Yellowfin Docker Images

Yellowfin has two pre-made Docker images for different purposes:

• Yellowfin All-In-One available here.
• Yellowfin Application Only available here.

Yellowfin All-In-One

The Yellowfin All-In-One image contains the Yellowfin application and repository database. This can be used for short trials and demonstrations. This image will not persist data outside of the Docker container, and all content will be lost when the container is shutdown. This Docker image cannot be used in a clustered environment.

A prebuilt version of this image can be found on Docker Hub here.

Yellowfin Application Only

The Yellowfin App Only image contains only the Yellowfin application, and can be connected to an existing repository database. This image can be used as a single instance, or as a cluster node. This can be used in production, data is persisted in the external repository so that no data is lost when containers are shutdown.

A prebuilt version of this image can be found on Docker Hub here.

Other Deployment Options

Dockerfiles for the above images can be modified to customise an image for particular use-cases.

Supporting Documentation

Yellowfin has produced a white paper to accompany the Docker images, which explores how these images can be deployed. The white paper, Yellowfin on Docker and Kubernetes White Paper, can be found here.

Prerequisites

A Docker installation is required to run the Yellowfin Docker containers. Please see the official Docker installation guides

The Application Only image requires that a Yellowfin Repository be pre-installed on an accessible host.

Starting the Images

Start the All-In-One image

docker run -p 80:8080 yellowfinbi/yellowfin-all-in-one

This will start the Yellowfin All-In-One image with the default settings and expose Yellowfin on port 80 on the host.

Start the Application Only image

docker run -d -p 80:8080 \
-e JDBC_CLASS_NAME=org.postgresql.Driver \
-e JDBC_CONN_URL=jdbc:postgresql://dbhost:5432/yellowfinDatabase \
-e JDBC_CONN_USER=dbuser \
-e JDBC_CONN_PASS=dbpassword \
yellowfinbi/yellowfin-app-only:latest

This will start the Yellowfin Application Only image with the default settings and expose Yellowfin on port 80 on the host. The connection details for the external Yellowfin repository database needs to be passed to image. It is assumed that the Yellowfin Repository will be installed with the standard Yellowfin installer prior to starting the Application Only Docker container. The JDBC connection settings required for container startup can be obtained from the Yellowfin/appserver/webapps/ROOT/WEB-INF/web.xml file from the instance used to install the database.

License Deployment

Yellowfin All-In-One

The All-In-One deployment will require that a license file be loaded into the web interface after startup.

Yellowfin Application Only

As an existing Yellowfin Repository database is used for the Yellowfin Application Only image, a license should already be present. If a license is not present, it can be loaded via the web interface after node startup. This will apply a license to all Yellowfin nodes that share the Yellowfin Respository.

Configuration Options

Configuration Options can be passed to the Docker containers via -e parameter.

Configuration Options for the All-In-One image

Configuration Options for the Application Only image

Where is Data Stored?

Yellowfin All-In-One:

Yellowfin data/content is stored in the Docker container itself. Terminating the container will result in data loss.

Yellowfin Application Only:

Yellowfin data/content is stored in the linked repository database. Terminating the container will not result in data loss.

After Starting the Container

After starting a container, use a browser to connect to the Docker host's TCP port that has been mapped container's application port.

For example:

docker run -p 9090:8080 yellowfinbi/yellowfin-all-in-one

Connect to:

http://dockerhost:9090

There may be a slight delay before the browser responds after the Docker container is started.

Upgrading Yellowfin

Yellowfin All-In-One

This does not have an upgrade path. Recreating the image will download the latest published Yellowfin installer.

Yellowfin Application Only

The Yellowfin Repository database should be upgraded manually, and a new version of the Yellowfin Application Only container started against the upgraded database. For a Zero-Down-Time upgrade in a clustered environment, existing application nodes can be placed in Read-Only mode, whilst the database is upgraded, and new version application nodes brought online.

Proxy Considerations

If the Docker container is hosted behind a webserver, loadbalancer, or proxy then the Proxy Host, Proxy Scheme and Proxy Port paramters may need to be used to help Yellowfin generate URLs. These parameters configure the external address and scheme for the Yellowfin application. This configuration is only available for the Yellowfin Application Only Docker image.

Proxy Host

This is usually the hostname of the proxy that users will connect through to access Yellowfin.

Proxy Port

This is the TCP port that users will connect on when accessing Yellowfin via the proxy. This will usually be 80. If an external proxy is enalbing SSL, then this will usually be set to 443.

Proxy Scheme

This can be HTTP or HTTPS. Set this to HTTPS if a proxy is enabling SSL security for non-SSL enabled Yellowfin nodes.

Clustering Considerations

The Yellowfin Application Only Docker image has Respository Clustering enabled. This will allow multiple application nodes that share the same Repository Database to register as a cluster member. Each cluster member needs a unique TCP end-point for internode communications, and this will need to be set when the container is started. This can be configured with the CLUSTER_ADDRESS and CLUSTER_PORT configuration parameters.

Cluster Address

This will be an address that is resolvable from all Docker nodes (which may be running on separate Docker hosts). This will usually be set to the hostname or IP address of the Docker host. Multiple Yellowfin Docker containers running on the same host can share the same Cluster Address, but will need to have a unique TCP port for communication.

Cluster Port

This is the TCP port that is exposed to the outside network for internode communication. The port exposed here will also need to be forwarded to the external network with the -p parameter.

3 Node Cluster Example

Running three nodes on a single host requires that external exposed ports do not conflict. This means assigning unique ports for both web access and internode communication across all containers. The internal ports for web access and internode communication are 8080 and 7800 respectively, but using the -p parameter, these should be mapped to non-conflicting ports on the Docker host.

Node 1:

docker run -d -p 81:8080 -p 7801:7800 \
-e JDBC_CLASS_NAME=org.postgresql.Driver \
-e JDBC_CONN_URL=jdbc:postgresql://dbhost:5432/yellowfinDatabase \
-e JDBC_CONN_USER=dbuser \
-e JDBC_CONN_PASS=dbpassword \
-e CLUSTER_ADDRESS=dockerhost1 \
-e CLUSTER_PORT=7801 \
--name yellowfin_node1 \
yellowfinbi/yellowfin-app-only:latest

Configured so that port 81 is the exposed Web UI port, and 7801 is used for Cluster Messaging

Node 2:

docker run -d -p 82:8080 -p 7802:7800 \
-e JDBC_CLASS_NAME=org.postgresql.Driver \
-e JDBC_CONN_URL=jdbc:postgresql://dbhost:5432/yellowfinDatabase \
-e JDBC_CONN_USER=dbuser \
-e JDBC_CONN_PASS=dbpassword \
-e CLUSTER_ADDRESS=dockerhost1 \
-e CLUSTER_PORT=7802 \
--name yellowfin_node2 \
yellowfinbi/yellowfin-app-only:latest

Configured so that port 82 is the exposed Web UI port, and 7802 is used for Cluster Messaging

Node 3:

docker run -d -p 83:8080 -p 7803:7800 \
-e JDBC_CLASS_NAME=org.postgresql.Driver \
-e JDBC_CONN_URL=jdbc:postgresql://dbhost:5432/yellowfinDatabase \
-e JDBC_CONN_USER=dbuser \
-e JDBC_CONN_PASS=dbpassword \
-e CLUSTER_ADDRESS=dockerhost1 \
-e CLUSTER_PORT=7803 \
--name yellowfin_node3 \
yellowfinbi/yellowfin-app-only:latest

Configured so that port 83 is the exposed Web UI port, and 7803 is used for Cluster Messaging

The exposed Web UI (HTTP) ports (ports 81, 82 and 83 in the above example), should be mapped to a load balancer, so that web traffic is distributed across the cluster. Clients will connect to a single end-point in their browser to access the Yellowfin instance. For testing purposes, connecting to any of the individual ports will load the Web UI on the corresponding Yellowfin node.

Internode cluster communication will occur on the other exposed ports (7801, 7802 and 7803). The combination of cluster address and port will be registered in the Yellowfin Repository as the unique address for each discovered node.

When all 3 nodes have started, accessing the info_cluster.jsp, should show that the 3 nodes have joined the cluster.

Diagnosing Potential Issues and Modifying Configuration

You can connect to a running instance of Yellowfin with the exec command. This allows you to access log files and system settings.

docker exec -it <docker containerid> /bin/sh

The Docker containerid can be obtained from the command:

docker container list

If settings are changed in a running Docker container, Yellowfin may require restarting. This can be done with the command:

docker restart <docker containerid>