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The simplest way to install Netsocs on Linux or Mac is through Docker.

Requirements

Installation Steps

  1. Ensure that Docker Engine is running. To do this, in the lower left corner of the screen, you will see a text indicating that Docker is running.

  2. Download the zip or tar.gz file of the version you want to install directly from our releases page. There you will find all available versions for download. Once you locate the version you want to install, download it.

  3. Once the file is downloaded, extract the folder containing the compressed file and open the file called .env. This file contains the different configurations you can make for your installation. The minimum configuration is the IP address or domain name of your server. You can open the file with any text editor.

    Help articles:

  4. In the first line of the .env file, you can configure your server's domain name in the HTTP_HOSTNAME variable. The default value is https://192.168.1.100. Make sure to keep the https:// at the beginning.

    Do not use localhost or 127.0.0.1

    It is important that you do not use localhost or 127.0.0.1 as the value for the HTTP_HOSTNAME variable as Netsocs will not work correctly.

  5. Open a terminal and navigate to the folder where you extracted the files.

  6. Execute the command docker compose up -d and press Enter. This will start the Netsocs containers in the background.

    After a few minutes, you will be able to access the Netsocs interface from your web browser using the IP address or domain name you previously configured in the .env file.

    To monitor the status of the containers, you can use Docker Desktop. Go to the Containers tab, where you can check their status, restart them, view logs, and perform other management actions.

  7. When the process is complete, you will see a message indicating that the containers have been started successfully.

    • Access point: The main Netsocs URL is shown under "Access URLs" (e.g., Main: https://172.20.80.1). Press Ctrl + Click (or Cmd + Click on Mac) on the URL to open it in your browser.
    • Credentials: The Netsocs Admin credentials are displayed at the bottom — username admin and a randomly generated password for your installation.

  8. Before finishing, you must accept the self-generated certificate. When you first access the Netsocs URL in your browser, a security warning will appear because the certificate is self-signed. Accept the certificate to proceed and complete the setup.

    Hostname change requires certificate reinstall

    If you change the HTTP_HOSTNAME variable after installation, you must reinstall the certificate on this machine and on any other clients that had it installed.

    At the end, instructions will be displayed on how to install the certificate on other clients (other PCs) so they can access Netsocs without security warnings.

  • Add your first device

    Add your first device to Netsocs.

    Continue

  • Configure a remote site

    Configure a remote site to access Netsocs from anywhere.

    Continue

Common Issues

Error response from daemon: ports are not available

If when starting the containers, the following error appears:

Error response from daemon: ports are not available

This means that port 80 or 443 is already in use by another program. You must ensure that no other program is using these ports.