How can I fix DNS resolution errors in n8n 1.77.2 on a Contabo VPS?

Below is one approach to resolving DNS-related issues in a Docker‑based n8n setup.

What’s Going On

After upgrading (in your case to version 1.77.2), your n8n container isn’t able to resolve domain names for HTTP requests or the Postgres host. Because Docker containers rely on the host’s network configuration (or the configuration defined in the Docker run/compose settings), the container might be missing proper DNS settings. This can result in errors such as “getaddrinfo ENOTFOUND” when nodes try to connect to external services.

How to Fix It

One common solution is to explicitly define one or more public DNS servers when starting your container. For example, you can add the --dns flag to your Docker run command so that containers are forced to use, for example, Google’s DNS servers.

Example Docker Run Command

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docker volume create n8n_data

docker run -it --rm \
  --name n8n \
  -p 5678:5678 \
  --dns=8.8.8.8 \
  -v n8n_data:/home/node/.n8n \
  docker.n8n.io/n8nio/n8n

If you use Docker Compose, you can add the DNS setting to your service definition:

Example in Docker Compose

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version: "3.7"
services:
  n8n:
    image: docker.n8n.io/n8nio/n8n
    restart: always
    ports:
      - "5678:5678"
    dns:
      - 8.8.8.8
    volumes:
      - n8n_data:/home/node/.n8n

volumes:
  n8n_data:

Additional Considerations

• Test DNS Resolution: You can check inside the running container by executing a shell and testing DNS resolution (for example, by using ping):

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  docker exec -it n8n /bin/sh
  ping google.com

• Network Environment: Verify that your VPS provider (Contabo in your case) isn’t blocking DNS queries. Sometimes the host might need to have its own DNS configuration adjusted.

• Queue Mode Impact: Since you’re running n8n in queue mode, make sure that all processes are launched with the same network configuration. In some cases having separate worker containers might require the same explicit DNS configuration.

Applying a manual DNS setting has helped other users when the container wasn’t correctly inheriting the host’s DNS configuration. This should resolve the DNS errors in your HTTP Request and PostgreSQL nodes.

Let me know if you need further help with your n8n setup!