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Managing containers

TaskCommand
Start all servicesdocker compose up -d
Stop all servicesdocker compose down
View logs (all)docker compose logs -f
View web logs onlydocker compose logs -f web
Restart web containerdocker compose restart web
Open a shell in the containerdocker compose exec web bash
Apply database migrationsdocker compose exec web php scripts/migrate.php
Always use docker compose down (without -v) to stop containers. Adding -v deletes all data volumes including your database.

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Backups

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Database backup

docker compose exec -T db mariadb-dump \
  -u dynamo_user -p"your_db_password" dynamo_system \
  > backup-$(date +%Y%m%d).sql

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Full data backup

Back up the entire docker-data/ directory to capture uploads, configuration, and database files: 
tar -czf propops-backup-$(date +%Y%m%d).tar.gz docker-data/

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Scheduled backups

Add to your crontab for nightly automatic backups: 
crontab -e

# Database backup at 2am
0 2 * * * cd /path/to/PropOps-Web && docker compose exec -T db mariadb-dump -u dynamo_user -p"your_db_password" dynamo_system > /backups/db-$(date +\%Y\%m\%d).sql

# Full data backup at 3am
0 3 * * * tar -czf /backups/propops-$(date +\%Y\%m\%d).tar.gz /path/to/PropOps-Web/docker-data/

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Troubleshooting

Check for port conflicts — another process may already be using port 8080 or 3306:
sudo lsof -i :8080
sudo lsof -i :3306
Review container logs for the specific error:
docker compose logs web
docker compose logs db
The db container may still be initialising. Check its status:
docker compose ps
If the database shows starting, wait 30–60 seconds and try again. On the very first boot, MariaDB needs time to apply the schema and migrations.Also verify that the DB_HOST, DB_NAME, DB_USER, and DB_PASS values in your .env match the environment section in docker-compose.yml.
Check that the uploads directory is owned by www-data:
docker compose exec web ls -la /var/www/html/uploads
The entrypoint script sets ownership automatically, but if you manually created directories on the host they may have incorrect permissions. Fix with:
docker compose exec web chown -R www-data:www-data /var/www/html/uploads
If using a reverse proxy, also check that client_max_body_size is set to at least 50M in your Nginx configuration.
Ensure the following variables are set in your .env:
  • WEB_PUSH_ENABLED=true
  • VAPID_PUBLIC_KEY
  • VAPID_PRIVATE_KEY
  • VAPID_SUBJECT
HTTPS is required for push notifications — they will not work over plain HTTP.
Test your SMTP configuration from inside the container:
docker compose exec web php scripts/test-email.php you@yourcompany.com
Verify that APP_URL is set to your public HTTPS URL. Email links are built from this value.
If you have lost your docker-data/config/.env file and the PII_ENCRYPTION_KEY or PII_HMAC_KEY values, encrypted data in the database (names, emails, phone numbers) cannot be decrypted. There is no recovery method.Always back up docker-data/config/.env to a secure location.