle Free Tier

Note: This guide is based on and inspired by Self-hosted n8n with Oracle Cloud by @dcheng857 on Medium. Please check out the original article for more details and credit.

Setting up Oracle Cloud Free Tier and User

Before installing n8n, you need to set up your Oracle Cloud Free Tier account and create a VM instance:

Go to Oracle Cloud Free Tier and sign up for a free account.
Complete the registration process and verify your email and payment method (no charges for Free Tier usage).

2. Create a Virtual Machine (VM) Instance

Log in to the Oracle Cloud Console.
Navigate to Compute > Instances and click Create Instance.
Enter a name for your instance.
Choose the Always Free-eligible shape (e.g., “VM.Standard.E2.1.Micro”).
Add your SSH public key (generate one with ssh-keygen if you don’t have one).
Click Create and wait for the instance to be provisioned.

2.1. Open Ingress Rules for Ports 80 and 443

To allow web traffic to your n8n instance, you need to open ports 80 (HTTP) and 443 (HTTPS) in your Oracle Cloud network settings:

In the Oracle Cloud Console, go to Networking > Virtual Cloud Networks and select the VCN your instance is using.
Click on the Subnet your instance is attached to.
Under Security Lists, click the security list associated with your subnet.
Click Add Ingress Rules and add two rules:
- Source CIDR: 0.0.0.0/0
- IP Protocol: TCP
- Destination Port Range: 80 (for HTTP)
- Repeat for port 443 (for HTTPS)
Save the rules. Your instance will now accept incoming traffic on ports 80 and 443.

3. Connect to Your VM

Find the public IP address of your instance in the Oracle Cloud Console.
Connect via SSH:

1	`ssh -i /path/to/your/private/key opc@<your_public_ip>`

The default user is opc. You can create a new user if desired:

1 2	`sudo adduser yourusername sudo usermod -aG sudo yourusername`

(Optional) Copy your SSH key to the new user:

1
2
3

sudo mkdir -p /home/yourusername/.ssh
sudo cp ~/.ssh/authorized_keys /home/yourusername/.ssh/
sudo chown -R yourusername:yourusername /home/yourusername/.ssh

Setting up n8n with Docker, NGINX, and SSL on Ubuntu

This guide walks through setting up a production-ready n8n instance with Docker, NGINX as a reverse proxy, and SSL certificates using Let’s Encrypt. We’ll also configure some additional features like the Brave Search API integration.

Prerequisites

Ubuntu 20.04 LTS server
A domain pointed to your server (in this guide we use n8n.dannyshmueli.com)
Basic command line knowledge

Step 1: Install Docker

First, let’s install Docker which we’ll use to run n8n:

sudo apt update
sudo apt install docker.io
sudo systemctl start docker
sudo systemctl enable docker

Step 2: Install and Configure NGINX

Install NGINX to act as our reverse proxy:

1	`sudo apt update && sudo apt install -y nginx`

Create an NGINX configuration file for n8n:

sudo tee /etc/nginx/sites-available/n8n.conf >/dev/null <<'EOF'
server {
    listen 80;
    server_name n8n.dannyshmueli.com;

    location / {
        proxy_pass         http://127.0.0.1:5678;
        proxy_http_version 1.1;
        proxy_set_header   Upgrade $http_upgrade;
        proxy_set_header   Connection "upgrade";
        chunked_transfer_encoding off;
        proxy_buffering off;
        proxy_cache off;
    }
}
EOF

Enable the configuration:

1 2	`sudo ln -s /etc/nginx/sites-available/n8n.conf /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/ sudo nginx -t && sudo systemctl reload nginx`

Step 3: Configure Firewall

Allow HTTP and HTTPS traffic:

1 2	`sudo iptables -I INPUT -p tcp --dport 80 -j ACCEPT sudo iptables -I INPUT -p tcp --dport 443 -j ACCEPT`

Step 4: Set Up SSL with Let’s Encrypt

Install Certbot and get SSL certificates:

1 2	`sudo apt install -y certbot python3-certbot-nginx sudo certbot --nginx -d n8n.dannyshmueli.com`

Step 5: Run n8n with Docker

Now we’ll run n8n with proper configuration including authentication and webhook support:

# Create n8n data directory and set permissions
mkdir -p ~/.n8n
sudo chown -R 1000:1000 ~/.n8n

# Run n8n container
sudo docker run -d --name n8n \
  -p 5678:5678 \
  -v /home/ubuntu/.n8n:/home/node/.n8n \
  -e N8N_HOST="n8n.dannyshmueli.com" \
  -e WEBHOOK_URL="https://n8n.dannyshmueli.com/" \
  -e N8N_SOCKET_IO_URL="wss://n8n.dannyshmueli.com/rest/push" \
  -e N8N_BASIC_AUTH_USER="your-email@example.com" \
  -e N8N_BASIC_AUTH_PASSWORD="your-strong-password" \
  --restart unless-stopped \
  n8nio/n8n

Step 6: Additional Configuration - Brave Search API Integration

If you’re planning to use the Brave Search API with n8n, you can add the API key to the Docker configuration:

sudo docker stop n8n && sudo docker rm n8n

sudo docker run -d --name n8n \
  -p 5678:5678 \
  -v /home/ubuntu/.n8n:/home/node/.n8n \
  -e N8N_HOST="n8n.dannyshmueli.com" \
  -e WEBHOOK_URL="https://n8n.dannyshmueli.com/" \
  -e N8N_SOCKET_IO_URL="wss://n8n.dannyshmueli.com/rest/push" \
  -e N8N_BASIC_AUTH_USER="your-email@example.com" \
  -e N8N_BASIC_AUTH_PASSWORD="your-strong-password" \
  -e BRAVE_API_KEY="your-brave-api-key" \
  --restart unless-stopped \
  n8nio/n8n

Maintenance and Troubleshooting

Viewing Logs

To check n8n logs:

1	`sudo docker logs n8n`

Restarting n8n

To restart the n8n container:

1	`sudo docker restart n8n`

Updating n8n

To update to the latest version:

sudo docker stop n8n; sudo docker rm n8n
# Pull the latest image and run with your configuration
sudo docker pull n8nio/n8n
sudo docker run -d --name n8n \
  -p 5678:5678 \
  -v /home/ubuntu/.n8n:/home/node/.n8n \
  -e N8N_HOST="n8n.dannyshmueli.com" \
  -e WEBHOOK_URL="https://n8n.dannyshmueli.com/" \
  -e N8N_SOCKET_IO_URL="wss://n8n.dannyshmueli.com/rest/push" \
  -e N8N_BASIC_AUTH_USER="your-email@example.com" \
  -e N8N_BASIC_AUTH_PASSWORD="your-strong-password" \
  --restart unless-stopped \
  n8nio/n8n

Note: Replace the environment variables with your actual configuration values. If you’re using the Brave Search API integration, include the BRAVE_API_KEY environment variable as well.

Security Considerations

Always use strong passwords for n8n authentication
Keep your system and Docker updated
Regularly backup your ~/.n8n directory
Use HTTPS only (configured through NGINX and Let’s Encrypt)

Common Issues and Solutions

Permission Issues

If you encounter permission issues with the n8n directory:

1	`sudo chown -R 1000:1000 /home/ubuntu/.n8n`

WebSocket Connection Issues

If you have issues with WebSocket connections, ensure your NGINX configuration includes the proper WebSocket headers (as shown in the NGINX configuration above).

Conclusion

You now have a production-ready n8n instance running with:

HTTPS encryption
Basic authentication
Webhook support
WebSocket support
Automatic container restart
Brave Search API integration

Remember to regularly backup your data and keep your system updated for security and stability.

cloud > oracle-cloud > self-hosting > n8n

Install n8n on Oracle Free Tier

https://dannyshmueli.com/2025/06/12/Install-n8n-on-Oracle-Free-Tier/

Author

Danny Shmueli

Posted on

June 12, 2025

Licensed under

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Install n8n on Oracle Free Tier

Setting up Oracle Cloud Free Tier and User

1. Sign Up for Oracle Cloud Free Tier

2. Create a Virtual Machine (VM) Instance

2.1. Open Ingress Rules for Ports 80 and 443

3. Connect to Your VM

Setting up n8n with Docker, NGINX, and SSL on Ubuntu

Prerequisites

Step 1: Install Docker

Step 2: Install and Configure NGINX

Step 3: Configure Firewall

Step 4: Set Up SSL with Let’s Encrypt

Step 5: Run n8n with Docker

Step 6: Additional Configuration - Brave Search API Integration

Maintenance and Troubleshooting

Viewing Logs

Restarting n8n

Updating n8n

Security Considerations

Common Issues and Solutions

Permission Issues

WebSocket Connection Issues

Conclusion