Getting Started with Couchbase using Docker

Arun GuptaOctober 14th, 2015Last Updated: October 14th, 2015

0 70 3 minutes read

Couchbase Server 4.0 was recently released and can be downloaded and easily installed. Getting Started with Couchbase explains in very simple and easy steps on how to get started with Couchbase. But when living in a container world, everything is a Docker image. And Couchbase also has a Docker image.

This blog will explain how you can easily start a Couchbase Server 4.0 as a Docker image.

Install and Configure Docker

Docker is natively supported on Linux. So apt get docker-engine on Ubuntu or yum install docker-engine on CentOS will get you ready to use Docker.

On Mac or Windows, this is achieved by install Docker Machine. Docker Machine to Setup Docker Host explain in detail on how to install and configure Docker Machine.

Here is a brief summary to get you started with Docker:

Download Docker client:

> curl -L https://get.docker.com/builds/Darwin/x86_64/docker-1.8.3 > /usr/local/bin/docker
  % Total    % Received % Xferd  Average Speed   Time    Time     Time  Current
                                 Dload  Upload   Total   Spent    Left  Speed
100 8664k  100 8664k    0     0  4139k      0  0:00:02  0:00:02 --:--:-- 4139k
> chmod +x /usr/local/bin/docker

Download Docker Machine script:

> curl -L https://github.com/docker/machine/releases/download/v0.4.1/docker-machine_darwin-amd64 > /usr/local/bin/docker-machine
  % Total    % Received % Xferd  Average Speed   Time    Time     Time  Current
                                 Dload  Upload   Total   Spent    Left  Speed
100   586    0   586    0     0   1103      0 --:--:-- --:--:-- --:--:--  1103
100 11.8M  100 11.8M    0     0  2733k      0  0:00:04  0:00:04 --:--:-- 3458k
> chmod +x /usr/local/bin/docker-machine

Create Docker Machine host:

> docker-machine create --driver=virtualbox default
Creating VirtualBox VM...
Creating SSH key...
Starting VirtualBox VM...
Starting VM...
To see how to connect Docker to this machine, run: docker-machine env default

Setup Docker client to connect to this host:
```
> eval $(docker-machine env default)
```

Now your current shell is configured where the Docker client can run containers on the Docker Machine.

Run Couchbase Docker Container

Starting a Docker container on this machine is pretty straight forward. The CLI downloads the image from Docker Hub and then runs it on the Machine:

> docker run -d -p 8091:8091 couchbase
Unable to find image 'couchbase:latest' locally
latest: Pulling from library/couchbase
ba2b457ecfb2: Pull complete 
26180b0fe8fb: Pull complete 
edd7c1974a70: Pull complete 
57bca5139a13: Pull complete 
5eb89c4f7e1a: Pull complete 
46b6bac823d2: Pull complete 
6845430f4274: Pull complete 
92d9ea0b826c: Pull complete 
c02a4d9a78c4: Pull complete 
904ac92614ac: Pull complete 
e924e7d4b1dc: Pull complete 
bbe8a967cf05: Pull complete 
35fb2c30481e: Pull complete 
68eb883fd0c7: Pull complete 
fe1b3bdb1e2f: Pull complete 
library/couchbase:latest: The image you are pulling has been verified. Important: image verification is a tech preview feature and should not be relied on to provide security.
Digest: sha256:388b710593a7a643c49bf38c4b16eb8e175dccac093e9aa8dea5bd2e2d326efd
Status: Downloaded newer image for couchbase:latest
5b789d2319486ce8a4a4d6a866d8212dde1464601451b9a84a8d3bf80e8aa935

In this CLI, run command runs the container using the image id specified as the last argument, -p publish port 8091 from the container to 8091 on the Docker Machine, -d runs the container in background and prints the container id.

Watch the container status as:

> docker ps
CONTAINER ID        IMAGE               COMMAND                  CREATED             STATUS              PORTS                                                                           NAMES
5b789d231948        couchbase           "/entrypoint.sh couch"   7 minutes ago       Up 7 minutes        8092/tcp, 11207/tcp, 11210-11211/tcp, 0.0.0.0:8091->8091/tcp, 18091-18092/tcp   sick_yonath

Find out IP address of the Docker Machine:

> docker-machine ip default
192.168.99.100

Access the setup console at 192.168.99.100:8091, make sure to specify the exact IP address in your case. This will show the screen:

Configure Couchbase Server

First run of Couchbase Server requires you to configure it, lets do that next!

Click on the Setup button. Scroll to bottom of the screen, change the Data RAM Quota to 500 (MB-16530), and click on Next.
In Couchbase, data is stored in buckets. The server comes pre-installed with some sample buckets. Select the travel-sample bucket to install it and click on Next.
Configure the bucket by taking defaults:

Click on Next.
Enter personal details, agree to T&C, click on Next:
Provide administrator credentials:

Click on Next to complete the installation. This brings up Couchbase Web Console: