Overview 

The Ed-Fi ODS Docker deployment scripts install and configure components of the Ed-Fi ODS / API on Docker containers. The example Docker Compose files automate the numerous configuration steps required to get the ODS / API up and running on Linux containers backed by PostgreSQL or an external SQL Server. These scripts can be used for scenarios where a default ODS / API is needed without extensions or customizations.

Please see Ed-Fi Docker Compose Architecture for more information on the components and configuration options provided by the Ed-Fi Docker solution.

Running in Docker Desktop

Docker Containers have the added benefit of running anywhere (e.g., VMs, on premises, in the cloud), which is a huge advantage for both development and deployment. It has been adopted by leading cloud providers, including, Google Cloud, Amazon Web Services (AWS), and Microsoft Azure. For simplicity, the steps below describe how to use Docker Compose to deploy the Ed-Fi ODS/API and related tools on Docker Desktop.

Setup

Step 1. Download the Source Code or Clone the Repo

The Ed-Fi ODS Docker deployment source code is contained in the Ed-Fi repository hosted by GitHub. A link to the repository is provided in the download panel on the right. You can either clone the repository or download the source code as a ZIP file. 

Step 2. Setup Runtime Environment

2a. Docker Desktop

To work with the material in this repository, set up a Docker environment by referring to the article Set Up Your Docker Environment. 

2b. Microsoft SQL Server

The default configurations use PostgreSQL. The Ed-Fi Alliance does not currently distribute pre-configured Microsoft SQL Server (MSSQL) containers. To run with MSSQL instead of PostgreSQL, whether MSSQL is running in Docker, as a managed cloud service, or on "bare metal" / on-prem virtual machine, you must install the databases yourself. The following notes will help guide a decision and approach,

Step 3. Setup Your Environment Variables

Configure your deployments using an environment file. The repository includes .env.example, which lists the supported environment variables. Copy .env.example file and name it .env. Update the values as desired.

docker compose --env-file .env.dev -f (docker-compose-filename) up

Sample .env files for a PostgreSQL and SQL Server are provided below. Please change these values to more secure settings before using in a deployed environment. 

ADMIN_USER=admin@example.com
ADMIN_PASSWORD=Admin1
LOGS_FOLDER=c:/tmp/logs
MINIMAL_KEY=minimal
MINIMAL_SECRET=minimalSecret
POPULATED_KEY=populated
POPULATED_SECRET=populatedSecret
POSTGRES_USER=postgres
POSTGRES_PASSWORD=P@ssw0rd
PGBOUNCER_LISTEN_PORT=6432
ODS_VIRTUAL_NAME=api
SANDBOX_ADMIN_VIRTUAL_NAME=admin 
TPDM_ENABLED=true
TAG=v2

# Specify a health check url for ODS API, Admin App, Sandbox, and Swagger respectively.
# RECOMMENDED: To use the default internal health check endpoints, set: 
API_HEALTHCHECK_TEST="curl -f http://localhost/health"
ADMINAPP_HEALTHCHECK_TEST="curl -f http://localhost/health"
SANDBOX_HEALTHCHECK_TEST="curl -f http://localhost/health"
SWAGGER_HEALTHCHECK_TEST="curl -f http://localhost/health"

# The following are only needed for Admin App
ADMINAPP_VIRTUAL_NAME=adminapp
API_HOSTNAME=localhost
ENCRYPTION_KEY=<base64-encoded 256-bit key>
API_INTERNAL_URL = http://${ODS_VIRTUAL_NAME}

ADMIN_USER=admin@example.com
ADMIN_PASSWORD=Admin#1
LOGS_FOLDER=c:/tmp/logs
MINIMAL_KEY=minimal
MINIMAL_SECRET=minimalSecret
POPULATED_KEY=populated
POPULATED_SECRET=populatedSecret
SQLSERVER_ODS_DATASOURCE=<DNS or IP Address of the SQL Server Instance, i.e. sql.somedns.org or 10.1.5.9,1433>
SQLSERVER_ADMIN_DATASOURCE=<DNS or IP Address of the SQL Server Instance that contains the Admin/Security/Master databases, i.e. sql.somedns.org or 10.1.5.9,1433>
SQLSERVER_USER=<SQL Username with access to SQL Server Ed-Fi databases, edfiadmin>
SQLSERVER_PASSWORD=<SQL Password for the SQLSERVER_USER with access to SQL Server Ed-Fi databases, password123!> 
ODS_VIRTUAL_NAME=api
SANDBOX_ADMIN_VIRTUAL_NAME=admin 
TPDM_ENABLED=true 
TAG=v2

# Specify a health check url for ODS API, Admin App, Sandbox, and Swagger respectively.
# RECOMMENDED: To use the default internal health check endpoints, set: 
API_HEALTHCHECK_TEST="curl -f http://localhost/health"
ADMINAPP_HEALTHCHECK_TEST="curl -f http://localhost/health"
SANDBOX_HEALTHCHECK_TEST="curl -f http://localhost/health"
SWAGGER_HEALTHCHECK_TEST="curl -f http://localhost/health"

# The following are only needed for Admin App
ADMINAPP_VIRTUAL_NAME=adminapp 
API_HOSTNAME=localhost 
ENCRYPTION_KEY=<base64-encoded 256-bit key>
API_INTERNAL_URL = http://${ODS_VIRTUAL_NAME}
ADMINAPP_HEALTHCHECK_TEST="curl -f http://${ADMINAPP_VIRTUAL_NAME}/health"

SQLSERVER_ODS_DATASOURCE=host.docker.internal
SQLSERVER_ADMIN_DATASOURCE=host.docker.internal

When including the Admin App in your deployment, such as with the Shared Instance Configuration:

• API_HOSTNAME value is required for successfully connecting to ODS/API. This should be the full host (server) name for public access to the API, not including protocol (e.g., "https") or path (e.g., "/api"). For example, if running on a virtual machine called "edfi" on network "my-district.edu" then this value would be "API_HOSTNAME=edfi.my-district.edu"

• ENCRYPTION_KEY must be set to a newly generated AES encryption key for the deployment environment. Such a unique value can be generated using the following code snippet at a Linux command prompt or using Git Bash, if deploying on local Windows host.

  Code Block
  language bash title Generate key on Linux
  openssl rand -base64 32

  
  

• API_INTERNAL_URL needs to be set to specify the ODS / API endpoint for admin app to internally connect.
  • If you choose direct connection between ODS / API and admin app within docker network, then set API_INTERNAL_URL = http://${ODS_VIRTUAL_NAME}
  • If you choose to connect to ODS / API from admin app through reverse proxy (nginx = our gateway host name), then follow the steps below.
    • STEP 1: Update the CA certificate to include subjectAltName = DNS:nginx; please refer Step 4. Provide SSL certificate for more details.
    • STEP 2: After the CA certificate update, set API_INTERNAL_URL =https://nginx/${ODS_VIRTUAL_NAME}

• ADMINAPP_HEALTHCHECK_TEST must be set to specify a health check url for admin app.

  
  

  • RECOMMENDED: To use the default internal Admin App health check endpoint, set ADMINAPP_HEALTHCHECK_TEST="curl -f http://${ADMINAPP_VIRTUAL_NAME}/health"
  • To disable the health check, remove the above and instead set ADMINAPP_HEALTHCHECK_TEST=/bin/true
  • To add a custom health check, consult the documentation at https://docs.docker.com/compose/compose-file/compose-file-v3/#healthcheck

Step 4. Provide SSL certificate

The deployments require a valid SSL certificate to function. A self-signed certificate can be used for a Non-Production environment. The repository includes generate-cert.sh script that can be used to generate a self-signed certificate and place it in ssl folder under root directory to be used by the running Gateway container.

If deploying on local Windows host, you will either need Git Bash or WSL to run generate-cert.sh.

export MSYS_NO_PATHCONV=1
cd '{your repo root}'
./generate-cert.sh

brew install openssl
export PATH=/usr/local/opt/openssl/bin:$PATH
./generate-cert.sh

openssl req -subj '/CN=localhost' -x509 -newkey rsa:4096 -nodes -keyout ssl/server.key -out ssl/server.crt -days 365 -addext "subjectAltName = DNS:nginx"

Step 5. Run Docker Compose

In this step, you need to choose between deploying a Sandbox, Shared Instance, Year Specific, or District Specific environment, as described in Docker Compose Architecture: ConfigurationModes. The source code repository contains two Docker compose orchestration files for each mode: one that downloads images from Docker Hub, and one that has the word "build" in the file name. The latter builds a local version of the image instead of downloading from Docker Hub. The sample commands below show the use of the pre-built images from Docker Hub. These commands can be run from any shell terminal that supports Docker commands (e.g. PowerShell in Windows).

Sandbox Environment

docker compose -f ./Compose/pgsql/compose-sandbox-env.yml --env-file ./.env up -d

docker compose -f ./Compose/mssql/compose-sandbox-env.yml --env-file ./.env up -d

Shared Instance Environment

docker compose -f ./Compose/pgsql/compose-shared-instance-env.yml --env-file ./.env up -d

docker compose -f ./Compose/mssql/compose-shared-instance-env.yml --env-file ./.env up -d

Year Specific Environments 

docker compose -f ./Compose/pgsql/compose-year-specific-env.example.yml --env-file ./.env up -d

docker compose -f ./Compose/mssql/compose-year-specific-env.yml --env-file ./.env up -d

Notice that the compose file provided in the repository is an example that defines ODS for years 2022 and 2023.  You can generate the compose file for desired school years.

docker run --rm -v <full-path-to-parameters-file>:/parameters edfialliance/ods-compose-generator > compose-year-specific-env.yml

docker run --rm -v C:\Ed-Fi-ODS-Docker\Compose-Generator\Alpine\templates\pgsql\parameters-year-specific.yml:/parameters edfialliance/ods-compose-generator > compose-year-specific-env.yml

District Specific Environments 

docker compose -f .\Compose\pgsql\compose-district-specific-env.example.yml --env-file ./.env up -d

docker compose -f .\Compose\mssql\compose-district-specific-env.yml --env-file ./.env up -d

Notice that the compose file provided in the repository is an example that defines ODS for district 255901 and 255902.  You can generate the compose file for desired districts.

Step 6. Verify Your Deployments 

Open your Docker Desktop instance and view running container instances.

The following image shows sandbox Postgres deployment: 

You can also verify deployed applications by browsing to: 

• Swagger UI : https://localhost/docs
• ODS / API : https://localhost/api
• Sandbox Admin : https://localhost/admin

The exact virtual name for each site, after "https://localhost/", depends on your .env  file settings.

The following image shows shared instance Postgres deployment:

You can also verify deployed applications by browsing to: 

• ODS / API : https://localhost/api
• Admin App : https://localhost/adminapp 

The following image shows year specific Postgres deployment:

You can also verify deployed applications by browsing to: 

• ODS / API : https://localhost/api
• Admin App : https://localhost/adminapp 

The following image shows district specific Postgres deployment:

You can also verify deployed applications by browsing to: 

• ODS / API : https://localhost/api
• Admin App : https://localhost/adminapp 

Step 7. Restarting the ODS/API

After the first time setup for Admin App, the user is prompted to restart the ODS/API. For Docker deployments, the ODS/API can be restarted by clicking on the restart button (see image) next to the ODS/API container on your Docker Desktop instance.

Step 8. Accessing Application Log Files 

The ODS/API, Admin App and Sandbox Admin write their internal log entries to a mounted folder within their docker containers. The environment file described in the Step 3 lets you configure log location for easy access. For example, you could set LOGS_FOLDER variable to c:/tmp/logs for windows hosts or to ~/tmp/logs for Linux and MacOS hosts. 

(Optional) Step 9. Install Analytics Middle Tier

The Analytics Middle Tier (AMT) installer application is available as a Docker image. Run the following to see the full set of command line options:

docker run -t edfialliance/analytics-middle-tier --help

Do not use "localhost" in the connection string, as that will refer only to the docker instance itself - which does not have a running database. If you wish to install AMT views in a database engine running on your local workstation, or running in another Docker container with a port mapped on the workstation, then use host name host.docker.internal (credit: How to connect to the Docker host from inside a Docker container?). The following example will install on a PostgreSQL-hosted shared instance database that is hosted using this page's instructions, with two options (extra indexes, and the chronic absenteeism collection).

Note the case sensitivity on the database name - do not use "EdFi_ODS" instead of "EdFi_Ods", for example.

$ConnString="host=host.docker.internal; port=5402; user id=postgres; password=P@ssw0rd; database=EdFi_Ods"
$Options="indexes,chrab"
$Engine="postgresql"
docker run -t edfialliance/analytics-middle-tier --connectionString $ConnString --options $Options --engine $Engine

ConnString="host=host.docker.internal; port=5402; user id=postgres; password=P@ssw0rd; database=EdFi_Ods"
Options="indexes,chrab"
Engine="postgresql"
docker run -t edfialliance/analytics-middle-tier --connectionString "$ConnString" --options $Options --engine $Engine

Tear Down

If deployed as a sandbox environment, navigate to the root directory of Docker deployment scripts, and run the following command: 

docker compose -f ./compose/pgsql/compose-sandbox-env.yml --env-file ./.env down

docker compose -f ./compose/mssql/compose-sandbox-env.yml --env-file ./.env  down

If deployed as a shared instance environment, navigate to the root directory of Docker deployment scripts and run the following script: 

docker compose -f ./compose/pgsql/compose-shared-instance-env.yml --env-file ./.env  down

docker compose -f ./compose/mssql/compose-shared-instance-env.yml --env-file ./.env  down

If deployed as a year specific environment, navigate to the root directory of Docker deployment scripts and run the following script: 

docker compose -f .\Compose\pgsql\compose-year-specific-env.example.yml --env-file ./.env down

docker compose -f .\Compose\mssql\compose-year-specific-env.yml --env-file ./.env down

If deployed as a district specific environment, navigate to the root directory of Docker deployment scripts and run the following script: 

docker compose -f .\Compose\pgsql\compose-district-specific-env.example.yml --env-file ./.env down

docker compose -f .\Compose\mssql\compose-district-specific-env.yml --env-file ./.env  down

Known Issues

The table below identifies known issues in this release.