Defguard Core

Package installation

All release packages are available in the Defguard repository on GitHub on the releases page. The table below summarises the available options (X.Y.Z stands for a version).

Operating system	Architecture	Package filename
Debian/Ubuntu	ARM64 (aarch64)	defguard-X.Y.Z-aarch64-unknown-linux-gnu.deb
Debian/Ubuntu	AMD64 (x86_64)	defguard-X.Y.Z-x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu.deb
Fedora/Red Hat/SUSE	ARM64 (aarch64)	defguard-X.Y.Z-aarch64-unknown-linux-gnu.rpm
Fedora/Red Hat/SUSE	AMD64 (x86_64)	defguard-X.Y.Z-x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu.rpm
FreeBSD	AMD64 (x86_64)	defguard-X.Y.Z_x86_64-unknown-freebsd.pkg

Choose the release you want to install, then download it either by using a web browser or with one of the commands below.

To download the package using wget, run:

wget <URL to the chosen package>

For example:

wget https://github.com/DefGuard/defguard/releases/download/v2.0.0/defguard-2.0.0-x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu.deb

To download the package using curl, run:

curl -OLf <URL to the chosen package>

For example:

curl -OLf https://github.com/DefGuard/defguard/releases/download/v2.0.0/defguard-2.0.0-x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu.deb

Once the package is downloaded, install it using the package tool appropriate for your operating system.

On Debian/Ubuntu:

sudo dpkg -i defguard-X.Y.Z-x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu.deb

On Fedora/Red Hat/SUSE:

sudo rpm -i defguard-X.Y.Z-x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu.rpm

On FreeBSD:

pkg add defguard-X.Y.Z_x86_64-unknown-freebsd.pkg

You can check whether Defguard Core has been installed correctly:

# defguard -V
defguard 2.0.0+a13515f

Configuration

The Defguard Core configuration file should be located at /etc/defguard/core.conf. The database information should be adjusted accordingly for your PostgreSQL database. An example configuration file looks as follows:

### DB configuration ###
DEFGUARD_DB_HOST="localhost"
DEFGUARD_DB_PORT=5432
DEFGUARD_DB_NAME="defguard"
DEFGUARD_DB_USER="defguard"
DEFGUARD_DB_PASSWORD="defguard"

### Logging ###
DEFGUARD_LOG_LEVEL=info

### HTTP Port ###
DEFGUARD_HTTP_PORT=8000

### GRPC Port ###
DEFGUARD_GRPC_PORT=50055

All other configuration settings are kept in the database. Read the configuration guide for Defguard Core for more information.

Service

The Defguard Core package automatically installs its service definition. On Linux, it is in /usr/lib/systemd/system/defguard.service. On BSD, it is in /usr/local/etc/rc.d/defguard.

On Linux, the service is run as a dedicated defguard user with appropriate capabilities. The user is created automatically on package installation.

On BSD, the service runs as the root user.

If there are changes to the configuration file, the Defguard Core service must be restarted.

On Linux:

systemctl restart defguard

On BSD:

/usr/local/etc/rc.d/defguard restart

Logs

On Linux, logs can be viewed using the journalctl command:

# journalctl -u defguard.service | tail -n 50
Jul 29 13:57:15 defguard-testing systemd[1]: Started defguard.service - Defguard core service.
Jul 29 13:57:15 defguard-testing defguard[2776504]: 2024-07-29T11:57:15.738420Z  INFO defguard: Starting defguard
Jul 29 13:57:15 defguard-testing defguard[2776504]: 2024-07-29T11:57:15.743079Z  INFO defguard::db: Initializing DB pool
Jul 29 13:57:16 defguard-testing defguard[2776504]: 2024-07-29T11:57:16.297407Z  INFO defguard: Using HMAC OpenID signing key
Jul 29 13:57:19 defguard-testing defguard[2776504]: 2024-07-29T11:57:19.156559Z  INFO defguard::db::models::user: Initializing admin user
Jul 29 13:57:19 defguard-testing defguard[2776504]: 2024-07-29T11:57:19.595218Z  INFO defguard::db::models::user: New admin user has been created, adding to Admin group...
Jul 29 13:57:19 defguard-testing defguard[2776504]: 2024-07-29T11:57:19.747717Z  INFO defguard::db::models::settings: Initializing default settings
Jul 29 13:57:19 defguard-testing defguard[2776504]: 2024-07-29T11:57:19.780563Z  INFO defguard: Started web services