Using Docker

Hornet Docker images (amd64/x86_64 architecture) are available at the iotaledger/hornet Docker hub.

Requirements

1. A recent release of Docker enterprise or community edition. You can find installation instructions in the official Docker documentation.
2. GIT.
3. CURL.
4. At least 1GB available RAM.

Clone the Repository

Once you have completed all the installation requirements, you can clone the repository by running:

git clone https://github.com/iotaledger/hornet && cd hornet && git checkout production

note

The next portion of the guide assumes you are executing commands from the root directory of the repository.

Prepare

1. If you want to use alternative ports, edit the config.json file.

2. Add your neighbors addresses to the peering.json file.

The Docker image runs under user with user id 65532 and group id 65532. To make sure there are no permission issues, you will need to:

1. Create the directory for the database by running the following command:

   sudo mkdir mainnetdb && sudo chown 65532:65532 mainnetdb

2. Create the directory for the peer database by running the following command:

   sudo mkdir p2pstore && sudo chown 65532:65532 p2pstore

3. Create the directory for the snapshots by running the following command:

   sudo mkdir -p snapshots/mainnet && sudo chown -R 65532:65532 snapshots

Run

You can pull the latest image from iotaledger/hornet public Docker hub registry by running:

docker pull iotaledger/hornet:latest && docker tag iotaledger/hornet:latest hornet:latest

We recommend that you run on host network to improve performance. Otherwise, you will have to publish ports using iptables NAT which is slower.

docker run \
  -v $(pwd)/config.json:/app/config.json:ro \
  -v $(pwd)/peering.json:/app/peering.json \
  -v $(pwd)/profiles.json:/app/profiles.json:ro \
  -v $(pwd)/mainnetdb:/app/mainnetdb \
  -v $(pwd)/p2pstore:/app/p2pstore \
  -v $(pwd)/snapshots/mainnet:/app/snapshots/mainnet \
  --restart always \
  --name hornet\
  --net=host \
  --ulimit nofile=8192:8192 \
  -d \
  hornet:latest

• $(pwd) Stands for the present working directory. All mentioned directories are mapped to the container, so the Hornet in the container persists the data directly to those directories.
• -v $(pwd)/config.json:/app/config.json:ro Maps the local config.json file into the container in readonly mode.
• -v $(pwd)/peering.json:/app/peering.json Maps the local peering.json file into the container.
• -v $(pwd)/profiles.json:/app/profiles.json:ro Maps the local profiles.json file into the container in readonly mode.
• -v $(pwd)/mainnetdb:/app/mainnetdb Maps the local mainnetdb directory into the container.
• -v $(pwd)/p2pstore:/app/p2pstore Maps the local p2pstore directory into the container.
• -v $(pwd)/snapshots/mainnet:/app/snapshots/mainnet Maps the local snapshots directory into the container.
• --restart always Instructs Docker to restart the container after Docker reboots.
• --name hornet Name of the running container instance. You can refer to the given container by this name.
• --net=host Instructs Docker to use the host's network, so the network is not isolated. We recommend that you run on host network for better performance. This way, the container will also open any ports it needs on the host network, so you will not need to specify any ports.
• --ulimit nofile=8192:8192 increases the ulimits inside the container. This is important when running with large databases.
• -d Instructs Docker to run the container instance in a detached mode (daemon).

You can run docker stop -t 300 hornet to gracefully end the process.

Create Username and Password for the Hornet Dashboard

If you use the Hornet dashboard, you need to create a secure password. You can start your Hornet container and execute the following command when the container is running:

docker exec -it hornet /app/hornet tool pwd-hash

Expected output:

Enter a password:
Re-enter your password:
Success!
Your hash: [YOUR_HASH_HERE]
Your salt: [YOUR_SALT_HERE]

You can edit config.json and customize the dashboard section to your needs.

  "dashboard": {
    "bindAddress": "0.0.0.0:8081",
    "auth": {
      "sessionTimeout": "72h",
      "username": "admin",
      "passwordHash": "[YOUR_HASH_HERE]",
      "passwordSalt": "[YOUR_SALT_HERE]"
    }
  },

Build Your Own Hornet Image

You can build your own Docker image by running the following command:

docker build -f docker/Dockerfile -t hornet:latest .

Or pull it from Docker hub (only available for amd64/x86_64):

docker pull iotaledger/hornet:latest && docker tag iotaledger/hornet:latest hornet:latest

Managing a Node

note

Hornet uses an in-memory cache so to save all data to the underlying persistent storage, a grace period of at least 200 seconds for a shutdown is necessary.

Starting an Existing Hornet

You can start an existing Hornet container by running:

docker start hornet

Restarting Hornet

You can restart an existing Hornet container by running:

docker restart -t 300 hornet

• -t 300 Instructs Docker to wait for a grace period before shutting down.

Stopping Hornet

You can stop an existing Hornet container by running:

docker stop -t 300 hornet

• -t 300 Instructs Docker to wait for a grace period before shutting down.

Displaying Log Output

You can display existing Hornet container logs by running:

docker logs -f hornet

• -f Instructs Docker to continue displaying the log to stdout until CTRL+C is pressed.

Removing a Container

You can remove an existing Hornet container by running:

docker container rm hornet