Dockerfile for OwnTracks Recorder

Dockerfile for the Recorder of the OwnTracks project. The image is owntracks/recorder.

Quickstart

$ docker volume create recorder_store
$ docker run -d -p 8083:8083 -v recorder_store:/store -e OTR_HOST=mqtt_broker owntracks/recorder

Recorder is now accessible at http://localhost:8083.

-p 8083:8083 makes the container reachable at port 8083. -d detaches the container into the background. The volume recorder_store is mounted at /store into the container. This is needed to have persistent data storage. -e allows to pass additional configuration to the container as environment variables. Multiple -e parameters can be used for multiple environment variables.

Configuration

The Recorder can be configured using two methods, environment variables and via the a recorder.conf file in the /config volume of the container.

Environment variables

Can be passed to the container with the -e parameter. Example:

$ docker run -d -p 8083:8083 \
        -e OTR_HOST=mqtt_broker \
	-e OTR_PORT=1883 \
	-e OTR_USER=user \
	-e OTR_PASS=pass \
	owntracks/recorder

The complete list of parameters can be found in the recorder documentation.

Configuration file

One can also use a configuration file. The container reads a recorder.conf file from the /config folder. To use this, create a folder e.g. ./config and mount it into you docker container at /config.

$ mkdir config
$ docker run -d -p 8083:8083 -v recorder_store:/store -v ./config:/config owntracks/recorder

Up on starting the recorder, a default recorder.conf file will be created if none exists. Possible options are documented here.

Notes:

The value of OTR_HOST is as seen from the container. Thus localhost refers to the container not the host and should likely not be used.
Environment variables, overwrite the recorder.conf file options.
The shell like style of therecorder.conf file needs "" encapsulated variable values.

Storing data

The /store volume of the container is used for persistent storage of location data. The volume needs to be created explicitly.

$ docker volume create recorder_storage
$ docker run -d -p 8083:8083 -v recorder_store:/store owntracks/recorder

It is also possible to use a local folder instead of an static docker volume.

$ mkdir store
$ docker run -d -p 8083:8083 -v ./store:/store owntracks/recorder

If nothing is mounted at /store, docker will create a unique volume automatically. However up on recreation of the docker container, this process will be repeated and another unique volume will be created. As a result, the container will have forgotten about previous tracks.

TLS between MQTT broker and Recorder

The OTR_CAPATH of the container defaults to the /config volume. Thus certificates and key files belong into the /config volume. OTR_CAFILE must be configured for TLS.

OTR_CERTFILE defaults to cert.pem and OTR_KEYFILE to key.pem. These files are optional and the options are ignored if the files don't exist.

TLS encryption via reverse proxy

The Recorder has no encryption module by it self. Instead use a reverse proxy setup. See https://github.com/jwilder/nginx-proxy for how to do this in a semi automatic way with docker containers and https://github.com/owntracks/recorder#reverse-proxy for Recorder specific details.

Healthcheck

The Recorder container performs a Docker-style HEALTHCHECK on itself by periodically running recorder-health.sh on itself. This program POSTS a _type: location JSON message to itself over HTTP to the ping-ping endpoint and verifies via the HTTP API whether the message was received.

Docker compose files

Save a file with the name docker-compose.yml and following content. Run with docker-compose up from the same folder.

version: '3'

services:

  otrecorder:
    image: owntracks/recorder
    ports:
      - 8083:8083
    volumes:
      - config:/config
      - store:/store
    restart: unless-stopped

volumes:
  store:
  config:

This docker-compose.yml file creates store and config volumes. It is possible to edit the recorder.conf file in the config volume to get the system up and running. It is also possible to pass environment variables to the docker container via the environment: keyword. For details see here and for available variables see here.

An example might look like:

version: '3'

services:

  otrecorder:
    image: owntracks/recorder
    ports:
      - 8083:8083
    volumes:
      - store:/store
    restart: unless-stopped
    environment:
      - OTR_HOST = "mqtt_broker"
      - OTR_USER = "user"
      - OTR_PASS = "pass"

volumes:
  store:

With MQTT broker

If you need to set up an MQTT broker, you can easily use, say, Mosquitto. There are ready to use containers available on docker hub. To use eclipse-mosquitto add something like the following to your docker-compose.yml file.

version: '3'

services:

  otrecorder:
    image: owntracks/recorder
    ports:
      - 8083:8083
    volumes:
      - config:/config
      - store:/store
    restart: unless-stopped

  mosquitto:
    image: eclipse-mosquitto
    ports:
      - 1883:1883
      - 8883:8883
    volumes:
      - mosquitto-data:/mosquitto/data
      - mosquitto-logs:/mosquitto/logs
      - mosquitto-conf:/mosquitto/config
    restart: unless-stopped

volumes:
  store:
  config:
  mosquitto-data:
  mosquitto-logs:
  mosquitto-conf:

See here for info on the eclipse-mosquitto image and how to configure it.

Possible enhancements

Maybe put the most common Mosquitto options in the section which uses an MQTT broker in the docker-compose file
Possibly add support for Let's Encrypt

TribuneX / docker-recorder