This how-to briefly explains how to launch a Geode cluster in Docker. Specifically, each component (locator and servers) will be running in their own container. The cluster will be accessible (either using gfsh or through regular Geode client APIs) from the host system. This scenario mimics a typical setup where the cluster is isolated as a backend service and made accessible to a frontend application.

Since the how-to is intended to be developer focused we will not be creating a Docker container containing Geode but instead will be bind mounting the Geode distribution into the containers. This allows for quicker iteration when code is updated.

The set up is focused on Docker Desktop for Mac (tested on version 2.5.0) but should also work on Linux or Docker for Windows.

A script is provided which will idempotently create the cluster.

The following is a logical depiction of the final configuration

The containers will be created on a separate bridge network. This has the advantage that all containers on this network will be able to communicate with each other. In addition, all ports will be isolated reducing the possibility of port conflicts with services running on the host. In order to expose access to the outside (i.e. the host system) any relevant ports need to be exposed.

Both the current working directory as well as the location of the Geode distribution will be mounted within each container under the directories /work  and /geode  respectively. Logs for each member will be written into the working directory (locator1, server1, server2, etc.).

Step-by-step guide

1. Get Geode

We'll need a distribution of Geode to work with. The easiest is simply to clone the repo and build a distribution that we can use:

$ git clone https://github.com/apache/geode.git
$ cd geode
$ ./gradlew devBuild installDist

This will produce a distribution in the directory: geode-assembly/build/install/apache-geode (the distribution is essentially all the jars and scripts that are needed to run geode).

2. Create your Script

Copy the following script into your working directory. This is also where logs for each member will be created.

#!/usr/bin/env bash

set -x

THIS_SCRIPT=$(basename $0)
WORK_DIR=$(cd $(dirname $0); pwd)

if [ -z "${GEODE_HOME}" ]; then
  GEODE_HOME=${PWD}/geode-assembly/build/install/apache-geode
fi

GFSH=${GEODE_HOME}/bin/gfsh

function startServer() {
  local X=$1
  local SERVER_PORT=$2
  local DEBUG_PORT=$((5004 + X))

  pkill -9 -f "start server${X}"

  rm -rf server${X}
  $GFSH start server \
    --name=server${X} \
    --locator-wait-time=120 \
    --hostname-for-clients=localhost \
    --server-port=$SERVER_PORT \
    --log-level=info \
    --locators=locator1[10334] \
    --J=-Dgemfire.statistic-archive-file=statistics-${X}.gfs \
    --J=-agentlib:jdwp=transport=dt_socket,server=y,suspend=n,address=${DEBUG_PORT}

  tail -f server${X}/server${X}.log
}

function startLocator() {
  rm -rf locator1

  $GFSH start locator \
    --name=locator1 \
    --J=-Dgemfire.jmx-manager-bind-address=0.0.0.0 \
    --J=-Dgemfire.jmx-manager-hostname-for-clients=localhost

  tail -f locator1/locator1.log
}

case "$1" in
  locator)
    pushd ${WORK_DIR}
      startLocator
    popd
    exit 0
    ;;
  server1)
    pushd ${WORK_DIR}
      startServer 1 40404
    popd
    exit 0
    ;;
  server2)
    pushd ${WORK_DIR}
      startServer 2 40405
    popd
    exit 0
    ;;
esac

docker stop -t 0 locator1 server1 server2 2>/dev/null
docker rm locator1 server1 server2 2>/dev/null

docker network rm geode-net 2>/dev/null
docker network create geode-net 2>/dev/null

DOCKER_IMAGE=bellsoft/liberica-openjdk-debian:11

docker run -d \
  --name=locator1 \
  -e GEODE_HOME=/geode \
  -v ${GEODE_HOME}:/geode \
  -v ${PWD}:/work \
  --network=geode-net \
  --hostname=locator1 \
  -p 10334:10334 \
  -p 1099:1099 \
  geode /work/${THIS_SCRIPT} locator

docker run -d \
  --name=server1 \
  -e GEODE_HOME=/geode \
  -v ${GEODE_HOME}:/geode \
  -v ${PWD}:/work \
  --network=geode-net \
  --hostname=server1 \
  -p 40404:40404 \
  -p 5005:5005 \
  geode \
  /work/${THIS_SCRIPT} server1

docker run -d \
  --name=server2 \
  -e GEODE_HOME=/geode \
  -v ${GEODE_HOME}:/geode \
  -v ${PWD}:/work \
  --network=geode-net \
  --hostname=server2 \
  -p 40405:40405 \
  -p 5006:5006 \
  geode \
  /work/${THIS_SCRIPT} server2

When run, the script will automatically create one locator and 2 servers. When re-run it will clean up existing Docker containers, networks and working directories.

At this point you may use the gfsh utility to connect to the cluster.

Points to Note:

• The default Docker image used is bellsoft/liberica-openjdk-debian:11. However, any image that provides at least JRE version 8 or greater and a bash shell should work.
• Since the script launches all members all at once (locators and servers), the servers have the --locator-wait-time  option set so that they will wait for the locator to become available.
• Once the script completes, the cluster will not immediately be ready and may take a minute or two to complete startup.
• The locator port is exported as 10334 on the host.
• Each server has an incrementing debug port exposed on the host (5005, 5006).
• The --hostname-for-clients property must be set when starting the servers and point to the system which has server ports exposed. In this example it is simply set to localhost  which assumes that all clients, connecting to the cluster, will be running on the host system itself.
• In order for gfsh  to be able to connect to the locator, both the jmx-manager-hostname-for-clients and jmx-manager-bind-address properties must be set on the locator.
• Since gfsh forks the actual java locator or server process (and then exits), the docker run process needs to be kept alive otherwise the container would simply exit. This is achieved by simply tailing the relevant log file.

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