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1.0.0 -

N8n Workflow Automation

Production-ready N8n deployment for AWS with automatic SSL and persistent storage.

Requirements

Resource Minimum Recommended
Instance Type t3.small t3.medium or larger
RAM 2 GB 4 GB+
EBS Storage 20 GB 50 GB+

Getting Started

Interactive Configuration

SSH into your instance and run:

sudo /opt/n8n/configure-n8n.sh

Follow the prompts to configure your domain/IP and HTTPS settings. Once complete, open the displayed URL and create your owner account.

Automated Configuration (User Data)

Launch with JSON user data for automated setup:

{
  "host": "n8n.example.com",
  "use_https": true,
  "letsencrypt_email": "admin@example.com",
  "timezone": "UTC"
}
Field Required Description
host No Domain or IP (auto detects if not set)
use_https No Enable Let's Encrypt SSL (default: false)
letsencrypt_email Yes if HTTPS Email for SSL notifications
timezone No Server timezone (default: UTC)

Management Commands

n8n-cli status              # Check service status
n8n-cli logs                # View logs
n8n-cli logs -f             # Follow logs
sudo n8n-cli start          # Start services
sudo n8n-cli stop           # Stop services
sudo n8n-cli restart        # Restart services
n8n-cli info                # View configuration
sudo n8n-cli update         # Update to latest version
sudo n8n-cli backup         # Create backup
sudo n8n-cli restore FILE   # Restore from backup
n8n-cli shell               # Access container shell

Ports

Port Description
22 SSH
80 HTTP (HTTPS redirect/ACME challenge)
443 HTTPS
5678 N8n Web UI (HTTP mode only)

Security Group for HTTP mode: Allow 22, 5678

Security Group for HTTPS mode: Allow 22, 80, 443

HTTPS Setup

Requirements:

  • Valid domain name pointing to your instance
  • Ports 80 and 443 open in security group

Certificates are automatically provisioned via Let's Encrypt and renew automatically.

Troubleshooting:

docker logs acme-companion      # Check certificate logs
docker logs nginx-proxy         # Check proxy logs
cd /opt/n8n && sudo docker compose restart   # Restart all services

Backups

# Create backup
sudo n8n-cli backup

# Restore backup
sudo n8n-cli restore /tmp/n8n-backup-YYYYMMDD-HHMMSS.tar.gz

# Copy to S3
aws s3 cp /tmp/n8n-backup-*.tar.gz s3://your-bucket/backups/

Backups include all workflows, credentials, execution history, and user accounts.

Data Locations

Path Description
/mnt/n8n-data/n8n/ N8n application data
/mnt/n8n-data/certs/ SSL certificates
/opt/n8n/ Configuration files

Troubleshooting

Cannot access web interface:

  1. Check security group allows correct ports
  2. Run n8n-cli status to verify service is running
  3. Use incognito browser to avoid cached cookies

Login screen instead of setup:

sudo systemctl stop n8n.service
cd /opt/n8n && sudo docker compose down
sudo rm -rf /mnt/n8n-data/n8n/*
sudo rm -f /opt/n8n/.configured
sudo /opt/n8n/configure-n8n.sh

HTTPS not working:

cd /opt/n8n && sudo docker compose restart
docker logs acme-companion
docker logs nginx-proxy

Support

  • N8n Documentation: https://docs.n8n.io
  • N8n Community: https://community.n8n.io
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