Install EMQX Using Docker

This page introduces how to use the official Docker image to install and run the EMQX Open Source edition, and how to use Docker Compose to build an EMQX cluster.

Use Docker to Run A Single EMQX Node

This section will introduce how to use the Docker image to install the latest version of EMQX.For more information about EMQX official docker image, see Docker Hub - emqx.

1. To get the Docker image, run:

   docker pull emqx/emqx:5.8.3

2. To start the Docker container, run:

   docker run -d --name emqx -p 1883:1883 -p 8083:8083 -p 8084:8084 -p 8883:8883 -p 18083:18083  emqx:5.8.3

Docker Deployment Precautions

1. If you want to persist data generated in the EMQX Docker container, you need to keep the following directories, so that the data will persist even if the container no longer exists.

   /opt/emqx/data
   /opt/emqx/log

   For more details on EMQX directory structure, refer to EMQX - Files and Directories.

   Start container and mount directories:

   docker run -d --name emqx \
     -p 1883:1883 -p 8083:8083 \
     -p 8084:8084 -p 8883:8883 \
     -p 18083:18083 \
     -v $PWD/data:/opt/emqx/data \
     -v $PWD/log:/opt/emqx/log \
     emqx/emqx:5.8.3\

2. In Docker environments, localhost or 127.0.0.1 refers to the container's own internal network interface, not that of the host machine. To access services running on the host machine, use the host's IP address or use host networking settings. If you are using Docker for Mac or Docker for Windows, you can use host.docker.internal as the host address.

3. EMQX employs the data/mnesia/<node_name> directory for data storage. It's crucial to choose a stable identifier, such as a hostname or Fully Qualified Domain Name (FQDN), to serve as the node name. This practice avoids data loss caused by node name changes.

Use Docker Compose to Build an EMQX Cluster

Docker Compose is a tool for defining and running multi-container Docker applications. This section introduces how to use Docker Compose to create a static EMQX cluster.

Please note that the Docker Compose example file in this section is only applicable to local testing. If you need to deploy a cluster in a production environment, please refer to Clustering.

TIP

Docker Compose is already included in Docker Desktop. If your Docker Compose still needs to be installed, you may refer to Install Docker Compose for detailed operating steps.

1. Create a docker-compose.yml file under any directory with the following content:

   version: '3'
   
   services:
     emqx1:
       image: emqx:5.8.3
       container_name: emqx1
       environment:
       - "EMQX_NODE_NAME=emqx@node1.emqx.io"
       - "EMQX_CLUSTER__DISCOVERY_STRATEGY=static"
       - "EMQX_CLUSTER__STATIC__SEEDS=[emqx@node1.emqx.io,emqx@node2.emqx.io]"
       healthcheck:
         test: ["CMD", "/opt/emqx/bin/emqx", "ctl", "status"]
         interval: 5s
         timeout: 25s
         retries: 5
       networks:
         emqx-bridge:
           aliases:
           - node1.emqx.io
       ports:
         - 1883:1883
         - 8083:8083
         - 8084:8084
         - 8883:8883
         - 18083:18083 
       # volumes:
       #   - $PWD/emqx1_data:/opt/emqx/data
   
     emqx2:
       image: emqx:5.8.3
       container_name: emqx2
       environment:
       - "EMQX_NODE_NAME=emqx@node2.emqx.io"
       - "EMQX_CLUSTER__DISCOVERY_STRATEGY=static"
       - "EMQX_CLUSTER__STATIC__SEEDS=[emqx@node1.emqx.io,emqx@node2.emqx.io]"
       healthcheck:
         test: ["CMD", "/opt/emqx/bin/emqx", "ctl", "status"]
         interval: 5s
         timeout: 25s
         retries: 5
       networks:
         emqx-bridge:
           aliases:
           - node2.emqx.io
       # volumes:
       #   - $PWD/emqx2_data:/opt/emqx/data
   
   networks:
     emqx-bridge:
       driver: bridge

2. In the command line tool, switch to the directory where docker-compose.yml is stored, and run the following command to start the EMQX cluster:

   docker-compose up -d

3. To check the cluster status, run:

   $ docker exec -it emqx1 sh -c "emqx ctl cluster status"
   Cluster status: #{running_nodes => ['emqx@node1.emqx.com','emqx@node2.emqx.com'],
                     stopped_nodes => []}

Next Steps

Use an MQTT client to connect EMQX for message publish/subscribe. For more information, see Publish and Subscribe.

• On how to configure EMQX parameters and other features, see Configuration.

• On how to build an EMQX cluster with multiple nodes, see Clustering.