Dockerfile for running oTree in one container

depends on

• image redis:buster
• Postgres
• Python 3.7
• oTree
• your oTree-app

TESTED ON A SERVER RUNNNIG UBUNTU 18.04

The following numerated steps ore required to get oTree running with your app. Those steps without numeration are optional.

1. preparation

1. copy all files from this repository into an empty directory of your choice
   • e.g. if you have git installed, browse to your directory and:

git clone https://github.com/Sebaristoteles/otree_in_one_docker.git .

2. copy your otree app folder into the same directory
   • you can find examples here: https://github.com/oTree-org/oTree
   • files: you need the typical files as in the folder following the link above
   • folders: you need the folders "_static" and "_templates" and one of the example-folders with its content
3. get your oTree-app folder ready a) easy: name your oTree-app folder "otree_docker" (placed in the same folder as the files from this github project) b) open the Dockerfile and change "ENV OTREE_APP_FOLDER=..." to the name for your otree app folder (e.g. "my_app")

• in the Dockerfile you can optionally change other ENV variables that all relate to postgres (more notes in Dockerfile)
• in the Dockerfile you can optionally change the port that the otree prodserver will listen to later
• in the bashrc file you can optionally change the password that allows you to enter the Admin area "Session" in the oTree browser application (with username "admin")

2. Building image from dockerfile

browse to folder of the dockerfile and build image

#docker build -t image_name:version .
# e.g.
docker build -t otree:1.0 .

# if you do not have so much disk space, you could not store (cache) intermediate builds:
#docker build -t --no-cache otree:1.0 .

3. choose port

see all ports that are listening

netstat -tulpn | grep LISTEN

choose a free port that will be the server port mapped to the container, e.g. 8000

4. run container

create docker container from image

#docker run -it -d -p server_port_that_maps_to:listening_port_container --name container_name image_name
# e.g.
docker run -it -d -p 8000:8000 --name otree otree:1.0

On the first start, the database is reset. On subsequent starts of the same container, the database is not touched.

5. Using oTree directly on port

open the port in your shell

ufw status verbose
ufw allow 8000

# to delete firewall rules and port opening again:
#ufw status numbered
#ufw delete <number>

open browser to use app at "localhost:port_server_opened" (e.g. "my.webpage:8000" OR "IP-Address:8000" OR "localhost:8000")

nginx configuration

go to your nginx configuration file and change accordingly: https://otree-server-setup.readthedocs.io/en/latest/step5.html

nginx redirecting from sub-directory to otree-app

• e.g. from 'my.webpage/otree' to container
• not working so far TBD

(Optional) Resetting the database in the docker container

# enter the container
docker exec -it otree /bin/bash

# reset database
otree resetdb
# -> confirm with y

change the oTree-app within your docker container

in case you want to change the oTree-app but do not want to run the full image building again, you can change the oTree-app within in the container

# stop oTree server
docker stop otree
docker start otree
# -> alternatively, find a way to stop oTree within the container

# delete old content in oTree-app folder
docker exec -u root -it otree sh -c 'exec rm -r *'

# copy new oTree-app folder into docker container
# assuming you are in the mother-folder of your new oTree-app folder
docker cp otree otree:/home

after that you have to reset the database again and start the prodserver.