Using NEO4J_AUTH_FILE with docker compose secrets doesn't work out of the box

[mateuszpawlik]

I follow the documentation: https://neo4j.com/docs/operations-manual/current/docker/docker-compose-standalone/#docker-compose-secrets

Found sources here: https://github.com/neo4j/docs-operations/blob/5.x/modules/ROOT/pages/docker/docker-compose-standalone.adoc#deploy-a-neo4j-server-with-docker-secrets

With neo4j:5.22.0 image, when I use docker compose secrets and set NEO4J_AUTH_FILE environment variable, neo4j service errors out with:

Failed to read config: Unrecognized setting. No declared setting with name: AUTH.FILE. Cleanup the config or disable 'server.config.strict_validation.enabled' to continue.

It seems to be a new feature. I used neo4j:5.24.2 image and get the following error:

Invalid value for NEO4J_AUTH: 'neo4j:averylongpassword'

I changed the content of my neo4j_auth.txt file to neo4j/averylongpassword, and neo4j started.

[mateuszpawlik]

I found NEO4J_AUTH_PATH variable in

https://github.com/neo4j/docker-neo4j/blob/3788f715e4d69f3df21f9c17efa5af29bd57e27d/docker-image-src/5/coredb/docker-entrypoint.sh#L615-L632

which sets initial password for Neo4j. It helps in my case, as I need it for starting Neo4j in production, load initial data from dump, and set the credentials for api.

Unfortunately, I cannot find any documentation about this variable. I'm not sure if I should be using this variable for my purpose.

[renetapopova]

Sorry, it was a typo in the documentation. The key-value pair in the example file, neo4j_auth.txt , didn't match the one further down --env NEO4J_AUTH=neo4j/your_password. Fix is on the way.

[renetapopova]

#1914

[mateuszpawlik]

Thank you @renetapopova. Could you confirm for me that NEO4J_AUTH_FILE is a rather new feature and which is the first version of Neo4j implementing it?

[renetapopova]

Thank you @renetapopova. Could you confirm for me that NEO4J_AUTH_FILE is a rather new feature and which is the first version of Neo4j implementing it?

Ah, the version is also missing. I'll update the page. It is supported from 5.24 onwards in the 5.x series and 4.4.38 in the 4.4 series. Thank you so much for raising this issue.