Run Portworx Developer Edition with Docker

To install and configure Portworx Developer Edition via the Docker CLI, use the command-line steps described in this section.

important

Portworx stores configuration metadata in a KVDB (key/value store), such as Etcd. Portworx by Pure Storage recommends setting up a dedicated kvdb for Portworx to use. If you want to set one up, see the etcd example for Portworx.

Install and configure Docker

Follow the Docker install guide to install and start the Docker Service.

Specify storage

Portworx pools the storage devices on your server and creates a global capacity for containers. The following example uses the two non-root storage devices (/dev/xvdb, /dev/xvdc).

important

Back up any data on storage devices that will be pooled. Storage devices will be reformatted!

First, use this command to view the storage devices on your server:

lsblk

    NAME                      MAJ:MIN RM   SIZE RO TYPE MOUNTPOINT
    xvda                      202:0    0     8G  0 disk
    └─xvda1                   202:1    0     8G  0 part /
    xvdb                      202:16   0    64G  0 disk
    xvdc                      202:32   0    64G  0 disk

note

The devices formatted with a partition are shown under the TYPE column as part.

Next, identify the storage devices you will be allocating to Portworx. Portworx can run in a heterogeneous environment, so you can mix and match drives of different types. Different servers in the cluster can also have different drive configurations.

Run Portworx

You can now run Portworx via the Docker CLI as follows:

if `uname -r | grep -i coreos > /dev/null`; \
then HDRS="/lib/modules"; \
else HDRS="/usr/src"; fi
sudo docker run --restart=always --name px -d --net=host       \
                 --privileged=true                             \
                 -v /run/docker/plugins:/run/docker/plugins    \
                 -v /var/lib/osd:/var/lib/osd:shared           \
                 -v /dev:/dev                                  \
                 -v /etc/pwx:/etc/pwx                          \
                 -v /opt/pwx/bin:/export_bin                   \
                 -v /var/run/docker.sock:/var/run/docker.sock  \
                 -v /var/cores:/var/cores                      \
                 -v ${HDRS}:${HDRS}                            \
                portworx/px-dev -k etcd://myetc.company.com:2379 -c MY_CLUSTER_ID -s /dev/sdb -s /dev/sdc

Portworx daemon arguments

The following arguments are provided to the Portworx daemon:

Docker runtime command options

The relevant Docker runtime command options are explained below:

--privileged
    > Sets Portworx to be a privileged container. Required to export block device and for other functions.

--net=host
    > Sets communication to be on the host IP address over ports 9001 -9003. Future versions will support separate IP addressing for Portworx.

--shm-size=384M
    > Portworx advertises support for asynchronous I/O. It uses shared memory to sync across process restarts

-v /run/docker/plugins
    > Specifies that the volume driver interface is enabled.

-v /dev
    > Specifies which host drives Portworx can access. Note that Portworx only uses drives specified in config.json. This volume flag is an alternate to --device=\[\].

-v /etc/pwx/config.json:/etc/pwx/config.json
    > the configuration file location.

-v /var/run/docker.sock
    > Used by Docker to export volume container mappings.

-v /var/lib/osd:/var/lib/osd:shared
    > Location of the exported container mounts. This must be a shared mount.

-v /opt/pwx/bin:/export_bin
    > Exports the Portworx command line (**pxctl**) tool from the container to the host.

Optional - running with config.json

You can also provide the runtime parameters to Portworx via a configuration file called config.json. When this is present, you do not need to pass the runtime parameters via the command line. This may be useful if you are using tools like Chef or Puppet to provision your host machines.

1. Download the sample config.json file: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/portworx/px-dev/master/conf/config.json

2. Create a directory for the configuration file.

   sudo mkdir -p /etc/pwx

3. Move the configuration file to that directory. This directory later gets passed in on the Docker command line.

   sudo cp -p config.json /etc/pwx

4. Edit the config.json to include the following:

   • clusterid: This string identifies your cluster and must be unique within your etcd key/value space.
   • kvdb: This is the etcd connection string for your etcd key/value store.
   • devices: These are the storage devices that will be pooled from the prior step.

Example config.json:

   {
      "clusterid": "make this unique in your k/v store",
      "dataiface": "bond0",
      "kvdb": [
          "etcd:https://[username]:[password]@[string].dblayer.com:[port]"
        ],
      "mgtiface": "bond0",
      "storage": {
        "devices": [
          "/dev/xvdb",
          "/dev/xvdc"
        ]
      }
    }

important

If you are using Compose.IO and the kvdb string ends with [port]/v2/keys, omit the /v2/keys. Before running the container, make sure you have saved off any data on the storage devices specified in the configuration.

You can now start the Portworx container with the following command:

if `uname -r | grep -i coreos > /dev/null`; \
then HDRS="/lib/modules"; \
else HDRS="/usr/src"; fi
sudo docker run --restart=always --name px -d --net=host       \
                 --privileged=true                             \
                 -v /run/docker/plugins:/run/docker/plugins    \
                 -v /var/lib/osd:/var/lib/osd:shared           \
                 -v /dev:/dev                                  \
                 -v /etc/pwx:/etc/pwx                          \
                 -v /opt/pwx/bin:/export_bin                   \
                 -v /var/run/docker.sock:/var/run/docker.sock  \
                 -v /var/cores:/var/cores                      \
                 -v ${HDRS}:${HDRS}                            \
                portworx/px-dev

At this point, Portworx should be running on your system. To verify, type:

docker ps

Authenticated etcd

To use etcd with authentication and a cafile, use this in your config.json:

"kvdb": [
   "etcd:https://<ip1>:<port>",
   "etcd:https://<ip2>:<port>"
 ],
 "cafile": "/etc/pwx/pwx-ca.crt",
 "certfile": "/etc/pwx/pwx-user-cert.crt",
 "certkey": "/etc/pwx/pwx-user-key.key",

Alternatively, you could specify and explicit username and password as follows:

 "username": "root",
 "password": "xxx",
 "cafile": "/etc/pwx/cafile",

Access the pxctl CLI

Once Portworx is running, you can create and delete storage volumes through the Docker volume commands or the pxctl command line tool. With pxctl, you can also inspect volumes, the volume relationships with containers, and nodes.

To view all pxctl options, run:

pxctl help

For more information on using pxctl, see the CLI Reference.

Now, you have successfully setup Portworx on your first server. To increase capacity and enable high availability, repeat the same steps on each of the remaining two servers.

To view the cluster status, run:

pxctl status

Adding Nodes

To add nodes in order to increase capacity and enable high availability, simply repeat these steps on other servers. As long as Portworx is started with the same cluster ID, they will form a cluster.

Application Examples

Then, to continue with other examples of running stateful applications and databases with Docker and Portworx, see this link.