HealthLog/docs/self-hosting/geolite2.md

Offline geolocation (GeoLite2)

The admin login overview shows a coarse City, CC location and a carrier next to every sign-in. Two tiers can produce that:

• Offline. MaxMind's GeoLite2-City and GeoLite2-ASN databases read from a local directory. The ASN database is the authoritative source for the carrier and the AS number. The resolver reads these first: an address the local databases can place never leaves the host.
• Online. A third-party lookup, https://ipwho.is by default. Free, keyless, and the only tier on a host without the databases — which means every login IP address of every account on that instance leaves the host. With the databases mounted it sees only the addresses they could not place, and you can switch it off entirely (below).

The offline tier is optional and absent by default. The published image only carries the databases when the image build had a MaxMind licence key (scripts/fetch-geolite2.sh, run from the release workflow), which is a build-time decision you do not control when you pull :latest. Two ways get the offline tier onto a stock :latest self-host, and both are on this page: let the app fetch the databases itself at runtime (simplest, one env var), or bring your own copy and mount it.

Runtime fetch (one env var)

Set a MaxMind licence key and the app downloads the databases itself — no rebuild, no mount, no geoipupdate on the host.

1. Create a free MaxMind account at https://www.maxmind.com/en/geolite2/signup, then a licence key under My Account → Manage License Keys. GeoLite2 is free; the account and key exist because MaxMind requires them for the download.

2. Put the key in your .env:

   MAXMIND_LICENSE_KEY="your-licence-key"
   

   MAXMIND_LICENSE_KEY is on the compose environment: whitelist, so a value in .env reaches the container. Leave GEOLITE2_DIR unset to use the default /opt/geolite2, which the image already owns as the app user for exactly this write.

3. docker compose up -d. On the next worker boot the app fetches GeoLite2-City.mmdb and GeoLite2-ASN.mmdb into GEOLITE2_DIR and starts reading them — no restart needed beyond the one that picks up the new env var. It refreshes once a month afterwards (MaxMind reissues on the first Tuesday), so a keyed host stays current on its own.

The fetch is fail-soft: if the key is wrong or MaxMind is unreachable, the previous state stands (the online provider keeps answering) and the worker log carries the reason. It never writes a partial database. Confirm it landed under Admin → System status (Geo data: Offline (GeoLite2)) or from the host: docker compose exec app ls -l /opt/geolite2.

If you would rather not have the app reach MaxMind on its own schedule — for example you keep a curated database copy — skip the key and use bring your own below instead. The two do not conflict: a read-only bind mount wins, because the runtime fetch cannot write over it and just fails soft.

Bring your own (mount a copy)

What you need

• A free MaxMind account. Sign up at https://www.maxmind.com/en/geolite2/signup, then create a licence key under My Account → Manage License Keys. GeoLite2 is free; the account and key exist because MaxMind requires them for the download.
• geoipupdate (MaxMind's own downloader) or any other way to fetch the two .mmdb files onto the host. Most distributions package geoipupdate; there is also an official container image.

Setup

1. Pick a directory on the host and fetch both databases into it. With geoipupdate, /etc/GeoIP.conf looks like this:

   AccountID <your-account-id>
   LicenseKey <your-licence-key>
   EditionIDs GeoLite2-City GeoLite2-ASN
   DatabaseDirectory /srv/healthlog/geolite2
   

   Then run geoipupdate. The directory should end up holding GeoLite2-City.mmdb and GeoLite2-ASN.mmdb. The City database is the one the readiness check looks for; the ASN database is what fills the carrier and AS number.

2. Mount the directory into the app container read-only. In docker-compose.yml the app service carries a commented volumes: block for exactly this:

   volumes:
     - /srv/healthlog/geolite2:/var/lib/geolite2:ro
   

3. Point the runtime at the container path:

   GEOLITE2_DIR="/var/lib/geolite2"
   

   GEOLITE2_DIR is on the compose environment: whitelist, so a value in your .env reaches the container. Variables that are not on that whitelist never do, even when compose substitutes them elsewhere in the file.

4. docker compose up -d and sign in once. Admin → System status shows Geo data: Offline (GeoLite2) when the databases are being read, and names the online provider when they are not.

Turning the online lookup off entirely

With the databases mounted, the third-party lookup already only sees addresses they could not place. To remove that remainder too:

IP_GEO_LOOKUP_DISABLED="1"

The resolver then uses only the local databases and returns nothing when they miss, rather than asking anyone. An instance handling other people's health data is a reasonable place to make that trade.

Keeping the databases current

MaxMind reissues GeoLite2 on its own schedule, and a stale city database is quietly wrong rather than loudly broken — it keeps answering, with last month's allocations.

The runtime fetch handles this for you: it re-downloads both databases once a month and resets the reader in place, so a keyed host stays current with no cron of your own and no restart.

The bring-your-own path is yours to keep fresh. Run geoipupdate on a schedule (a weekly cron or systemd timer is enough) against the same directory. The reader loads each database once per worker process and holds it, so a refreshed file on the host is picked up at the next container restart, not immediately. A weekly geoipupdate followed by docker compose restart app keeps the two in step.

Licence and attribution

The databases are downloaded under your own MaxMind account, so their terms are between you and MaxMind — read what your account agrees to at https://www.maxmind.com/en/geolite/eula. That agreement, the GeoLite End User License Agreement, incorporates CC BY-SA 4.0 by reference and controls wherever the two disagree; both require you to attribute the data to MaxMind if you make it available to anyone else.

HealthLog's own attribution ("This product includes GeoLite2 data created by MaxMind, available from https://www.maxmind.com") is already on the /about page and covers an instance that uses them. Keep that page reachable — it is what carries the attribution for your deployment, and it is served without a session for exactly that reason.

Troubleshooting

System status still says the online provider. The readiness check requires GeoLite2-City.mmdb to exist in GEOLITE2_DIR and no .empty marker file beside it. Check the path from inside the container: docker compose exec app ls -l /var/lib/geolite2. An empty listing means the bind mount did not land; a .empty file means the image was built without a licence key and you are still reading the baked-in directory rather than your own.

The variable has no effect. Confirm it actually reached the process: docker compose exec app printenv GEOLITE2_DIR. If it prints nothing, the value is in .env but not on the environment: whitelist — compare against docker-compose.yml.

The carrier column is empty. The carrier also comes from the online provider's ISP field, but the online lookup only runs for an address the City database could not place. On a host with GeoLite2-City.mmdb and no GeoLite2-ASN.mmdb, a location that resolves locally has no carrier to go with it — mount the ASN database too. With neither database, the online provider fills both, unless IP_GEO_LOOKUP_DISABLED="1" is set.