Repository Server using Docker Image

[dimejo]

Oh, now I understand where your confusion is coming from. You are only using the WebUI (or HTML UI) component of the server, not the Repository Server (GRPC server) component. I’ll try to explain:

• The WebUI is basically an alternative to KopiaUI (the desktop app) for systems which do not have a GUI. In case of the docker-compose file you are connecting the WebUI directly to the repository as the repository owner. But you can aswell start the WebUI on a client to connect to a remote Repository (GRPC) Server.
• The Repository (GRPC) Server adds user management and access control. And it abstracts the underlying storage layer, so you can swap the storage on the server side without changing anything on the client side.
  To use the Repository Server you need to add users with kopia server user add.
• Both components can be disabled by using the --no-ui or --no-grpc option.

Some more notes:

@Lukas-52

After spending the last week trying to get this to work i think the problem is the inconsistent naming between Docker and Kopia. The Docker Variable is called “KOPIA_PASSWORD” but is referring to the repository key.

KOPIA_PASSWORD basically is the master password for the owner (or creator) of the repository.

@Lukas-52

The actual Kopia Password (to access the webUI) needs to be given via htpassword file by default.

The docker-compose example in the documentation uses a --server-username=USERNAME and --server-password=SECRET_PASSWORD parameter to start the server. Those values are used for HTTP authentication (basic auth) in the WebUI. No htpassword file needed.

@Lukas-52

To connect to a Kopia repo server (from the client side) you will be asked for a “server password”.

The “server password” you are asked for when connecting to a Repository Server in the WebUI or desktop app is the password you provided when creating the user with kopia server user add.
Also make sure to unhide the advanced options on this page and check username and hostname. Those values are case-sensitive and need to exactly match the username you used with kopia server user add.

@Lukas-52

There is no server password anywhere in the docs, only a server control password and i have no idea what that’s for either.

The server-control-password is required to run API commands (e.g. kopia server refresh). Ignore that for now.

@Lukas-52

I would also like to thank you for taking the time to write a reply to my little rant

Always happy to help - as a non-programmer that’s my way of contributing and saying thank you to the developers.
And I do understand the rant because some parts of the documentation were clearly written from a developer perspective who knows everything about it.