Litecoind for Docker

Docker image that runs the Litecoin litecoind node in a container for easy deployment.

Quick Start

In order to setup a Litecoin node with the default options (no wallet and no RPC server) perform the following steps:

1. Create a volume for the litecoin data.

docker volume create --name=litecoind-data

All the data the litecoind service needs to work will be stored in the volume. The volume can then be reused to restore the state of the service in case the container needs to be recreated (in case of a host restart or when upgrading the version).

2. Create and run a container with the docker-litecoind image.

docker run -d \
    --name litecoind-node \
    -v litecoind-data:/litecoin \
    -p 9333:9333 \
    --restart unless-stopped \
    salessandri/docker-litecoind

This will create a container named litecoind-node which gets the host's port 9333 forwarded to it. Also this container will restart in the event it crashes or the host is restarted.

3. Inspect the output of the container by using docker logs

docker logs -f litecoind-node

Configuration Customization

There are 4 different ways to customize the configuration of the litecoind daemon.

Environment Variables to the Config Generator

If there is no litecoin.conf file in the work directory (/litecoin), the container creates a basic configuration file based on environmental variables. By default the only option it overrides is the wallet option, making it disabled.

The following are the environmental variables that can be used to change that default behavior:

• ENABLE_WALLET: If set, the configuration will not disable the wallet and the litecoind daemon will create one.
• MAX_CONNECTIONS: When set (should be an integer), it overrides the max connections value.
• RPC_SERVER: If set, it enables the JSON RPC server on port 9332. If no user is given, the user will be set to litecoinrpc and if no password is given a random one will be generated. The configuration file is the first thing printed by the container and the password can be read from the logs.
• RPC_USER: Only used if RPC_SERVER is set. This states which user needs to used for the JSON RPC server.
• RPC_PASSWORD: Only used if RPC_SERVER is set. This states the password to used for the JSON RPC server.

This values can be set by adding a -e VARIABLE=VALUE for each of the values that want to be overriden in the docker run command (before the image name).

Example:

docker run -d \
    --name litecoind-node \
    -v litecoind-data:/litecoin \
    -p 9333:9333 \
    --restart unless-stopped \
    -e ENABLE_WALLET=1 \
    -e MAX_CONNECTIONS=25 \
    salessandri/docker-litecoind

Mounting a litecoin.conf file on /litecoin/litecoin.conf

If one wants to write their own litecoin.conf and have it persisted on the host but keep all the litecoind data inside a docker volume one can mount a file volume on /litecoin/litecoin.conf after the litecoin data volume.

Example:

docker run -d \
    --name litecoind-node \
    -v litecoind-data:/litecoin \
    -v /etc/litecoin.conf:/litecoin/litecoin.conf \
    -p 9333:9333 \
    --restart unless-stopped \
    salessandri/docker-litecoind

Have a litecoin.conf in the litecoin data directory

Instead of using a docker volume for the litecoin data, one can mount directory on /litecoin for the container to use as the litecoin data directory. If this directory has a litecoin.conf file, this file will be used.

Just create a directory in the host machine (e.g. /var/litecoind-data) and place your litecoin.conf file in it. Then, when creating the container in the docker run, instead of naming a volume to mount use the directory.

docker run -d \
    --name litecoind-node
    -v /var/litecoind-data:/litecoin \
    -p 9333:9333 \
    --restart unless-stopped \
    salessandri/docker-litecoind

Extra arguments to docker run

All the extra arguments given to docker run (the ones after the image name) are forwarded to the litecoind process. This can be used to change the behavior of the litecoind service.

Example:

docker run -d \
    --name litecoind-node
    -v litecoind-data:/litecoin \
    -p 9333:9333 \
    --restart unless-stopped \
    salessandri/docker-litecoind \
    -timeout=10000 -proxy=10.0.0.5:3128

Note: This doesn't prevent the default litecoin.conf file to be created in the volume.