Permanent Fix for Portainer Console/Websockets Disconnect (Persists after Reboot)

[medhallal]

Hi everyone,

Like many of you, I ran into the issue where the Console feature in Portainer fails to connect. This happens because the system's Nginx proxy is missing the required headers to allow WebSocket connections.

While you can manually edit

Code: Select all

/etc/nginx/conf.d/portainer.conf

to fix this like mentioned here, the problem is that TOS resets this file every time you reboot the NAS, breaking the fix.

Instead of messing with system scripts or SSH cron jobs, I created a "Fixer Container". It's a lightweight Docker container that starts on boot, automatically patches the Nginx config, reloads Nginx, and then sleeps. Because it's a container, you can manage it right inside Portainer and remove it easily if an official update ever fixes this.

How it works

• On startup, it checks the config file. If the WebSocket headers are missing, it uses sed to insert them.
• It uses pid: host to trigger an Nginx reload on the NAS without restarting the whole service.
• It runs a sleep infinity command at the end. This keeps the container in a "Running" state so that Docker's restart: always policy will automatically start it up again the next time you reboot your NAS.

The Solution

1. Open Portainer.
2. Go to Stacks -> Add stack.
3. Name it something like nginx-websocket-fix.
4. Paste the following into the Web editor:
   

   Code: Select all

   version: '3'
   
   services:
     nginx-fixer:
       image: alpine:latest
       container_name: nginx-websocket-fix
       restart: always
       # 'host' PID mode is required to send the reload signal to the host Nginx
       pid: host
       # Mount the directory where the config lives on the TNAS
       volumes:
         - /etc/nginx/conf.d:/host_conf_d
       entrypoint:
         - /bin/sh
         - -c
         - |
           echo "Checking Portainer Nginx config..."
           CONF="/host_conf_d/portainer.conf"
   
           # 1. Check if file exists and needs patching
           if [ -f "$$CONF" ] && ! grep -q "proxy_set_header Upgrade" "$$CONF"; then
             echo "Fix missing. Applying patch..."
             
             # Insert the websocket headers before the proxy_pass line
             # Note: We use $$ to escape variables in docker-compose
             sed -i '/proxy_pass/i \    proxy_http_version 1.1;\n    proxy_set_header Upgrade $$http_upgrade;\n    proxy_set_header Connection "Upgrade";' "$$CONF"
             
             echo "Patch applied. Reloading Host Nginx..."
             # Send HUP signal to host nginx processes to reload config
             kill -HUP $$(pidof nginx)
           else
             echo "Config is already patched or missing."
           fi
   
           # 2. Sleep forever to keep container "Running" so it starts on next boot
           echo "Job done. Sleeping to maintain 'Running' status for next reboot..."
           sleep infinity
   

5. Click Deploy the stack.

[MikeZhang]

Thanks for your kind share.