Running the Bot Libre platform on-premise using Docker

The Bot Libre Community Edition web platform is now available as a Docker container. This means that getting Bot Libre up and running on your server has never been easier!

• Bot Libre docker on GithHub
• Bot Libre on DockerHub

What is Docker?

Docker is a platform that allows you to run “containers” using OS level virtualization. A container is a software package that is bundled with its required libraries and configuration, so you do not have to perform any additional configuration/installation yourself.

Docker is most often used in Linux machines, but Docker can also be installed on Windows and macOS machines. However, Docker will be using a virtual machine when running on Windows or macOS.

Note: Root Privileges

Docker commands on Linux need to be run with root privileges. The simplest way is to prepend each Docker command with "sudo" (e.g. "sudo docker version", "sudo docker-compose version"). Another option would be to add the user to the Docker group (see instructions here: https://docs.docker.com/engine/install/linux-postinstall/).

Root privileges are not required for running Docker commands on Windows and macOS.

Software You Will Need:

• Docker
  • Installation instructions: https://docs.docker.com/engine/install/
  • Check that Docker is working by using the following command:
    • $ docker version
• Docker Compose
  • Installation instructions: https://docs.docker.com/compose/install/#install-compose
  • Check that Compose is working by using the following command:
    • $ docker-compose version

Firewall:

Before starting up the server, make sure to set up your firewall correctly for Bot Libre.

Bot Libre Community Edition requires the following ports to be open:

• 22 – SSH
• 80 – HTTP
• 443 – HTTPS
• 25 – SMTP
• 465 – SMTPS
• 5901, 5902 - VNC
• 110 – POP3
• 995 – POP3S
• 143 – IMAP
• 993 – IMAPS
• 6665 – IRC

The procedure for how to set up the firewall depends on the firewall you are using. For example, an Amazon EC2 instance would use security groups. For a typical Linux server, iptables can be used.

Deploying Bot Libre using Docker Compose:

First, you will need to download the docker-compose.yml file from our GitHub. You can save this file using a web browser.

If you wish to download the file using the command line:

• On machines with wget installed (Linux), use the following command:
  • $ wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/BotLibre/BotLibre/master/botlibre-web/docker/docker-compose.yml
• On machines with cURL installed (Linux, macOS), use the following command:
  • $ curl -O https://raw.githubusercontent.com/BotLibre/BotLibre/master/botlibre-web/docker/docker-compose.yml
• If you are using PowerShell (Windows 10), use the following command:
  • $ Invoke-WebRequest https://raw.githubusercontent.com/BotLibre/BotLibre/master/botlibre-web/docker/docker-compose.yml -OutFile docker-compose.yml

To build and create the containers for Bot Libre, run the following command from the same directory as the docker-compose.yml file:

• $ docker-compose up --no-start

Running Bot Libre using Docker Compose:

To start the containers, run the following command:

• $ docker-compose start

To gracefully stop the containers, run the following command:

• $ docker-compose stop

To view the logs, run the following command:

• $ docker-compose logs

If you need to run bash on the Tomcat web server container (app-web), first get the name of the container with this command:

• $ docker ps

Then, use the following command with the container name:

• $ docker exec -it container_name bash

If you encountered any issues, or would like help setting up your bot please email us at [email protected] or upgrade to our Platinum service and we can build your bot for you.