The easiest/faster option to run Polkadot in docker is to use the latest
release images. These are small images that use the latest official release of
the polkadot binary, pulled from our package repository.
## The easiest way
Let´s first check the version we have. The first time you run this command, the polkadot docker image will be downloaded. This takes a bit of time and bandwidth, be patient:
The easiest/faster option to run Polkadot in Docker is to use the latest release images. These are small images that use the latest official release of the Polkadot binary, pulled from our package repository.
**_Following examples are running on westend chain and without SSL. They can be used to quick start and learn how Polkadot needs to be configured. Please find out how to secure your node, if you want to operate it on the internet. Do not expose rpc and ws ports, if they are not correctly configured._**
Let´s first check the version we have. The first time you run this command, the Polkadot docker image will be downloaded. This takes a bit of time and bandwidth, be patient:
```bash
docker run --rm-it parity/polkadot:latest --version
```
You can also pass any argument/flag that polkadot supports:
You can also pass any argument/flag that Polkadot supports:
```bash
docker run --rm-it parity/polkadot:latest --chain westend --name"PolkaDocker"
```
Once you are done experimenting and picking the best node name :) you can start polkadot as daemon, exposes the polkadot ports and mount a volume that will keep your blockchain data locally:
## Examples
Once you are done experimenting and picking the best node name :) you can start Polkadot as daemon, exposes the Polkadot ports and mount a volume that will keep your blockchain data locally. Make sure that you set the ownership of your local directory to the Polkadot user that is used by the container. Set user id 1000 and group id 1000, by running `chown 1000.1000 /my/local/folder -R` if you use a bind mount.
To start a Polkadot node on default rpc port 9933 and default p2p port 30333 use the following command. If you want to connect to rpc port 9933, then must add Polkadot startup parameter: `--rpc-external`.
If you want to connect to rpc port 9933, then must add polkadot startup parameter: `--rpc-external`.
With following docker-compose.yml you can set up a node and use polkadot-js-apps as the front end on port 80. After starting the node use a browser and enter your Docker host ip in the url field: _<http://[YOUR_DOCKER_HOST_IP>_
**Note:** The `--chain westend` argument is important and you need to add it to the command line. If you are running older node versions (pre 0.3) you don't need it.
```bash
version: '2'
services:
polkadot:
container_name: polkadot
image: parity/polkadot
ports:
- 30333:30333 # p2p port
- 9933:9933 # rpc port
- 9944:9944 # ws port
command: [
"--name", "PolkaDocker",
"--ws-external",
"--rpc-external",
"--rpc-cors", "all"
]
polkadotui:
container_name: polkadotui
image: jacogr/polkadot-js-apps
environment:
- WS_URL=ws://[YOUR_DOCKER_HOST_IP]:9944
ports:
- 80:80
```
### Limiting Resources
## Limiting Resources
Chain syncing will utilise all available memory and CPU power your server has to offer, which can lead to crashing.
Chain syncing will utilize all available memory and CPU power your server has to offer, which can lead to crashing.
If running on a low resource VPS, use `--memory` and `--cpus` to limit the resources used. E.g. To allow a maximum of 512MB memory and 50% of 1 CPU, use `--cpus=".5" --memory="512m"`. Read more about limiting a container's resources [here](https://docs.docker.com/config/containers/resource_constraints).
...
...
@@ -54,7 +112,7 @@ Check the current version:
polkadot --version
```
### Build your own image
## Build your own image
To get up and running with the smallest footprint on your system, you may use the Polkadot Docker image.
You can build it yourself (it takes a while...) in the shell session of the daemon:
...
...
@@ -64,14 +122,14 @@ cd docker
./build.sh
```
### Reporting issues
## Reporting issues
If you run into issues with polkadot when using docker, please run the following command
If you run into issues with Polkadot when using docker, please run the following command
(replace the tag with the appropriate one if you do not use latest):
```bash
docker run --rm-it parity/polkadot:latest --version
```
This will show you the polkadot version as well as the git commit ref that was used to build your container.
This will show you the Polkadot version as well as the git commit ref that was used to build your container.
