Run Bitcoind in Docker container

Use Docker container to run Bitcoin core

0) Install Docker

 Docker can be installed on Windows, Linux, MacOS

1) Create new directory for running bitcoin core in Docker

 mkdir bitcoin-core-docker

 cd bitcoin-core-docker

2) Create new dir  to store bitcoin.conf

 mkdir node; cd node

3) Create bitcoin.conf and add the contents

server=1

regtest=1

port=12000

rpcport=12001

rpcallowip=0.0.0.0/0

rpcuser=username

rpcpassword=password

daemon=1

txindex=1

4) Build Docker container 

  cd .. ( to bitcoin-core-docker)

  create Dockerfile

5) Add contents to Docker

# Dockerfile must start with a FROM instruction

# FROM instruction specifies the Base Image from which you are building

# FROM <image>[:<tag>]

FROM ubuntu:16.04

ENV BTCVERSION=0.15.1

ENV BTCPREFIX=/bitcoin-prefix

RUN apt-get update && apt-get install -y git build-essential wget pkg-config curl libtool autotools-dev automake libssl-dev libevent-dev bsdmainutils libboost-system-dev libboost-filesystem-dev libboost-chrono-dev libboost-program-options-dev libboost-test-dev libboost-thread-dev

WORKDIR /

RUN mkdir -p /berkeleydb

#download berkeley db

RUN git clone -b 0.15 --single-branch  https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin.git

WORKDIR /berkeleydb

RUN wget http://download.oracle.com/berkeley-db/db-4.8.30.NC.tar.gz && tar -xvf db-4.8.30.NC.tar.gz && rm db-4.8.30.NC.tar.gz && mkdir -p db-4.8.30.NC/build_unix/build

ENV BDB_PREFIX=/berkeleydb/db-4.8.30.NC/build_unix/build

WORKDIR /berkeleydb/db-4.8.30.NC/build_unix

RUN ../dist/configure --disable-shared --enable-cxx --with-pic --prefix=$BDB_PREFIX

RUN make install

RUN apt-get update && apt-get install -y libminiupnpc-dev libzmq3-dev  libprotobuf-dev protobuf-compiler libqrencode-dev

WORKDIR /bitcoin

RUN git checkout v${BTCVERSION} && mkdir -p /bitcoin/bitcoin-${BTCVERSION}

WORKDIR /bitcoin

RUN ./autogen.sh

RUN ./configure CPPFLAGS="-I${BDB_PREFIX}/include/ -O2" LDFLAGS="-L${BDB_PREFIX}/lib/ -static-libstdc++" --prefix=${BTCPREFIX}

RUN make

RUN make install DESTDIR=/bitcoin/bitcoin-${BTCVERSION}

RUN mv /bitcoin/bitcoin-${BTCVERSION}${BTCPREFIX} /bitcoin-${BTCVERSION} && strip /bitcoin-${BTCVERSION}/bin/* && rm -rf /bitcoin-${BTCVERSION}/lib/pkgconfig && find /bitcoin-${BTCVERSION} -name "lib*.la" -delete && find /bitcoin-${BTCVERSION} -name "lib*.a" -delete

WORKDIR /

RUN tar cvf bitcoin-${BTCVERSION}.tar bitcoin-${BTCVERSION}

# copy bitcoin,conf

ADD . /bitcoin-${BTCVERSION}

# expose rpc port for the node to allow access from outside container

EXPOSE 12001

WORKDIR /bitcoin-${BTCVERSION}

6)build the docker image

   docker build -t bitcoin-docker .

• The -t flag sets a name for the image.
• The . tells Docker to looker for Dockerfile in the current directory

 6.1)list the built images:

  docker images

7) run the image in container

docker run -it -p 5000:12001 bitcoin-docker

• -it is required for interactive processes (like a bash shell)
• -p maps Ubuntu port 5000 to the container’s exposed port 12001, which is where Bitcoin rpc will be listening 

if everything works, docker present a bash shell. Both the node directory and the bitcoin.conf file were copied to the container by the ADD instruction in the Dockerfile, so they will be present in the current working directory. 

In the bash shell, run

7.1) bitcoind -datadir=node -daemon

7.2) bitcoin-cli -datadir=node getinfo

8) Connect to bitcoind from outside Docker (open second terminal window)

curl --user username:password --data '{"method": "getinfo"}' http://127.0.0.1:5000

9) In first terminal window, run this to stop bitcoind

 bitcoin-cli -datadir=node stop

9.1) In second terminal window, exit the docker container

 exit

Use Docker to run Bitcoin core as service

TBC…

PS: we can push the image to docker hub and share with others

# tag the image

docker tag  bitcoin <username>/bitcoin:custom

# push to docker hub

docker push <username>/bitcoin:custom

# run the image, if image is not available locally, docker pull from repo

docker run -it -p 5000:12001 <username>/bitcoin:custom