vaultwarden Installation Guide Installation Guide

vaultwarden is a free and open-source unofficial Bitwarden server implementation. Written in Rust, Vaultwarden is a lightweight alternative implementation of the Bitwarden server API, perfect for self-hosting password management

Hardware Requirements:

CPU: 1 core minimum

RAM: 256MB minimum

Storage: 1GB for data

Network: HTTPS required

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 80/443 (default vaultwarden port)

WebSocket on 3012

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 vaultwarden
sudo dnf install -y vaultwarden

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

# Configure firewall
sudo firewall-cmd --permanent --add-port=80/443/tcp
sudo firewall-cmd --reload

# Verify installation
vaultwarden --version

bash

# Update package index
sudo apt update

# Install vaultwarden
sudo apt install -y vaultwarden

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

# Configure firewall
sudo ufw allow 80/443

# Verify installation
vaultwarden --version

bash

# Install vaultwarden
sudo pacman -S vaultwarden

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

# Verify installation
vaultwarden --version

bash

# Install vaultwarden
apk add --no-cache vaultwarden

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

# Verify installation
vaultwarden --version

bash

# Install vaultwarden
sudo zypper install -y vaultwarden

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

# Configure firewall
sudo firewall-cmd --permanent --add-port=80/443/tcp
sudo firewall-cmd --reload

# Verify installation
vaultwarden --version

bash

# Using Homebrew
brew install vaultwarden

# Start service
brew services start vaultwarden

# Verify installation
vaultwarden --version

bash

# Using pkg
pkg install vaultwarden

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

# Start service
service vaultwarden start

# Verify installation
vaultwarden --version

bash

# Using Chocolatey
choco install vaultwarden

# Or using Scoop
scoop install vaultwarden

# Verify installation
vaultwarden --version

bash

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

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

# Test configuration
vaultwarden --version

bash

# Enable service
sudo systemctl enable vaultwarden

# Start service
sudo systemctl start vaultwarden

# Stop service
sudo systemctl stop vaultwarden

# Restart service
sudo systemctl restart vaultwarden

# Check status
sudo systemctl status vaultwarden

# View logs
sudo journalctl -u vaultwarden -f

bash

# Enable service
rc-update add vaultwarden default

# Start service
rc-service vaultwarden start

# Stop service
rc-service vaultwarden stop

# Restart service
rc-service vaultwarden restart

# Check status
rc-service vaultwarden status

bash

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

# Start service
service vaultwarden start

# Stop service
service vaultwarden stop

# Restart service
service vaultwarden restart

# Check status
service vaultwarden status

bash

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

# Check status
brew services list | grep vaultwarden

powershell

# Start service
net start vaultwarden

# Stop service
net stop vaultwarden

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

# Check status
Get-Service vaultwarden

See the official documentation for advanced configuration options.

nginx

upstream vaultwarden_backend {
    server 127.0.0.1:80/443;
}

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

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

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

    location / {
        proxy_pass http://vaultwarden_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 vaultwarden.example.com
    Redirect permanent / https://vaultwarden.example.com/
</VirtualHost>

<VirtualHost *:443>
    ServerName vaultwarden.example.com
    
    SSLEngine on
    SSLCertificateFile /etc/ssl/certs/vaultwarden.example.com.crt
    SSLCertificateKeyFile /etc/ssl/private/vaultwarden.example.com.key
    
    ProxyRequests Off
    ProxyPreserveHost On
    
    ProxyPass / http://127.0.0.1:80/443/
    ProxyPassReverse / http://127.0.0.1:80/443/
</VirtualHost>

haproxy

frontend vaultwarden_frontend
    bind *:80
    bind *:443 ssl crt /etc/ssl/certs/vaultwarden.pem
    redirect scheme https if !{ ssl_fc }
    default_backend vaultwarden_backend

backend vaultwarden_backend
    balance roundrobin
    server vaultwarden1 127.0.0.1:80/443 check

bash

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

# Configure firewall
sudo firewall-cmd --permanent --add-port=80/443/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 vaultwarden

# View logs
sudo journalctl -u vaultwarden -f

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

bash

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

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

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

bash

# Stop service
sudo systemctl stop vaultwarden

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

# Start service
sudo systemctl start vaultwarden

1. Service won't start:

bash

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

# Check configuration
vaultwarden --version

# Check permissions
ls -la /etc/vaultwarden

2. Connection issues:

bash

# Check if service is listening
sudo ss -tlnp | grep 80/443

# Test connectivity
telnet localhost 80/443

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

3. Performance issues:

bash

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

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

# Check connections
ss -an | grep 80/443

yaml

version: '3.8'
services:
  vaultwarden:
    image: vaultwarden:latest
    ports:
      - "80/443:80/443"
    volumes:
      - ./config:/etc/vaultwarden
      - ./data:/var/lib/vaultwarden
    restart: unless-stopped

Maintenance

bash

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

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

# Arch Linux
sudo pacman -Syu vaultwarden

# Alpine Linux
apk update && apk upgrade vaultwarden

# openSUSE
sudo zypper update vaultwarden

# FreeBSD
pkg update && pkg upgrade vaultwarden

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

# Restart after updates
sudo systemctl restart vaultwarden

Regular Maintenance

bash

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

---

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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