Restart loop: "Server failed to start" - error: getaddrinfo EAI_AGAIN voidauth-db

[Stephan-P]

I hope that someone can shine a light on my attempt to a first setup on an openmediavault 8 NAS (Linux 7.0.12+deb13-amd64), which gets stuck in a loop of voidauth container restarts.

This is the log shortly after docker UP:

voidauth_db  | 
voidauth_db  | PostgreSQL Database directory appears to contain a database; Skipping initialization
voidauth_db  | 
voidauth_db  | 2026-07-01 17:09:34.812 UTC [1] LOG:  starting PostgreSQL 18.4 (Debian 18.4-1.pgdg13+1) on x86_64-pc-linux-gnu, compiled by gcc (Debian 14.2.0-19) 14.2.0, 64-bit
voidauth_db  | 2026-07-01 17:09:34.812 UTC [1] LOG:  listening on IPv4 address "0.0.0.0", port 5432
voidauth_db  | 2026-07-01 17:09:34.812 UTC [1] LOG:  listening on IPv6 address "::", port 5432
voidauth_db  | 2026-07-01 17:09:34.813 UTC [1] LOG:  listening on Unix socket "/var/run/postgresql/.s.PGSQL.5432"
voidauth_db  | 2026-07-01 17:09:34.817 UTC [32] LOG:  database system was shut down at 2026-07-01 17:06:32 UTC
voidauth_db  | 2026-07-01 17:09:34.820 UTC [1] LOG:  database system is ready to accept connections
voidauth     | 
voidauth     | 
voidauth     |  __   __ ______   __   _____    ______   __  __   ______  __  __   
voidauth     | /\ \ / //\  __ \ /\ \ /\  __ \ /\  __ \ /\ \/\ \ /\__  _\/\ \_\ \  
voidauth     | \ \ \ / \ \ \/\ \\ \ \\ \ \/\ \\ \  __ \\ \ \_\ \\/_/\ \/\ \  __ \ 
voidauth     |  \ \_/   \ \_____\\ \_\\ \_____\\ \_\ \_\\ \_____\  \ \_\ \ \_\ \_\
voidauth     |   \//     \/_____/ \/_/ \/_____/ \/_/\/_/ \/_____/   \/_/  \/_/\/_/
voidauth     | 
voidauth     |         ## Single Sign-On for Your Self-Hosted Universe ##
voidauth     | 
voidauth     | 
voidauth     | {"timestamp":1782925805872,"level":"info","message":"Starting VoidAuth Server"}
voidauth     | {"timestamp":1782925811054,"level":"error","message":"Server failed to start","errors":[{"name":"Error","message":"getaddrinfo EAI_AGAIN voidauth-db"}]}

Checking the log after a longer period shows an ongoing repetition of the VoidAuth header and the two last lines.

Remarkable: It takes unusually long for the database to get ready

My system runs Nginx Proxy Manager where I've created a Proxy Host for https://login.my-domain.tld incl. SSL-certificate termination, automatic https AND the Advanced config as specified in the docs:

location / {
  include /config/nginx/snippets/proxy.conf;
  proxy_pass $forward_scheme://$server:$port;
}

My Compose (yes, docker Check confirms that the variable substitutions work):

services:
  db:
    image: postgres:18
    container_name: voidauth_db
    restart: unless-stopped
    volumes:
      - ./db:/var/lib/postgresql/18/docker
    networks:
      - voidauth-db
    environment:
      POSTGRES_PASSWORD: ${DB_PASSWORD}    # required, and must be the same as DB_PASSWORD in voidauth service
    healthcheck:
      test: "pg_isready -U postgres -h localhost"

  voidauth: 
    image: voidauth/voidauth:latest
    container_name: voidauth
    restart: unless-stopped
    ports:
      - '3000:3000'     # may not be needed, depending on reverse-proxy setup
      # - '3890:3890'   # needed if LDAP Server is enabled
    volumes:
      - ./config:/app/config
      # Only required for declaring OIDC Apps via docker labels (see OIDC-Setup documentation)
      # - /var/run/docker.sock:/var/run/docker.sock:ro
    networks:
      - voidauth-db
      - web-proxy
    environment:
      # Required environment variables, mostly obtained from file environment
      # See https://voidauth.app/#/Getting-Started?id=environment-variables for a list of possible environment variables
      APP_URL: ${APP_URL}
      STORAGE_KEY: ${STORAGE_KEY}          # required
      DB_ADAPTER: ${DB_ADAPTER}
      DB_HOST: ${DB_HOST}                  # required
      DB_PASSWORD: ${DB_PASSWORD}          # required, and must be the same as POSTGRES_PASSWORD in voidauth-db service
    depends_on:
      db:
        condition: service_healthy

networks:
  voidauth-db:
    name: voidauth-db
    driver: bridge
  web-proxy:
    external: true

Environment (sanitized):

# App settings
APP_URL=https://login.my-domain.tld
STORAGE_KEY=LONG_KEY1
STORAGE_KEY_SECUNDARY=LONG_KEY2
SESSION_DOMAIN=
DEFAULT_REDIRECT=
SIGNUP=false
SIGNUP_REQUIRES_APPROVAL=
EMAIL_VERIFICATION=true
MFA_REQUIRED=false
API_RATELIMIT=60               # 60 per second rate limit
ENABLE_DEBUG=false

# App customization
APP_TITLE=VoidAuth
APP_PORT=3000                  # listening port, in case the default 3000 needs to be changed
APP_COLOR=#906bc7              # default: #906bc7
APP_FONT=monospace             # default: monospace
CONTACT_EMAIL=

#Database settings
DB_ADAPTER=postgres            # default: postgres
DB_HOST=voidauth-db
DB_PORT=5432                   # default: 5432
DB_NAME=postgres               # default: postgres
DB_USER=postgres               # default: postgres
DB_PASSWORD=LONG_KEY3
DB_SSL=false                   # default: false
DB_SSL_VERIFICATION=true

#Database migration settings
MIGRATE_TO_DB_ADAPTER=postgres
MIGRATE_TO_DB_HOST=void-db
MIGRATE_TO_DB_PORT=5432
MIGRATE_TO_DB_NAME=postgres
MIGRATE_TO_DB_USER=postgres
MIGRATE_TO_DB_PASSWORD=
MIGRATE_TO_DB_SSL=false
MIGRATE_TO_DB_SSL_VERIFICATION=true

# SMTP settings
SMTP_HOST=mail.my-domain.tld
SMTP_FROM='VoidAuth<no-reply@my-domain.tld>'
SMTP_PORT=587
SMTP_USER=name@my-domain.tld
SMTP_PASS=password
SMTP_SECURE=false
SMTP_NOAUTH=false
SMTP_IGNORE_CERT=false
SMTP_TLS_CIPHERS=
SMTP_TLS_MIN_VERSION=

# LDAP settings
LDAP_ENABLED=false
LDAP_PORT=3890
LDAP_BASE_DN='cd=voidauth'
LDAP_BIND_DN='cn=ldap_bind,dc=voidauth'
LDAP_BIND_PASSWORD=
LDAP_TLS_CERT_FILE=
LDAP_TLS_KEY_FILE=

# Misc.
PASSWORD_STRENGTH=3
ADMIN_EMAILS=hourly
DEFAULT_USER_EXPIRES_IN=

[Stephan-P]

Reading various suggested solutions to this getaddrinfo EAI_AGAIN issue, I tried turning voidauth-db into a preexisting external bridge network. Alas, with the same result.

[Stephan-P]

Following this recommendation did not help

    ports:
      - 127.0.0.1:3000:3000       # may not be needed, depending on reverse-proxy setup
      - 192.168.2.211:3000:3000

[Stephan-P]

And commenting out the ports: array all together also doesn't bring resolve. Continued restarts of container voidauth with error "getaddrinfo EAI_AGAIN"

[Stephan-P]

Replacing all variable substitution in the compose file with direct values doesn't help either

[Stephan-P]

I could do with some expert help here. Anyone?

[Stephan-P]

One more thing that I could think of... the error message complains about not being able to get address information about voidauth-db
error: getaddrinfo EAI_AGAIN voidauth-db
But what is 'voidauth-db', the database or the bridge network?
So in order to avoid confusion, I changed the bridge network to 'voidauth-net' and the error remains: getaddrinfo EAI_AGAIN voidauth-db
So, the container 'voidauth' cannot obtain the address of the database 'voidauth-db'
Is there something that needs to be done with the database perhaps?

[Stephan-P]

Could ownership of the directory 'db' be an issue?