Deploy OpenEMS Backend to Docker

This chapter explains how OpenEMS Backend can be deployed using our official Docker image.

1. Prepare system

1.1. Connect to the server

ssh admin@ubuntu

1.2. Check docker installation

admin@ubuntu:~$ docker --version
Docker version 27.3.1, build ce12230

if not already installed, follow Setup docker

1.3. Setup docker

To setup docker follow the instructions from docs.docker.com.

2. Start Container

2.1. Create a Docker compose

Paste content into a docker-compose.yml in a directory of your choice:

services:
  openems_backend:
    image: openems/backend:latest
    container_name: openems_backend
    hostname: openems_backend
    restart: unless-stopped
    volumes:
      - openems-backend-conf:/var/opt/openems/config:rw
      - openems-backend-data:/var/opt/openems/data:rw
    ports:
      - 8079:8079 # Apache-Felix
      - 8081:8081 # Edge-Websocket

volumes:
  openems-backend-conf:
  openems-backend-data:

2.2. Run compose file

To start the previously created docker-compose.yml cd into the directory of it and run the command:

docker compose up -d

2.3. Check logs

To check if the container is up and running, check docker ps:

admin@ubuntu:~$ docker ps
CONTAINER ID  IMAGE                       COMMAND   CREATED               STATUS
15d5ba3c5f13  openems/backend:latest      "/init"   About a minute ago    Up About a minute

or read its logs with:

docker logs openems_backend

3. OpenEMS Backend UI

If you want to add the OpenEMS Backend UI to your setup, you can do so by adjusting your docker-compose.yml file to look like this:

services:
  openems_backend:
    image: openems/backend:latest
    container_name: openems_backend
    hostname: openems_backend
    restart: unless-stopped
    volumes:
      - openems-backend-conf:/var/opt/openems/config:rw
      - openems-backend-data:/var/opt/openems/data:rw
    ports:
      - 8079:8079 # Apache-Felix
      - 8081:8081 # Edge-Websocket
      - 8082:8082 # UI-Websocket

  openems-ui:
    image: openems/ui-backend:latest
    container_name: openems_ui
    hostname: openems_ui
    restart: unless-stopped
    volumes:
      - openems-ui-conf:/etc/nginx:rw
      - openems-ui-log:/var/log/nginx:rw
    environment:
      - WEBSOCKET_HOST=openems_backend
      - WEBSOCKET_PORT=8082
    ports:
      - 80:80
      - 443:443

volumes:
  openems-backend-conf:
  openems-backend-data:
  openems-ui-conf:
  openems-ui-log:

summary of the changes:

  1. Open a Port for UI Websocket (8082) on the openems-backend service

  2. Added a new service openems-ui to the docker-compose file

  3. Added the volumes openems-ui-conf and openems-ui-log

3.1. Update docker-compose

Update the compose running with: docker compose up -d

3.1.1. Check container status

admin@ubuntu:~$ docker ps
CONTAINER ID  IMAGE                       COMMAND   CREATED               STATUS
018187f444b1  openems/ui-backend:latest   "/init"   About a minute ago    Up About a minute
15d5ba3c5f13  openems/backend:latest      "/init"   About a minute ago    Up About a minute

4. Add InfluxDB Container

4.1. Update docker-compose

to add InfluxDB to your setup, you can do so by adjusting your docker-compose.yml, by adding the following lines:

  …
  openems_influxdb:
    image: influxdb:alpine
    container_name: openems_influxdb
    hostname: openems_influxdb
    restart: unless-stopped
    volumes:
      - openems-influxdb:/var/lib/influxdb2:rw
    ports:
      - 8086:8086

volumes:
  …
  openems-influxdb:

4.2. Setup InfluxDB

4.2.1. Setup InfluxDB

docker exec openems_influxdb influx setup \
  --username openems \
  --password WKeuIhl0deIJjrjoY62M \
  --org openems.io \
  --bucket openems \
  --force
docker exec openems_influxdb influx auth list
Note down Token

4.2.2. Open Backend Apache-Felix.

  1. Remove Timedata.Dummy

  2. Add Timedata.InfluxDB

Query Language

INFLUX_QL

URL

http://openems_influxdb:8086

Org

openems.io

ApiKey

InfluxDB-Token

Bucket

openems
Values not specified can be left at their default values Timedata.InfluxDB

for further information see OpenEMS docs