Running OpenSearch and Dashboards Behind Nginx with Docker Compose

OpenSearch is a powerful open-source search and analytics suite, and OpenSearch Dashboards provides a visual interface for exploring your data. In this guide, we’ll show you how to set up both tools behind an Nginx reverse proxy using Docker Compose — all in one file.

Why Use Nginx?

Placing Nginx in front of OpenSearch and Dashboards has several benefits:

Unified access point (http://localhost:9200)
Clean URLs for Dashboards (/_dashboards)
Easier to add SSL or access control later

Docker Compose Setup

Here’s a ready-to-run docker-compose.yml that configures:

OpenSearch 3.0
OpenSearch Dashboards 3
Nginx reverse proxy
Custom routing for Dashboards

networks:
  default:
    driver: bridge

configs:
  opensearch-nginx-config:
    content: |
      server {
        listen 9200 default_server;
        server_name _;

        location / {
          proxy_pass https://opensearch:9200;
          proxy_ssl_verify off;
          client_max_body_size 10M;
        }

        location /_dashboards {
          proxy_pass http://dashboards:5601;
        }
      }

volumes:
  opensearch-data:

services:
  nginx:
    image: nginx:alpine
    ports:
      - 9200:9200
    mem_limit: 512M
    configs:
      - source: opensearch-nginx-config
        target: /etc/nginx/conf.d/opensearch.conf

  opensearch:
    image: opensearchproject/opensearch:3.0.0
    environment:
      discovery.type: single-node
      OPENSEARCH_JAVA_OPTS: -Xms1024m -Xmx1024m
      OPENSEARCH_INITIAL_ADMIN_PASSWORD: Ax12123123aA=-*
    volumes:
      - opensearch-data:/usr/share/opensearch/data
    mem_limit: 2000M
    ulimits:
      memlock:
        soft: -1
        hard: -1

  dashboards:
    image: opensearchproject/opensearch-dashboards:3
    environment:
      OPENSEARCH_HOSTS: http://nginx:9200
      OPENSEARCH_USERNAME: admin
      OPENSEARCH_PASSWORD: Ax12123123aA=-*
      SERVER_BASEPATH: /_dashboards
      SERVER_REWRITEBASEPATH: "true"
    mem_limit: 1024M

docker-compose.yml

Getting Started

Save the file as docker-compose.yml.
Run the stack using
docker compose up -d
Access your services
- OpenSearch API: http://localhost:9200
- Dashboards UI: http://localhost:9200/_dashboards

Security Tips

Change the default password before going public.
Use HTTPS with a reverse proxy or add Certbot to Nginx.
Limit access with a firewall or network rules.

✅ Conclusion

This setup gives you a fully functional OpenSearch environment with a clean access point and minimal configuration. Perfect for development, internal tools, or as a base for production.