Self-Hosted vs Cloud Automation: The Complete Cost and Control Comparison

# Update system packages
sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade -y

# Create non-root user
sudo adduser n8n
sudo usermod -aG sudo n8n

# Setup firewall
sudo ufw allow OpenSSH
sudo ufw allow 80/tcp
sudo ufw allow 443/tcp
sudo ufw enable

# Disable root SSH login
sudo sed -i 's/PermitRootLogin yes/PermitRootLogin no/' /etc/ssh/sshd_config
sudo systemctl restart sshd

# Install Docker
curl -fsSL https://get.docker.com -o get-docker.sh
sudo sh get-docker.sh
sudo usermod -aG docker n8n

# Install Docker Compose
sudo apt install docker-compose -y

# Verify installation
docker --version
docker-compose --version

version: '3.8'

services:
  postgres:
    image: postgres:15
    restart: unless-stopped
    environment:
      POSTGRES_USER: n8n
      POSTGRES_PASSWORD: ${POSTGRES_PASSWORD}
      POSTGRES_DB: n8n
    volumes:
      - postgres_data:/var/lib/postgresql/data
    healthcheck:
      test: ['CMD-SHELL', 'pg_isready -U n8n']
      interval: 10s
      timeout: 5s
      retries: 5

  n8n:
    image: n8nio/n8n:latest
    restart: unless-stopped
    ports:
      - '5678:5678'
    environment:
      DB_TYPE: postgresdb
      DB_POSTGRESDB_HOST: postgres
      DB_POSTGRESDB_PORT: 5432
      DB_POSTGRESDB_DATABASE: n8n
      DB_POSTGRESDB_USER: n8n
      DB_POSTGRESDB_PASSWORD: ${POSTGRES_PASSWORD}
      N8N_BASIC_AUTH_ACTIVE: true
      N8N_BASIC_AUTH_USER: ${N8N_BASIC_AUTH_USER}
      N8N_BASIC_AUTH_PASSWORD: ${N8N_BASIC_AUTH_PASSWORD}
      WEBHOOK_URL: https://${DOMAIN}/
      GENERIC_TIMEZONE: America/New_York
    volumes:
      - n8n_data:/home/node/.n8n
    depends_on:
      postgres:
        condition: service_healthy

volumes:
  postgres_data:
  n8n_data:

# Install NGINX and Certbot
sudo apt install nginx certbot python3-certbot-nginx -y

# Create NGINX config
sudo nano /etc/nginx/sites-available/n8n

server {
    listen 80;
    server_name n8n.yourdomain.com;

    location / {
        proxy_pass http://localhost:5678;
        proxy_set_header Host $host;
        proxy_set_header X-Real-IP $remote_addr;
        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for;
        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Proto $scheme;
        
        # WebSocket support
        proxy_http_version 1.1;
        proxy_set_header Upgrade $http_upgrade;
        proxy_set_header Connection "upgrade";
    }
}