Docker Deployment - FreeTAKServer

This guide covers deploying FreeTAKServer using Docker containers, including basic deployment, Docker Compose orchestration, and production configurations.

Docker deployment is currently not officially supported by the FTS team and should be considered experimental. You may encounter issues that are not present in standard installations.

Overview

Docker deployment provides:

Isolated Environment: FTS runs in a container separate from host system
Easy Updates: Pull new images and restart containers
Portability: Run on any system with Docker installed
Reproducibility: Consistent environment across deployments
Volume Persistence: Data survives container restarts

Prerequisites

Docker Engine 20.10 or newer
Docker Compose V2
At least 2GB available RAM
10GB available disk space
Ports 8080-8089, 9000, 19023 available

Quick Start

Clone Repository

git clone https://github.com/FreeTAKTeam/FreeTakServer.git
cd FreeTakServer

Build Docker Image

The repository includes a Dockerfile:

# From source Dockerfile
FROM python:3.11

# Create non-root user
RUN groupadd -r freetak && useradd -m -r -g freetak freetak
RUN mkdir /opt/fts ; chown -R freetak:freetak /opt/fts ; chmod 775 /opt/fts

USER freetak

ENV FTS_DATA_PATH="/opt/fts/"

WORKDIR /home/freetak/
COPY --chown=freetak:freetak FreeTAKServer/ ./FreeTAKServer/
COPY --chown=freetak:freetak pyproject.toml docker-run.sh ./

# Install dependencies
ENV PATH /home/freetak/.local/bin:$PATH
RUN pip install --upgrade pip setuptools wheel poetry
RUN pip install --force-reinstall "ruamel.yaml<0.18"
RUN pip install --no-build-isolation --editable .

VOLUME /opt/fts

CMD ["/home/freetak/docker-run.sh"]

Build the image:

docker build . -t fts:local

Create Data Volume

Persist FTS data between container restarts:

docker volume create ftsdata

The ftsdata volume stores:

Database (SQLite)
Certificates
Data packages
ExCheck checklists
Logs

Keep this volume backed up!

Run Container

Start FTS in interactive mode for initial testing:

docker run -it \
  -e FTS_DP_ADDRESS="$(curl -s ifconfig.me)" \
  --mount src=ftsdata,target=/opt/fts \
  -p 8080:8080 -p 8087:8087 -p 8443:8443 \
  -p 8089:8089 -p 9000:9000 -p 19023:19023 \
  fts:local

Docker Compose Deployment

Basic Compose Configuration

The repository includes compose.yaml:

services:
  freetakserver:
    image: freetakserver:latest
    pull_policy: build
    restart: unless-stopped
    build:
      context: .
      dockerfile: Dockerfile
    volumes:
      - free-tak-core-db:/opt/fts/
    ports:
      - 8080:8080   # DataPackagePort
      - 8087:8087   # CoTPort
      - 8089:8089   # SSLCoTPort
      - 8443:8443   # SSLDataPackagePort
      # - 9000:9000   # FederationPort (commented by default)
      # - 19023:19023 # APIPort (don't expose by default)

    environment:
      # Security - CHANGE THESE!
      FTS_FED_PASSWORD: "defaultpass"
      FTS_CLIENT_CERT_PASSWORD: "password"
      FTS_SECRET_KEY: "vnkdjnfjknfl1232#"
      FTS_NODE_ID: "fl5m8j5txlgdtfv8wi96zf8tt0howddo"
      FTS_CONNECTION_MESSAGE: "Welcome to FreeTAKServer. The Parrot is not dead. It's just resting"

      # Networking
      FTS_COT_PORT: 8087
      FTS_SSLCOT_PORT: 8089
      FTS_API_PORT: 19023
      FTS_FED_PORT: 9000
      FTS_DP_ADDRESS: 127.0.0.1
      FTS_USER_ADDRESS: 127.0.0.1
      FTS_API_ADDRESS: 0.0.0.0

      # Performance
      FTS_OPTIMIZE_API: True
      FTS_DATA_RECEPTION_BUFFER: 1024
      FTS_MAX_RECEPTION_TIME: 4
      FTS_NUM_ROUTING_WORKERS: 3
      FTS_MAINLOOP_DELAY: 100

      # Features
      FTS_COT_TO_DB: True
      FTS_EMERGENCY_RADIUS: 0
      FTS_LOG_LEVEL: "info"

volumes:
  free-tak-core-db:

Deploy with Compose

# Start services
docker compose up -d

# View logs
docker compose logs -f

# Stop services
docker compose down

# Stop and remove volumes (WARNING: deletes data)
docker compose down -v

Production Configuration

Environment Variables

Create .env file for production settings:

# .env

# Security - CHANGE THESE VALUES!
FTS_SECRET_KEY=your-random-secret-key-here
FTS_NODE_ID=unique-node-identifier-32chars
FTS_CLIENT_CERT_PASSWORD=strong-certificate-password
FTS_FED_PASSWORD=strong-federation-password

# Networking - Use your actual server IP
FTS_DP_ADDRESS=203.0.113.10
FTS_USER_ADDRESS=203.0.113.10
FTS_API_ADDRESS=0.0.0.0

# Ports
FTS_COT_PORT=8087
FTS_SSLCOT_PORT=8089
FTS_API_PORT=19023
FTS_FED_PORT=9000

# Performance tuning
FTS_NUM_ROUTING_WORKERS=5
FTS_MAINLOOP_DELAY=50
FTS_DATA_RECEPTION_BUFFER=2048

# Logging
FTS_LOG_LEVEL=info

# Database
FTS_COT_TO_DB=True

Update compose.yaml to use .env:

services:
  freetakserver:
    image: freetakserver:latest
    restart: unless-stopped
    env_file:
      - .env
    volumes:
      - fts-data:/opt/fts/
    ports:
      - "8080:8080"
      - "8087:8087"
      - "8089:8089"
      - "8443:8443"

Persistent Storage

Mount specific directories for better organization:

services:
  freetakserver:
    volumes:
      - fts-db:/opt/fts/db
      - fts-certs:/opt/fts/certs
      - fts-datapackages:/opt/fts/FreeTAKServerDataPackageFolder
      - fts-logs:/opt/fts/Logs

volumes:
  fts-db:
  fts-certs:
  fts-datapackages:
  fts-logs:

Resource Limits

Set container resource limits:

services:
  freetakserver:
    deploy:
      resources:
        limits:
          cpus: '2'
          memory: 2G
        reservations:
          cpus: '1'
          memory: 1G

Certificate Management in Docker

Generate Certificates

# Enter running container
docker exec -it freetakserver bash

# Generate CA and certificates
python3 << 'EOF'
from FreeTAKServer.core.util.certificate_generation import AtakOfTheCerts

with AtakOfTheCerts(pwd="your_password") as cert:
    cert.generate_ca()
    cert.bake("server", "server")
    cert.bake("Client", "user")
EOF

exit

Extract Client Packages

# Copy client package from container
docker cp freetakserver:/opt/fts/certs/clientPackages/Client.zip ./

# Transfer to clients for import

Mount External Certificates

Use pre-generated certificates:

services:
  freetakserver:
    volumes:
      - ./certs:/opt/fts/certs:ro
    environment:
      FTS_CERTS_PATH: /opt/fts/certs

Networking

Port Mapping Reference

Service	Container Port	Host Port	Protocol	Description
CoT	8087	8087	TCP	Non-SSL CoT traffic
SSL CoT	8089	8089	TCP	SSL CoT traffic
Data Package	8080	8080	HTTP	Data package upload/download
SSL Data Package	8443	8443	HTTPS	Secure data packages
Federation	9000	9000	TCP	Server federation
API	19023	19023	HTTP	REST API (don’t expose publicly)

Custom Port Mapping

Map to different host ports:

services:
  freetakserver:
    ports:
      - "8087:8087"   # Standard CoT
      - "8089:8089"   # Standard SSL CoT
      - "9080:8080"   # Data packages on 9080
      - "9443:8443"   # SSL data packages on 9443

Bridge Network

Create custom Docker network:

networks:
  fts-network:
    driver: bridge
    ipam:
      config:
        - subnet: 172.20.0.0/16

services:
  freetakserver:
    networks:
      fts-network:
        ipv4_address: 172.20.0.10

Docker Run Options

Background Daemon

Run container as daemon:

docker run --restart unless-stopped \
  -e FTS_DP_ADDRESS="$(curl -s ifconfig.me)" \
  -e FTS_USER_ADDRESS="$(curl -s ifconfig.me)" \
  -e FTS_CLIENT_CERT_PASSWORD="password" \
  --mount src=ftsdata,target=/opt/fts \
  -p 8080:8080 -p 8087:8087 -p 8089:8089 -p 8443:8443 \
  -p 9000:9000 -p 19023:19023 \
  --name freetakserver \
  -d \
  fts:local

Container Management

# View logs
docker logs -f freetakserver

# Stop container
docker stop freetakserver

# Start stopped container
docker start freetakserver

# Restart container
docker restart freetakserver

# Remove container
docker rm freetakserver

# Execute command in container
docker exec freetakserver ps aux

# Open shell in container
docker exec -it freetakserver bash

Data Backup and Restore

Backup Volume Data

# Backup ftsdata volume to tar.gz
docker run --rm \
  --mount src=ftsdata,target=/data \
  -v $(pwd):/backup \
  alpine tar czf /backup/fts-backup-$(date +%Y%m%d).tar.gz -C /data .

Restore from Backup

# Create new volume
docker volume create ftsdata-restored

# Restore data
docker run --rm \
  --mount src=ftsdata-restored,target=/data \
  -v $(pwd):/backup \
  alpine tar xzf /backup/fts-backup-20260304.tar.gz -C /data

Export Database

# Copy database from container
docker cp freetakserver:/opt/fts/FTSDataBase.db ./fts-backup.db

# Restore database to container
docker cp ./fts-backup.db freetakserver:/opt/fts/FTSDataBase.db
docker restart freetakserver

Troubleshooting

Container Won’t Start

Common issues:

Port already in use

# Check what's using the port
sudo netstat -tlnp | grep 8087

# Stop conflicting service or use different ports

Volume permissions

# Fix volume ownership
docker run --rm -v ftsdata:/data alpine chown -R 1000:1000 /data

Image not built

# Rebuild image
docker build --no-cache -t fts:local .

View Container Logs

# Follow logs in real-time
docker logs -f --tail 100 freetakserver

# Search for errors
docker logs freetakserver 2>&1 | grep -i error

# Export logs to file
docker logs freetakserver > fts-container.log 2>&1

Debug Container

# Enter container shell
docker exec -it freetakserver bash

# Check processes
ps aux

# Check listening ports
netstat -tlnp

# Verify FTS installation
python3 -c "import FreeTAKServer; print(FreeTAKServer.__version__)"

# Check configuration
env | grep FTS_

Performance Issues

Performance tuning:

Increase worker threads

environment:
  FTS_NUM_ROUTING_WORKERS: 5

Reduce main loop delay
```
environment:
  FTS_MAINLOOP_DELAY: 50
```

Allocate more resources

deploy:
  resources:
    limits:
      cpus: '4'
      memory: 4G

Use host networking (Linux only)
```
network_mode: host
```

Multi-Container Setup

Separate Database Container

Run PostgreSQL in separate container (future FTS versions):

services:
  postgres:
    image: postgres:15
    environment:
      POSTGRES_DB: fts
      POSTGRES_USER: fts
      POSTGRES_PASSWORD: secure_password
    volumes:
      - postgres-data:/var/lib/postgresql/data

  freetakserver:
    depends_on:
      - postgres
    environment:
      FTS_DATABASE_TYPE: PostgreSQL
      FTS_DB_HOST: postgres
      FTS_DB_PORT: 5432
      FTS_DB_NAME: fts
      FTS_DB_USER: fts
      FTS_DB_PASSWORD: secure_password

volumes:
  postgres-data:

Docker Image Updates

Pull Latest Changes

# Pull latest code
git pull origin main

# Rebuild image
docker compose build

# Restart with new image
docker compose up -d

Version Pinning

Pin to specific FTS version:

# Custom Dockerfile with version pinning
FROM python:3.11

RUN pip install FreeTAKServer==2.2.1

# ... rest of configuration

Next Steps

Configure SSL for secure connections
Set up Federation with other FTS containers
Monitor container health with Docker stats
Deploy to production with orchestration

Get Started

Core Concepts

Guides

Configuration

​Overview

​Prerequisites

​Quick Start

​Docker Compose Deployment

​Basic Compose Configuration

​Deploy with Compose

​Production Configuration

​Environment Variables

​Persistent Storage

​Resource Limits

​Certificate Management in Docker

​Generate Certificates

​Extract Client Packages

​Mount External Certificates

​Networking

​Port Mapping Reference

​Custom Port Mapping

​Bridge Network

​Docker Run Options

​Background Daemon

​Container Management

​Data Backup and Restore

​Backup Volume Data

​Restore from Backup

​Export Database

​Troubleshooting

​Container Won’t Start

​View Container Logs

​Debug Container

​Performance Issues

​Multi-Container Setup

​Separate Database Container

​Docker Image Updates

​Pull Latest Changes

​Version Pinning

​Next Steps

Build docs developers (and LLMs) love

Overview

Prerequisites

Quick Start

Docker Compose Deployment

Basic Compose Configuration

Deploy with Compose

Production Configuration

Environment Variables

Persistent Storage

Resource Limits

Certificate Management in Docker

Generate Certificates

Extract Client Packages

Mount External Certificates

Networking

Port Mapping Reference

Custom Port Mapping

Bridge Network

Docker Run Options

Background Daemon

Container Management

Data Backup and Restore

Backup Volume Data

Restore from Backup

Export Database

Troubleshooting

Container Won’t Start

View Container Logs

Debug Container

Performance Issues

Multi-Container Setup

Separate Database Container

Docker Image Updates

Pull Latest Changes

Version Pinning

Next Steps