Problem Statement:

You want to setup a Chainlink Node quickly with Docker and without paying additional fees for a cloud based Postgres database service, e.g. on on the Google Cloud Platform (GCP)?

Solution:

You can achieve this by running the Chainlink Node itself and also its PostgreSQL database in separate Docker containers.
Watch this YouTube video and see how to setup Chainlink and its PostgreSQL Database with Docker:

With this approach you can save the fees for the database service and you also can save time by utilizing a Container Optimized OS (COS) – Image with Docker already preinstalled.

Follow this 10 steps process to setup the Chainlink Node and its PostgreSQL database with Docker :

1. Create a VM instance on the Google Cloud Platform (GCP). Choose a machine type with at least 2GB of memory and change the boot disk from Debian to Container Optimized OS. Then create the instance and SSH into it.
2. Create the directories for the Chainlink Database and the Chainlink Node:

   mkdir -p chainlink/db
   mkdir -p chainlink/chainlink_rinkeby

3. Create the container for the PostgreSQL database

   docker run --name postgres-chainlink -v $HOME/chainlink/db:/var/lib/postgresql/data -e POSTGRES_PASSWORD=myPostgresPW -d -p 5432:5432 postgres:11.12

4. Create the chainlink Postgres user in postgres database container:

   docker exec -it postgres-chainlink psql -U postgres -c "CREATE USER chainlink WITH PASSWORD 'myChainlinkPW';"

5. Create the Chainlink Database (for the Rinkeby test-network in this sample)

   docker exec -it postgres-chainlink psql -U postgres -c "CREATE DATABASE "chainlink_rinkeby";"

6. Grant the provilieges to the chainlink user

   docker exec -it postgres-chainlink psql -U postgres -c "GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON DATABASE "chainlink_rinkeby" TO chainlink;"

7. Create the .env file for the chainlink node and refer to the required Ethereum network and to our new Postgres Database

   vi chainlink/chainlink_rinkeby/.env

   and enter

   ROOT=/chainlink
   LOG_LEVEL=debug
   ETH_CHAIN_ID=4
   MIN_OUTGOING_CONFIRMATIONS=2
   LINK_CONTRACT_ADDRESS=0x01BE23585060835E02B77ef475b0Cc51aA1e0709
   CHAINLINK_TLS_PORT=0
   SECURE_COOKIES=false
   GAS_UPDATER_ENABLED=true
   ALLOW_ORIGINS=*
   ETH_URL=wss://rinkeby.infura.io/ws/v3/<YOUR_INFURA_PROJECT_ID>
   DATABASE_URL=postgresql://chainlink:myChainlinkPW@localhost:5432/chainlink_rinkeby?sslmode=disable

   For this demo we use Infura as external provider for the connectivity to the Ethereum blockchain.
   If you want to use Infura as well, make sure that you adapt the Infura Project ID accordingly.

   Also make sure that you use the same Chainlink Postgres password here that you have used to create the Chainlink Postgres User before.

8. Create the .password file which holds the password for your node wallet

   vi chainlink/chainlink_rinkeby/.password

   Enter your password for your node wallet. This password
   – must be longer than 12 characters
   – must contain at least 3 uppercase characters
   – must contain at least 3 numbers
   – must contain at least 3 symbols

9. Create the .api file which holds the credentials for the GUI interface of the node

   vi chainlink/chainlink_rinkeby/.api

   and enter your email address and password. This password must be 8 to 50 characters.

   <YOUR_EMAIL_ADDRESS>
   <YOUR_NODE_GUI_PASSWORD>

10. Now we can create the container for the chainlink node itself

    docker run --name chainlink_rinkeby --network host -p 6688:6688 -v $HOME/chainlink/chainlink_rinkeby:/chainlink -it --env-file=$HOME/chainlink/chainlink_rinkeby/.env smartcontract/chainlink:0.10.8 local n -p /chainlink/.password -a /chainlink/.api

    Note that we have added “–network host” to the command since we run the database locally from the node’s perspective.

Access the GUI of your new Chainlink node:

1. Open a command prompt on our local machine and authenticate with gcloud, in order to be able to access the GUI of your new Chainlink Node

   gcloud auth login

   Note: Alternatively you can download and authenticate with your API keys

2. Create a SSH tunnel for port 6688

   gcloud compute ssh instance-1 --project <YOUR_GCP_PROJECT_ID> --zone=<YOUR_GCP_ZONE> -- -L 6688:localhost:6688

Maintenance – How to stop and start your chainlink containers from your VM SSH shell:

Stop and start the PostgresSQL Database container:

docker stop postgres-chainlink

docker start postgres-chainlink

Stop and start the Chainlink Node container:

docker stop chainlink_rinkeby

docker start chainlink_rinkeby

(Start and attach: docker start -i chainlink_rinkeby)

Detach from and attach to the Chainlink Node container:

Ctrl-PQ

docker attach chainlink_rinkeby

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