Interactive Brokers Gateway Docker

Status: Archived (June/2021)!

Not used in my system anymore!
Not updated anymore!
Not maintained anymore!
The docker container may still work as it is, but use it at your own risk.
I have moved past IB because of the the poor API and the notorious unstable gateway.
I am doing automated crypto trading using this setup

Archived Readme

Based on the following work:

IB Controller and VNC
ib-gateway-docker
Interactive Brokers Gateway Docker Image
All credits to the respective contributor(s).

Versions:

TWS Gateway: v974.4g
IB Controller: v3.2.0

Modifications:

Script refactoring
Smaller container (~100 MB less than initial Ubuntu build)
Kubernetes deployment configurations
Updated Readme

Key features:

Dockerized & fully pre-configured
Starts IB Gateway automatically after boot
Log in into the gateway fully automatically
Clicks the dialog box automatically
Keeps the gateway up and running permanently when using default settings.
VNC remote access to the running docker instance.
Kubernetes deployment descriptor for GCP (no VNC access)
Cloud Build auto deployment descriptor for GCP

Known issues:

Password must be plaintext
No VNC access to Kubernetes deployment
A bit dated gateway version but it runs very stable.

TODO's

The password could be encrypted through some IB command line tool, but the exact details needs to be figured out.

Observations;

IB Gateway runs remarkable stable on the default settings
Clients must close any connection correctly otherwise a manual restart becomes required to terminated open connections.
It seems that the daily reset also closes possibly unterminated connections and keeps memory usage in check.
No manual intervention needed as long as all clients connect and disconnect correctly.
In case a client crashes without a proper connection close, usually a reconnect fails.
Either use a new connection-ID and restart the gateway manually or, if feasible and non-time critical, wait some 24 hours to see if the auto-reset did the trick.
From experience, a number of clients works well as long as each connection terminates correctly.

IB System Status

https://www1.interactivebrokers.com/en/index.php?f=en/software/systemStatus.php

SERVER RESET TIMES NORTH AMERICA Saturday - Thursday 23:45 - 00:45 ET Friday 23:00 - 03:00 ET

During the Friday evening reset period, all services will be unavailable in all regions for the duration of the reset.

Getting Started with docker

1) Clone repo: git clone

2) Edit docker-compose.yml

Set TRADING_MODE=paper # or live
Set TWSUSERID=ib_username # i.e. jobo1960
Set TWSPASSWORD=secret # Must be plaintext, no quotes

3) Build & run docker:

> cd ib-gateway-docker
> docker build .
> docker-compose up

Expected output

Creating ibgatewaydocker_tws_1 ...
Creating ibgatewaydocker_tws_1 ... done
Attaching to ibgatewaydocker_tws_1
tws_1  | Starting virtual X frame buffer: Xvfb.
tws_1  | find: '/opt/IBController/Logs': No such file or directory
tws_1  | stored passwd in file: /.vnc/passwd
tws_1  | Starting x11vnc.
tws_1  |
tws_1  | +==============================================================================
tws_1  | +
tws_1  | + IBController version 3.2.0
tws_1  | +
tws_1  | + Running GATEWAY 960
tws_1  | +
tws_1  | + Diagnostic information is logged in:
tws_1  | +
tws_1  | + /opt/IBController/Logs/ibc-3.2.0_GATEWAY-960_Tuesday.txt
tws_1  | +
tws_1  | +
tws_1  | Forking :::4001 onto 0.0.0.0:4003\n

You will now have the IB Gateway app running on port 4003 and VNC on 5901.

See docker-compose.yml for configuring VNC password, accounts and trading mode.

Please do not open your box to the internet.

Testing VNC

localhost:5901

vnc

Demo Accounts

It seems that all of the demo accounts are dead for good:

edemo
fdemo
pmdemo

Troubleshooting

Sometimes, when running in non-daemon mode, you will see this:

Exception in thread "main" java.awt.AWTError: Can't connect to X11 window server using ':0' as the value of the DISPLAY variable.

You will have to remove the container docker rm container_id and run docker-compose up again.

Getting Started with Kubernetes

1) Clone repo: git clone

2) Edit deployment.yaml

Set TRADING_MODE=paper # or live
Set TWSUSERID=ib_username # i.e. jobo1960
Set TWSPASSWORD=secret # Must be plaintext, no quotes

3) Edit cloudbuild.yaml

Set cluster name & location for auto-deployment
Leave image name as it is otherwise Deployment.yaml needs to be updated as well.

4) Manual Deployment (for testing):

Ensure docker image is in registry
kubectl apply -f deployment.yaml

5) Auto Deployment on GCP:

Setup a new git repo on GCP
Change master to new origin
Set build trigger in cloud-build
Push to repo
Let cloud-build build, store, and deploy the container following each push.

Localhost access to the gateway:

kubectl get services

Expected output on a new cluster:

>kubectl get services
NAME                 TYPE        CLUSTER-IP    EXTERNAL-IP   PORT(S)             AGE
ib-gateway-service   ClusterIP   10.4.15.215   <none>        4003/TCP,5901/TCP   2d18h
kubernetes           ClusterIP   10.4.0.1      <none>        443/TCP             5d18h

kubectl port-forward service/ib-gateway-service 4003

Expected output:

Forwarding from 127.0.0.1:4003 -> 4003
Forwarding from [::1]:4003 -> 4003

Thereafter, any connection to 127.0.0.1:4003 gets routed through SSL to the cluster service. Kubernetes resolves the DNS name automatically and routes from the virtual service name to the matching pod in the cluster.

Programming the IB gateway on Kubernetes:

The only applicable rule is:

"Always connect to the service name"

ib-gateway-service:4003

Kubernetes assigns IP addresses dynamically, therefore any hard coded IP addresses almost certainly will be invalidated after a new deployment leading to connection timout errors. At the same time, kubernetes updates the internal DNS system dynamically so whenever a pod got replaced, the new IP already is in the DNS resolver at the moment the pod comes online. Therefore, always connect to the service name

marvin-hansen / IB-gateway

readme