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Softing SDEX Suite Softing SDEX Suite

Stack

edge

Connect PLCs and CNCs from multiple manufacturers and provide their industrial data to IT applications via OPC UA and MQTT.

Image details

Pulls: 4k
Architecture: amd64, arm64, arm/v7
Image size: 146 MB
Latest: 1.00
User: sorintopan
Created: Dec 05, 2025
Updated: 6 months ago
Status: active

Source details

Repo: softingindustrial/sdex-suite
Language: Perl
Updated: 3 months ago

Configuration

Type
Compose
Platform
linux
Image
softingindustrial/sdex-suite
Ports
443:4434897:4897
Volumes
/config : config/mqtt : mqtt-config
Env vars
TZ=''
Restart
always
Source
Repo

Template by portainer·Source

Report issue

Notes

Deploys the SDEX Suite container with basic configurations.

Standalone Install

Select an install method, to see config/commands for deploying Softing SDEX Suite

Installation method

Install on Portainer

Import all app templates into your Portainer instance, for easy 1-click deploys

  1. Ensure both Docker and Portainer are installed, and up-to-date
  2. Log into your Portainer web UI
  3. Under Settings → App Templates, paste the below URL
  4. Head to Home → App Templates, and the list of apps will show up
  5. Select Softing SDEX Suite, fill in any config options, and hit Deploy

Template Import URL

https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Lissy93/portainer-templates/main/templates.json
Show Me demo
Original stackfile

The compose file this template deploys, straight from its repo:

version: "3.8"
services:
    sdex_beta:
        image: softingindustrial/sdex-suite
        restart: always
        ports:
            - 443:443
            - 4897:4897
        volumes:
            - config:/config
            - mqtt-config:/mqtt

volumes:
  config: {}
  mqtt-config: {}

Or deploy it directly from the source:

git clone https://github.com/portainer/templates
cd templates
docker compose -f edge/sdex-suite/docker-compose.yml up -d

More install options in our documentation, or see softingindustrial/sdex-suite for app-specific guidance.

SDEX Suite

SDEX Suite connects PLC and CNC data via OPC UA and MQTT for secure IT/OT integration.
SDEX Suite

Quick Start

docker run -d -p 443:443 -p 4897:4897 -h sdex-suite --name sdex-suite softingindustrial/sdex-suite

Ports 443 (HTTPS GUI) and 4897 (OPC UA) are preconfigured in the application but can be adapted if needed.

Ports

  • 443 (HTTPS) – Web-based configuration interface (GUI)
  • 4897 (OPC UA) – Default OPC UA server endpoint (configurable within range 4810–5000)

Persistent Configuration

# Create persistent volumes
docker volume create sdex-suite-config
docker volume create sdex-suite-mqtt

# Run container with persistent storage
docker run -d \
  -v sdex-suite-config:/config \
  -v sdex-suite-mqtt:/mqtt \
  -p 443:443 \
  -p 4897:4897 \
  -h sdex-suite \
  --name sdex-suite \
  softingindustrial/sdex-suite

Key Features

  • Secure access to PLC and CNC data
  • OPC UA and MQTT connectivity
  • Centralized data integration for Industry 4.0 use cases
  • Seamless IT/OT data integration
  • Centralized data access and aggregation
  • Scalable and modular architecture
  • Secure data communication

Optional Environment Variables

The following environment variables can be used to customize runtime behavior:
  • CONSOLE_OBSERVER – Enables logging to standard output (viewable via docker logs).
  • MQTT_CLIENT_ID_PREFIX – Sets a prefix for all MQTT client IDs.
  • ENABLE_HTTP_CONFIG – Allows HTTP access to the web GUI (disabled by default; HTTPS only).
  • OFFLINE_CONFIG_FILE – Specifies a custom path to an offline configuration file inside the container.
  • HTTPS_KEY_FILE – Path to a custom HTTPS private key file.
  • HTTPS_CERTIFICATE_FILE – Path to a custom HTTPS certificate file.

Use the -e flag to pass environment variables when starting the container, for example: -e CONSOLE_OBSERVER="ON" or -e MQTT_CLIENT_ID_PREFIX="SDEXClient".

Tags

  • latest
  • 1.00

Supported Architectures

This image is available for multiple CPU architectures:
  • amd64
  • arm/v7
  • arm64

Documentation

License

Refer to Softing Industrial Automation licensing terms:

Serve Softing SDEX Suite on your own domain behind Caddy, Nginx or Traefik. Fill in your domain and copy the result. It's a starting point, some apps need their own base URL or extra headers set too.

Proxying softing-sdex-suite.example.com to https://sdex_beta:443

Add this to your Caddyfile

softing-sdex-suite.example.com {
	reverse_proxy https://sdex_beta:443 {
		transport http {
			tls_insecure_skip_verify
		}
	}
}

Check the logs first

Nine times out of ten the logs tell you exactly what went wrong.

  • In Portainer, go to Containers, click the container, then Logs. Or run docker logs <container>
  • Exit codes help too: 137 means killed, usually out of memory. 126 or 127 means the command inside the image is broken.

Port already in use

If deployment fails with "Bind for 0.0.0.0:443 failed: port is already allocated", something else on your server is using that port.

  • Find what's using it: sudo ss -tlnp | grep :443
  • Stop the other service, or pick a different host port. In 443:443 only the left number is yours to change, the right one belongs to the app.

Running but the page won't load

The container is up but nothing appears in your browser.

  • Use your server's real IP: https://your-server-ip:443. The 0.0.0.0 link Portainer shows isn't a real address.
  • Give it a minute after first deploy, sdex_beta can take a while to initialise.
  • Make sure your firewall allows the port, e.g. sudo ufw allow 443

Image won't pull

Test the pull directly on the host: docker pull softingindustrial/sdex-suite

  • "manifest unknown" means the tag no longer exists. This template uses latest, so try pinning a specific version instead.
  • "toomanyrequests" is the Docker Hub rate limit. Log in with docker login to raise it.
  • "no space left on device" means a full disk. Reclaim space with docker system prune

"exec format error"

This means the image was built for a different CPU architecture than your server.

  • This image supports: amd64, arm64, arm/v7
  • Check yours with uname -m: x86_64 is amd64, aarch64 is arm64. Raspberry Pi and other ARM boards are the usual culprits.

Container keeps restarting

The always restart policy relaunches the app after every crash, so the real error can scroll past.

  • Check the logs right after a restart, the last few lines before it died are the useful ones.
  • Get the exit code with docker inspect <container> --format '{{.State.ExitCode}}'
  • Still stuck? Redeploy once with the restart policy set to no so the failure stays visible.

Required settings are blank

TZ has no default value, and sdex_beta may crash or misbehave if left empty.

  • Fill it in on the deploy screen before hitting deploy.

Stack won't deploy

Compose stacks fail fast on small mistakes, and Portainer shows the reason just above the editor.

  • YAML only accepts spaces for indentation, a single tab breaks the whole file.

Raise an issue

Found something which isn't working as it should? Here's how to report it.

A Compose stack

Softing SDEX Suite is a Compose stack, a set of containers defined in one file and brought up together by Portainer, then started and stopped as a single app.

The app image

An image is the app packed up ready to go, everything Softing SDEX Suite needs bundled into one download. This template pulls softingindustrial/sdex-suite, which Docker fetches once (about 146 MB) and then starts your own copy from.

Where the image comes from

Docker pulls its images from registries, public libraries of ready-built apps. Softing SDEX Suite's comes from Docker Hub, published by softingindustrial.

Version tags

The bit after the colon in the image name is the version tag. Here it's latest, which always points at the newest build, so a redeploy can bump you to a newer release without you asking. Newest right now is 1.00. Pin a specific tag if you would rather stay on one version.

Which machines it runs on

Every image is built for particular CPU types. This one ships for amd64, arm64, arm/v7, so it runs on both regular x86 servers and ARM boards like a Raspberry Pi.

Ports

A port is the door the app answers on. A mapping like 443:443 means it's reachable on port 443 of your server, where the left number is yours to change and the right one belongs to the app. Once it's running, open https://your-server-ip:443 in a browser. It opens:

  • 443:443, likely the web interface
  • 4897:4897

Volumes

A volume is where Softing SDEX Suite keeps its files so they survive an update or a restart. Without one, anything it saves would sit inside the container and vanish the moment it's recreated. This template mounts:

  • /config kept in the config volume Docker manages
  • /mqtt kept in the mqtt-config volume Docker manages

Environment variables

Environment variables are the settings you hand over when you deploy, things like a password or a timezone. Softing SDEX Suite takes 1 of them, and one needs a value before it'll start properly:

  • TZ, needs a value. TZ with format "America/NewYork"

Restart policy

The restart policy here is always, so Docker brings Softing SDEX Suite back up after a crash and again when the server reboots. Good for anything you want running around the clock. You can change this on the deploy screen. The choices are no (never restart), on-failure (only after a crash), unless-stopped (restart unless you stop it), and always (bring it back no matter what).

Networking

Nothing custom is set, so Softing SDEX Suite sits on Docker's default bridge network: its own private space that reaches the outside world only through the ports it publishes.

Container name

Once it's deployed, Portainer names the container sdex_beta. That's what you'll spot in the containers list and use in commands like docker logs sdex_beta.

Platform

The platform is linux, the kind of system the container is built to run on. Docker and Portainer handle this on a normal Linux server.

Portainer app templates

Zooming out, this whole page comes from a Portainer app template: a short recipe telling Portainer how to set Softing SDEX Suite up. Add the template list to Portainer once, then deploying Softing SDEX Suite is a click rather than a wall of config.