Sonoff MG21, HA server in docker. Issue with starting otbr | Home Assistant | Page 1

wispy thicket Apr 23, 2026, 7:11 PM

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Hey,

I have home assistant running in a docker stack and wanted to get thread working with it. I created another stack with ghcr.io/ownbee/hass-otbr-docker. But am having issues with getting it to work.

I have added the logs.

📎 message.txt

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I have ofc flashed the lastest firmware

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version: '3'
services:
  matter-server:
    container_name: matter-server
    image: ghcr.io/home-assistant-libs/python-matter-server:stable
    restart: unless-stopped
    security_opt:
      - apparmor=unconfined
    volumes:
      - /srv/docker/portainer/data/matter:/data
      - /run/dbus:/run/dbus:ro
    network_mode: host

  otbr:
    container_name: otbr
    image: ghcr.io/ownbee/hass-otbr-docker
    restart: unless-stopped
    privileged: true # don't change this !
    network_mode: host # don't change this !
    # cap_add:
    #   - SYS_ADMIN
    #   - NET_ADMIN
    environment:
      DEVICE: "/dev/ttyUSB1"
      BACKBONE_IF: enp3s0
      FLOW_CONTROL: 1
      FIREWALL: 1
      NAT64: 1
      BAUDRATE: 115200
      OTBR_REST_PORT: 8081
      OTBR_WEB_PORT: 7586
      # OTBR_WEB_INTERFACE: "0.0.0.0"
      AUTOFLASH_FIRMWARE: 0
      OTBR_LOG_LEVEL: error
    devices:
      - /dev/ttyUSB1:/dev/ttyUSB1
      - /dev/net/tun:/dev/net/tun
    volumes:
      - /srv/docker/portainer/data/otbr:/data/thread
    logging:
      driver: "json-file"
      options:
        max-file: "3"
        max-size: "1m" 

``` compose file

scarlet isle Apr 23, 2026, 7:21 PM

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Does /dev/ttyUSB1 correspond to the coordinator?

wispy thicket Apr 23, 2026, 7:22 PM

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scarlet isle Does /dev/ttyUSB1 correspond to the coordinator?

This looks correct

scarlet isle Apr 23, 2026, 7:24 PM

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Can't tell much from that

wispy thicket Apr 23, 2026, 7:25 PM

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how would i be able to check?

scarlet isle Apr 23, 2026, 7:25 PM

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Use /dev/serial/by-id/xx

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Find it in there, use that path

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You more likely want /dev/ttyacmxx, but just the by-id path

wispy thicket Apr 23, 2026, 7:28 PM

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We got this

scarlet isle Apr 23, 2026, 7:29 PM

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Great. Use that

wispy thicket Apr 23, 2026, 7:29 PM

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for the device in the compose i assume

wheat beacon Apr 23, 2026, 7:29 PM

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wispy thicket ``` version: '3' services: matter-server: container_name: matter-server ...

version is deprecated and privileged makes devices superfluous.

wispy thicket Apr 23, 2026, 7:30 PM

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wheat beacon `version` is deprecated and `privileged` makes `devices` superfluous.

are you saying words that are going over my head 😂

scarlet isle Apr 23, 2026, 7:32 PM

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Point is, you're giving it the wrong device

wispy thicket Apr 23, 2026, 7:33 PM

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scarlet isle Point is, you're giving it the wrong device

I fixed that and now its not getting that error anymore but its still stopping itself

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📎 message.txt

scarlet isle Apr 23, 2026, 7:35 PM

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So, the same error

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What did you change?

wispy thicket Apr 23, 2026, 7:41 PM

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scarlet isle What did you change?

DEVICE: "/dev/serial/by-id/usb-SONOFF_SONOFF_Dongle_Lite_MG21_4e2b9aab43a2ef119ee2946661ce3355-if00-port0"

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any abvice?

wheat beacon Apr 23, 2026, 7:56 PM

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Apparently symlinks don't work: https://github.com/ownbee/hass-otbr-docker/issues/34

GitHub

Support following symlinks for $DEVICE · Issue #34 · ownbee/hass-...

I'd like to use /dev/serial/by-id/ (by passing in /dev/serial/ as a bindmount) to always use the correct serial device. Unfortunately otbr doesn't appear to be able to follow symlinks by it...

scarlet isle Apr 23, 2026, 7:59 PM

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oh, I guess I can see that. It's trying to escape the container

wispy thicket Apr 23, 2026, 8:00 PM

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any fixes? or a differnet way of doing it?

scarlet isle Apr 23, 2026, 8:00 PM

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This works fine for me:

  otbr:
    container_name: otbr
    image: ghcr.io/ownbee/hass-otbr-docker
    restart: unless-stopped
    privileged: true # don't change this !
    network_mode: host # don't change this !
    cap_add:
      - SYS_ADMIN
      - NET_ADMIN
    environment:
      DEVICE: "/dev/thread"
      BACKBONE_IF: enp1s0
      FLOW_CONTROL: 1
      FIREWALL: 1
      NAT64: 1
      BAUDRATE: 921600 #460800
      OTBR_REST_PORT: 8082
      OTBR_WEB_PORT: 7586
      AUTOFLASH_FIRMWARE: 1
      OTBR_WEB: 1
      THREAD_1_4: 1
    devices:
      - /dev/serial/by-id/usb-Nabu_Casa_SkyConnect_v1.0_640ce34f9514ed11a206bc8be054580b-if00-port0:/dev/thread
      - /dev/net/tun:/dev/net/tun
    volumes:
      - ./otbr_data:/var/lib/thread

wispy thicket Apr 23, 2026, 8:03 PM

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otbr:
    container_name: otbr
    image: ghcr.io/ownbee/hass-otbr-docker
    restart: unless-stopped
    privileged: true # don't change this !
    network_mode: host # don't change this !
    # cap_add:
    #   - SYS_ADMIN
    #   - NET_ADMIN
    environment:
      DEVICE: "/dev/thread"
      BACKBONE_IF: enp3s0
      FLOW_CONTROL: 0
      FIREWALL: 1
      NAT64: 1
      BAUDRATE: 115200
      OTBR_REST_PORT: 8081
      OTBR_WEB_PORT: 7586
      # OTBR_WEB_INTERFACE: "0.0.0.0"
      AUTOFLASH_FIRMWARE: 0
      OTBR_LOG_LEVEL: error
    devices:
      - /dev/serial/by-id/usb-SONOFF_SONOFF_Dongle_Lite_MG21_4e2b9aab43a2ef119ee2946661ce3355-if00-port0:/dev/thread
      - /dev/net/tun:/dev/net/tun
    volumes:
      - /srv/docker/portainer/data/otbr:/data/thread
    logging:
      driver: "json-file"
      options:
        max-file: "3"
        max-size: "1m"

This is what i currently have

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Sadlty still not working though

wispy thicket Apr 23, 2026, 8:46 PM

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got this issue fixed now. Its just stuck on "Checking connectivity to THread network OpenThread-bdoc" when trying to connect a device

honest iron Apr 23, 2026, 9:53 PM

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wispy thicket got this issue fixed now. Its just stuck on "Checking connectivity to THread net...

I recently got otbr running on the Sonoff MG21 after a ton of effort. Was stuck there too for a while.
have you synced thread credentials on your phone's app?
is ipv6 enabled?

#Sonoff MG21, HA server in docker. Issue with starting otbr