# Can't restrict admin access for users when using docker **URL:** \ **Category:** Operating/Hosting Operaton\ **Created:** [November 7, 2025, 2:43pm UTC](https://forum.operaton.org/t/cant-restrict-admin-access-for-users-when-using-docker/359 "2025-11-07T14:43:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 3\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![reckeljm](https://forum.operaton.org/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/r/ecae2f/32.png) [@reckeljm](https://forum.operaton.org/u/reckeljm)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2025, 2:43pm UTC](https://forum.operaton.org/t/cant-restrict-admin-access-for-users-when-using-docker/359/1 "2025-11-07T14:43:02Z")
Hello, I have set up a docker container via docker compose according to the [documentation](https://hub.docker.com/r/operaton/operaton) and have been quite happy so far. However there is one issue where I can’t find a solution for: In my installation, every created user has access to the Operaton Admin App with full privileges to every setting. This is how my authorization settings look like: ![grafik](https://forum.operaton.org/uploads/default/original/1X/f963efbc1f88dac114c01c35711ac135aeda75d7.png) According to my understanding, users who are in the _manager_ group (but not the _operaton-admin_ group) should not be able to login to the Admin app, but they can. I’ve created a couple of test users and it is the case for all of them. My docker-compose.yml: ```yaml services: operaton: image: operaton/operaton container_name: operaton environment: - DB_DRIVER=org.postgresql.Driver - DB_URL=jdbc:postgresql://postgres:5432/operaton - DB_USERNAME=postgres_admin - DB_PASSWORD=abc123 ports: - "8080:8080" depends_on: - postgres restart: always postgres: image: postgres:16 container_name: postgres environment: - POSTGRES_DB=operaton - POSTGRES_USER=postgres_admin - POSTGRES_PASSWORD=abc123 - postgres-data:/var/lib/postgresql/data restart: always volumes: postgres-data: driver: local ``` Is there anyone who encounters the same behaviour or has a solution for that? Thank you in advance and have a nice weekend! ---
**Author:** ![reckeljm](https://forum.operaton.org/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/r/ecae2f/32.png) [@reckeljm](https://forum.operaton.org/u/reckeljm)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2025, 4:30pm UTC](https://forum.operaton.org/t/cant-restrict-admin-access-for-users-when-using-docker/359/2 "2025-11-07T16:30:00Z")
Alright, I’ve found the solution to my problem. Authorization is disabled by default and has to be manually enabled, either by switching to production mode (adding `--production` to the start command) or by changing the configuration files correspondandly. For docker containers, the configuration is saved under `/operaton/configuration`. It is recommandable to copy this folder out of your docker container once, change the files and then mount it in. ## Step 1: Copy Configuration Files to Local file System - Go to the folder where your `docker-compose.yml` is located. - Find the id of your operaton container with `docker ps -a` - Copy the folder /operaton/configuration out of the container into the folder of the docker compose configuration file. ```shell sudo docker cp :/operaton/configuration . ``` ## Step 2: Edit Configuration File Edit the configuration file in the configuration folder on your local file system (which you just extracted). - For default mode, the file would be `configuration/default.yml` - For production mode, the file would be `configuration/production.yml` (but here, authentication has been already enabled). The following entries are important: ```yaml operaton.bpm: # other entries... authorization.enabled: true run: # other entries... auth.enabled: true ``` Make sure to add these two configuration settings and save the file. ## Step 3: Adapt the `docker-compose.yml` The docker-compose.yml needs to be changed to mount the local configuration directory into the docker container. In addition, you can manipulate the starting parameters. My docker compose looks now like this: ```yaml services: operaton: image: operaton/operaton container_name: operaton environment: - DB_DRIVER=org.postgresql.Driver - DB_URL=jdbc:postgresql://postgres:5432/operaton - DB_USERNAME=postgres_admin - DB_PASSWORD=abc123 command: ["./operaton.sh", "--webapps", "--rest"] # add "--production" to the array if you want to use the production mode volumes: - ./configuration:/operaton/configuration # this is the important line to mount the configuration into the docker container ports: - "8080:8080" depends_on: - postgres restart: always postgres: image: postgres:16 container_name: postgres environment: - POSTGRES_DB=operaton - POSTGRES_USER=postgres_admin - POSTGRES_PASSWORD=abc123 volumes: - postgres-data:/var/lib/postgresql/data restart: always volumes: postgres-data: driver: local ``` # Step 4: Rebuild and restart the container Run the following commands: ```shell sudo docker compose down sudo docker compose up -d ``` Afterwards, authentication **will work**. Maybe for someone coming from the Camunda 7 world, that is all very obvious, but I had a hard time figuring that out. In my opinion, it would be helpful to add the mounting of the configuration into the docker container to the respective Operaton docker documentation. Maybe that helps someone. Have a nice weekend y’all 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![javahippie](https://forum.operaton.org/user_avatar/forum.operaton.org/javahippie/32/25_2.png) [@javahippie](https://forum.operaton.org/u/javahippie)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2025, 10:00am UTC](https://forum.operaton.org/t/cant-restrict-admin-access-for-users-when-using-docker/359/3 "2025-11-10T10:00:05Z")
Hi @reckeljm welcome to the forum, and thanks for the detailed writup on how to solve this issue, this will be helpful to other people in the future! Regards Tim