This automation lets your system automatically download and update the GeoLite2-Country and GeoLite2-ASN databases from MaxMind. Pangolin uses these databases for geo-location features such as country or region rules, geo-blocking, analytics, and ASN blocking. It uses MaxMind's geoipupdate Docker container to do this.

Maxmind's service is free of charge for development, personal or community use. Quote

Table of ContentsCopy Anchor Link

1. Requirements
2. Maxmind Account
3. API key creation
4. Modification of Pangolin's docker-compose.yml
5. Modification of Pangolin's config.yml

1. RequirementsCopy Anchor Link

• A Maxmind account for API access
• Pangolin version 1.11.0 or higher

2. Maxmind AccountCopy Anchor Link

To be able to use Maxmind's service you need to request access to the GeoLite2 databases and create an account on their website.

After you successfully created an account visit the mainpage again and login to your new account.

3. API key creationCopy Anchor Link

The next step is to create an API key for geoipupdate. You'll find an entry called Manage license keys in the menu on the left side. Head to this page and click on Generate new license key.

Give your new key a name. E.g. Pangolin.

After your key got created the webpage will show you your Account ID as well as the API key. Save the key now because it can only be seen once. Don't panic if something goes wrong, you can easily create new keys.

After you clicked on Return to list you should see an overview of your keys bundled with some metadata.

4. Modification of Pangolin's docker-compose.ymlCopy Anchor Link

Now login to your Pangolin host and navigate to /pangolin in your user directory:

cd pangolin

Shut down Pangolin with:

docker compose down

Open docker-compose.yml with your favorite text editor. E.g. nano:

nano docker-compose.yml

Append this Docker compose service at the end of your stack and add your Account ID as well as your API key you created in the last step:

services:
  (...)
  geoipupdate:
    container_name: geoipupdate
    image: ghcr.io/maxmind/geoipupdate
    restart: unless-stopped
    environment:
      - 'GEOIPUPDATE_ACCOUNT_ID='							# Account ID
      - 'GEOIPUPDATE_LICENSE_KEY='							# API key
      - 'GEOIPUPDATE_EDITION_IDS=GeoLite2-Country GeoLite2-ASN'	# Which dbs should be downloaded
      - 'GEOIPUPDATE_FREQUENCY=72'							# Update intervall in hours
    volumes:
      - './config/GeoLite2:/usr/share/GeoIP'

NoteCopy Anchor Link

If you use the standard Pangolin deployment you shouldn't need to modify the path. This is the bare minimum to run the container. There are other optional environment variables available. Have a look at their docs!

Save and close the file, but don't restart the stack yet!

5. Modification of Pangolin's config.ymlCopy Anchor Link

Navigate to /config within the same folder and open it with a text editor.

cd config

Add these lines to the server object

server:
  maxmind_db_path: "./config/GeoLite2/GeoLite2-Country.mmdb"
  maxmind_asn_path: "./config/GeoLite2/GeoLite2-ASN.mmdb"

These entries tell the Pangolin application where to find the databases.

Save and close the file then navigate to the pangolin folder one level higher.

Restart your Pangolin stack with:

docker compose up -d

Et voilà, you are now able to define country rules and ASN rules for your resources! 🏁

btw: you can use these exact databases for your Traefik dashboard too -> Community Guide