n8n Installation Guide Installation Guide

n8n is a free and open-source workflow automation tool. n8n provides visual workflow automation with 200+ integrations, serving as a self-hosted alternative to Zapier, IFTTT, or Microsoft Power Automate

Hardware Requirements:

CPU: 2+ cores recommended

RAM: 2GB minimum (4GB+ recommended)

Storage: 1GB for workflows

Network: HTTPS for webhooks

Operating System:

Linux: Any modern distribution (RHEL, Debian, Ubuntu, CentOS, Fedora, Arch, Alpine, openSUSE)

macOS: 10.14+ (Mojave or newer)

Windows: Windows Server 2016+ or Windows 10

FreeBSD: 11.0+

Network Requirements:

Port 5678 (default n8n port)

Webhook endpoints

Dependencies:

See official documentation for specific requirements

System Access: root or sudo privileges required

This guide supports installation on:

RHEL 8/9 and derivatives (CentOS Stream, Rocky Linux, AlmaLinux)

Debian 11/12

Ubuntu 20.04/22.04/24.04 LTS

Arch Linux (rolling release)

Alpine Linux 3.18+

openSUSE Leap 15.5+ / Tumbleweed

SUSE Linux Enterprise Server (SLES) 15+

macOS 12+ (Monterey and later)

FreeBSD 13+

Windows 10/11/Server 2019+ (where applicable)

bash

# Install EPEL repository if needed
sudo dnf install -y epel-release

# Install n8n
sudo dnf install -y n8n

# Enable and start service
sudo systemctl enable --now n8n

# Configure firewall
sudo firewall-cmd --permanent --add-port=5678/tcp
sudo firewall-cmd --reload

# Verify installation
n8n --version

bash

# Update package index
sudo apt update

# Install n8n
sudo apt install -y n8n

# Enable and start service
sudo systemctl enable --now n8n

# Configure firewall
sudo ufw allow 5678

# Verify installation
n8n --version

bash

# Install n8n
sudo pacman -S n8n

# Enable and start service
sudo systemctl enable --now n8n

# Verify installation
n8n --version

bash

# Install n8n
apk add --no-cache n8n

# Enable and start service
rc-update add n8n default
rc-service n8n start

# Verify installation
n8n --version

bash

# Install n8n
sudo zypper install -y n8n

# Enable and start service
sudo systemctl enable --now n8n

# Configure firewall
sudo firewall-cmd --permanent --add-port=5678/tcp
sudo firewall-cmd --reload

# Verify installation
n8n --version

bash

# Using Homebrew
brew install n8n

# Start service
brew services start n8n

# Verify installation
n8n --version

bash

# Using pkg
pkg install n8n

# Enable in rc.conf
echo 'n8n_enable="YES"' >> /etc/rc.conf

# Start service
service n8n start

# Verify installation
n8n --version

bash

# Using Chocolatey
choco install n8n

# Or using Scoop
scoop install n8n

# Verify installation
n8n --version

bash

# Create configuration directory
sudo mkdir -p /etc/n8n

# Set up basic configuration
# See official documentation for detailed configuration options

# Test configuration
n8n --version

bash

# Enable service
sudo systemctl enable n8n

# Start service
sudo systemctl start n8n

# Stop service
sudo systemctl stop n8n

# Restart service
sudo systemctl restart n8n

# Check status
sudo systemctl status n8n

# View logs
sudo journalctl -u n8n -f

bash

# Enable service
rc-update add n8n default

# Start service
rc-service n8n start

# Stop service
rc-service n8n stop

# Restart service
rc-service n8n restart

# Check status
rc-service n8n status

bash

# Enable in /etc/rc.conf
echo 'n8n_enable="YES"' >> /etc/rc.conf

# Start service
service n8n start

# Stop service
service n8n stop

# Restart service
service n8n restart

# Check status
service n8n status

bash

# Using Homebrew services
brew services start n8n
brew services stop n8n
brew services restart n8n

# Check status
brew services list | grep n8n

powershell

# Start service
net start n8n

# Stop service
net stop n8n

# Using PowerShell
Start-Service n8n
Stop-Service n8n
Restart-Service n8n

# Check status
Get-Service n8n

See the official documentation for advanced configuration options.

nginx

upstream n8n_backend {
    server 127.0.0.1:5678;
}

server {
    listen 80;
    server_name n8n.example.com;
    return 301 https://$server_name$request_uri;
}

server {
    listen 443 ssl http2;
    server_name n8n.example.com;

    ssl_certificate /etc/ssl/certs/n8n.example.com.crt;
    ssl_certificate_key /etc/ssl/private/n8n.example.com.key;

    location / {
        proxy_pass http://n8n_backend;
        proxy_set_header Host $host;
        proxy_set_header X-Real-IP $remote_addr;
        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for;
        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Proto $scheme;
    }
}

apache

<VirtualHost *:80>
    ServerName n8n.example.com
    Redirect permanent / https://n8n.example.com/
</VirtualHost>

<VirtualHost *:443>
    ServerName n8n.example.com
    
    SSLEngine on
    SSLCertificateFile /etc/ssl/certs/n8n.example.com.crt
    SSLCertificateKeyFile /etc/ssl/private/n8n.example.com.key
    
    ProxyRequests Off
    ProxyPreserveHost On
    
    ProxyPass / http://127.0.0.1:5678/
    ProxyPassReverse / http://127.0.0.1:5678/
</VirtualHost>

haproxy

frontend n8n_frontend
    bind *:80
    bind *:443 ssl crt /etc/ssl/certs/n8n.pem
    redirect scheme https if !{ ssl_fc }
    default_backend n8n_backend

backend n8n_backend
    balance roundrobin
    server n8n1 127.0.0.1:5678 check

bash

# Set appropriate permissions
sudo chown -R n8n:n8n /etc/n8n
sudo chmod 750 /etc/n8n

# Configure firewall
sudo firewall-cmd --permanent --add-port=5678/tcp
sudo firewall-cmd --reload

# Enable SELinux policies (if applicable)
sudo setsebool -P httpd_can_network_connect on

See official documentation for database configuration requirements.

bash

# Basic system tuning
echo 'net.core.somaxconn = 65535' | sudo tee -a /etc/sysctl.conf
echo 'net.ipv4.tcp_max_syn_backlog = 65535' | sudo tee -a /etc/sysctl.conf
sudo sysctl -p

bash

# Check service status
sudo systemctl status n8n

# View logs
sudo journalctl -u n8n -f

# Monitor resource usage
top -p $(pgrep n8n)

bash

#!/bin/bash
# Basic backup script
BACKUP_DIR="/backup/n8n"
DATE=$(date +%Y%m%d_%H%M%S)

mkdir -p "$BACKUP_DIR"
tar -czf "$BACKUP_DIR/n8n-backup-$DATE.tar.gz" /etc/n8n /var/lib/n8n

echo "Backup completed: $BACKUP_DIR/n8n-backup-$DATE.tar.gz"

bash

# Stop service
sudo systemctl stop n8n

# Restore from backup
tar -xzf /backup/n8n/n8n-backup-*.tar.gz -C /

# Start service
sudo systemctl start n8n

1. Service won't start:

bash

# Check logs
sudo journalctl -u n8n -n 100
sudo tail -f /var/log/n8n/n8n.log

# Check configuration
n8n --version

# Check permissions
ls -la /etc/n8n

2. Connection issues:

bash

# Check if service is listening
sudo ss -tlnp | grep 5678

# Test connectivity
telnet localhost 5678

# Check firewall
sudo firewall-cmd --list-all

3. Performance issues:

bash

# Check resource usage
top -p $(pgrep n8n)

# Check disk I/O
iotop -p $(pgrep n8n)

# Check connections
ss -an | grep 5678

yaml

version: '3.8'
services:
  n8n:
    image: n8n:latest
    ports:
      - "5678:5678"
    volumes:
      - ./config:/etc/n8n
      - ./data:/var/lib/n8n
    restart: unless-stopped

Maintenance

bash

# RHEL/CentOS/Rocky/AlmaLinux
sudo dnf update n8n

# Debian/Ubuntu
sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade n8n

# Arch Linux
sudo pacman -Syu n8n

# Alpine Linux
apk update && apk upgrade n8n

# openSUSE
sudo zypper update n8n

# FreeBSD
pkg update && pkg upgrade n8n

# Always backup before updates
tar -czf /backup/n8n-pre-update-$(date +%Y%m%d).tar.gz /etc/n8n

# Restart after updates
sudo systemctl restart n8n

Regular Maintenance

bash

# Log rotation
sudo logrotate -f /etc/logrotate.d/n8n

# Clean old logs
find /var/log/n8n -name "*.log" -mtime +30 -delete

# Check disk usage
du -sh /var/lib/n8n

Official Documentation: https://docs.n8n.org/

GitHub Repository: https://github.com/n8n/n8n

Community Forum: https://forum.n8n.org/

Best Practices Guide: https://docs.n8n.org/best-practices

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Note: This guide is part of the HowToMgr collection. Always refer to official documentation for the most up-to-date information.

1. Prerequisites

2. Supported Operating Systems

3. Installation

RHEL/CentOS/Rocky Linux/AlmaLinux

Debian/Ubuntu

Arch Linux

Alpine Linux

openSUSE/SLES

macOS

FreeBSD

Windows

Initial Configuration

Basic Configuration

5. Service Management

systemd (RHEL, Debian, Ubuntu, Arch, openSUSE)

OpenRC (Alpine Linux)

rc.d (FreeBSD)

launchd (macOS)

Windows Service Manager

Advanced Configuration

Reverse Proxy Setup

nginx Configuration

Apache Configuration

HAProxy Configuration

Security Configuration

Basic Security Setup

Database Setup

Performance Optimization

System Tuning

Monitoring

Basic Monitoring

9. Backup and Restore

Backup Script

Restore Procedure

6. Troubleshooting

Common Issues

Integration Examples

Docker Compose Example

Maintenance

Update Procedures

Regular Maintenance

Additional Resources

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