KVM with n8n - Installation using entirius-scripts-kvm-deployer

This guide describes the installation and deployment of n8n instances in a KVM environment using the entirius-scripts-kvm-deployer scripts.

This guide assumes you have completed:

• KVM Server Install - Ubuntu 24.04 server with KVM, HAProxy, and WebVirtCloud

Ubuntu 24.04 server with KVM installed and configured according to KVM Server Install guide, which includes:

• Ubuntu 24.04 cloud image at /var/lib/libvirt/images/ubuntu-24.04-server-cloudimg-amd64.img
• entirius-scripts-kvm-deployer repository cloned at ~/entirius-scripts-kvm-deployer
• SSH key pair generated for the vm-admin user
• vm-admin user with membership in groups: sudo, libvirt, www-data

Install required packages

ssh vm-admin@your-server-address
sudo apt update
sudo apt install -y qemu-kvm libvirt-daemon-system virtinst guestfs-tools gettext-base

• Navigate to entirius-scripts-kvm-deployer

  cd ~/entirius-scripts-kvm-deployer
  git pull
  

• Copy the example configuration file and customize it:

  cp n8n-deploy.config.example n8n-deploy.config
  vim n8n-deploy.config
  

• Configure the following variables in n8n-deploy.config:

  # Configuration file for the n8n-deploy.sh script
  # Copy this file and customize it for your environment
  
  # Domain configuration (used by n8n)
  # Set your real domain or use the VM's IP address after installation
  DOMAIN="n8n.yourdomain.com"
  
  # Virtual machine name
  VM_NAME="vm-company-production-n8n"
  
  # Virtual machine configuration
  BASE_IMAGE_URL="https://cloud-images.ubuntu.com/releases/24.04/release/ubuntu-24.04-server-cloudimg-amd64.img"
  TEMPLATE_IMAGE="ubuntu-24.04-server-cloudimg-amd64.img"
  VM_STORAGE_PATH="/var/lib/libvirt/images"
  VM_MEMORY=4096 # in MB
  VM_VCPUS=2
  VM_DISK_SIZE="25G" # Disk size for the new machine
  
  # SSH Configuration
  # Make sure this file exists.
  # It will be used to log into the machine.
  SSH_KEY_FILE="$HOME/.ssh/id_ed25519.pub"
  
  # Set these variables to connect n8n to your PostgreSQL database
  DB_HOST="localhost"
  DB_PORT="5432"
  DB_NAME="n8n"
  DB_USER="n8n"
  DB_PASSWORD="your_strong_password"
  DB_SCHEMA="public"
  

• SSH Key Setup

  Ensure you have SSH key pair generated (should already exist from KVM setup):

  # Verify SSH keys exist:
  ls -la ~/.ssh/
  # If you don't have SSH keys, generate them (using ED25519 per ADR-018):
  ssh-keygen -t ed25519 -C "[email protected]"
  

• Deploy n8n instance, it will take 5 mins

  ./n8n-deploy.sh
  

• You can connect to the console to view the progress

  virsh console vm-company-production-n8n
  

• Querying the IP address of an instance

  sudo virsh list --all
  sudo virsh domifaddr vm-company-production-n8n
  

• SSH by IP

  ssh [email protected]
  

• Check the Systemd Service Status

  sudo systemctl status n8n
  

  You should see an Active: active (running) status

• Review Detailed Service Logs

  # Display the full logs for the n8n service
  sudo journalctl -u n8n
  
  # Display the last 100 log entries and follow the log in real-time
  sudo journalctl -u n8n -n 25 -f
  

• Verify the Network Port

  sudo ss -tlpn | grep ':80'
  

  Expected Output

  LISTEN  0  511  *:80  0.0.0.0:* users:(("node",pid=1239,fd=21))
  

• Add ip to /etc/hosts

  Querying the IP address of an instance

  sudo virsh list --all
  sudo virsh domifaddr vm-company-production-n8n
  

  sudo vim /etc/hosts
  

  # VMs
  192.168.122.xx  vm-company-production-n8n
  

  # Test configuration syntax
  sudo haproxy -f /etc/haproxy/haproxy.cfg -c
  
  # Reload HAProxy with new configuration
  sudo systemctl reload haproxy
  
  # Check HAProxy status
  sudo systemctl status haproxy