Docker

We provide three Docker images for various deployments: “all-in-one” for quick testing and experiments, a development image for debugging problems, and a production image for all other cases.

All-in-one image is documented in the README.md file in the repository. The rest are covered below.

All Docker images include a HEALTHCHECK instruction that behaves like a readiness probe.

Production image

Our production image ghcr.io/ferretdb/ferretdb is recommended for most deployments. It does not include PostgreSQL or other backends, so you must run them separately. You can do that with Docker Compose, Kubernetes, or other means.

PostgreSQL Setup with Docker Compose

The following steps describe a quick local setup:

1. Store the following in the docker-compose.yml file:

   services:
     postgres:
       image: postgres
       restart: on-failure
       environment:
         - POSTGRES_USER=username
         - POSTGRES_PASSWORD=password
         - POSTGRES_DB=ferretdb
       volumes:
         - ./data:/var/lib/postgresql/data
     ferretdb:
       image: ghcr.io/ferretdb/ferretdb
       restart: on-failure
       ports:
         - 27017:27017
       environment:
         - FERRETDB_POSTGRESQL_URL=postgres://postgres:5432/ferretdb
   networks:
     default:
       name: ferretdb

   postgres container runs PostgreSQL that would store data in the ./data directory on the host. ferretdb runs FerretDB.

2. Start services with docker compose up -d.

3. If you have mongosh installed, just run it to connect to FerretDB. It will use credentials passed in mongosh flags or MongoDB URI to authenticate to the PostgreSQL database. You’ll also need to set authMechanism to PLAIN. The example URI would look like:

   mongodb://username:password@127.0.0.1/ferretdb?authMechanism=PLAIN

   See Authentication and Securing connection with TLS for more details.

   If you don’t have mongosh, run the following command to run it inside the temporary MongoDB container, attaching to the same Docker network:

   docker run --rm -it --network=ferretdb --entrypoint=mongosh mongo \
     "mongodb://username:password@ferretdb/ferretdb?authMechanism=PLAIN"

You can improve that setup by:

• setting up initial user authentication;
• securing connections with TLS;
• adding backups.

Find out more about:

• getting logs.

SQLite Setup with Docker Compose

The following steps describe the setup for SQLite:

1. Store the following in the docker-compose.yml file:

   services:
     ferretdb:
       image: ghcr.io/ferretdb/ferretdb
       restart: on-failure
       ports:
         - 27017:27017
       environment:
         - FERRETDB_HANDLER=sqlite
       volumes:
         - ./state:/state
   networks:
     default:
       name: ferretdb

   Unlike PostgreSQL, SQLite operates serverlessly so it does not require its own service in Docker Compose.

2. Start services with docker compose up -d.

3. If you have mongosh installed, just run it to connect to FerretDB.

   The example URI would look like:

   mongodb://127.0.0.1:27017/ferretdb

   Similarly, if you don’t have mongosh installed, run this command to run it inside the temporary MongoDB container, attaching to the same Docker network:

   docker run --rm -it --network=ferretdb --entrypoint=mongosh mongo \
     "mongodb://ferretdb/ferretdb"

4. You can secure SQLite connections using the experimental authentication mode by setting the FERRETDB_TEST_ENABLE_NEW_AUTH environment variable to true. See experimental authentication mode to learn more.

Development image

The development image ghcr.io/ferretdb/ferretdb-dev contains the debug build of FerretDB with test coverage instrumentation, race detector, and other changes that make it more suitable for debugging problems. It can be used exactly the same way as the production image, as described above.