---
tableofcontents: 1
redirect_from: "/Install-with-Docker"
---

# Install with Docker

Welcome to the AzerothCore Docker guide!

## Introduction

Installing AzerothCore using Docker is a simplified procedure that has several benefits:

- It's very easy! Docker will do all the dirty work for you.
- It can be done in all operating systems where Docker is available (including **Windows**, **GNU/Linux**, **macOS**)
- You don't need to install many dependencies (forget about _visual studio_, _cmake_, _mysql_, etc.. they are **NOT** required)
- Forget about platform-specific bugs. When using Docker, AzerothCore will always run in **Linux-mode**. 
- There are many other [benefits when using Docker](https://www.google.com/search?q=docker+benefits)

## Setup

### Software requirements

The only requirements are [git](https://git-scm.com/download/) and Docker.

#### New Operating Systems [recommended]:
- For GNU/Linux install [Docker](https://docs.docker.com/install/linux/docker-ce/ubuntu) and [Docker Compose](https://docs.docker.com/compose/install/)
- For macOS 10.12+ Sierra and newer version install [Docker Desktop for Mac](https://hub.docker.com/editions/community/docker-ce-desktop-mac)
- For Windows 10 install [Docker Desktop for Windows](https://hub.docker.com/editions/community/docker-ce-desktop-windows)

#### Old Operating Systems [not tested]:
- For macOS older than 10.11 El Capitan and older install [Docker Toolbox for Mac](https://docs.docker.com/toolbox/toolbox_install_mac/)
- For Windows 7/8/8.1 install [Docker Toolbox for Windows](https://docs.docker.com/toolbox/toolbox_install_windows/)


Before going further, make sure you have `docker` and `docker-compose` installed in your system by typing in a terminal:

```
docker --version
```
```
docker-compose --version
```

You should see a similar output:

```
Docker version 20.10.5, build 55c4c88
docker-compose version 1.28.2, build 67630359
```

**Note for Windows users**: you can use **git-bash** (the shell included in git) as a terminal.

### Clone the AzerothCore repository

You need to clone the AzerothCore repository (or use your own fork):

```
git clone https://github.com/azerothcore/azerothcore-wotlk.git
```

Now go into the main directory using `cd azerothcore-wotlk`. **All commands will have to be run inside this folder**.

Before we install let's get a copy of our own config.sh from the distribution
```
cp conf/dist/config.sh conf/config.sh
```

### Installation

Inside your terminal (if you use Windows, use git bash), run the following commands inside the azerothcore-wotlk folder

NOTE: the following procedure uses our acore.sh dashboard, however, these commands are a shortcut of the docker-compose ones.
      you can check the docker-compose commands used in background by running `./acore.sh docker --help` and read the description of each command

**1) Download the client data:**

```
./acore.sh docker client-data
```

NOTE: This command should be executed only at the first installation and when there's a new version of the client-data available

**2) Compile AzerothCore:**
```
./acore.sh docker build
```
It will build docker images, compile the core and import needed SQL files automatically!
This may take a while. Meanwhile you can go and drink a glass of wine :wine_glass:

**NOTE For dev:** if you are working with code and you need a fast way to compile your binaries, the command above
can be a bit overkill for you because you probably do not need to rebuild images or import SQL if you have not changed them. 
Therefore, we suggest to use one of the following solution instead:

* `./acore.sh docker build:compiler` it only builds the dev image and compiles the sources without importing sql.
* `./acore.sh docker dev:build` it's similar to the previous command, but it uses the dev-container which uses volumes instead of the container. It can be faster on some configurations.

**3) Run the containers**

```
./acore.sh docker start:app
```

**Congratulations! Now you have an up and running azerothcore server! Continue to the next step to create an account**

If you need to run this in background, you can use the following command to run the docker-compose detached mode:

```
./acore.sh docker start:app:d
```

**4) Access the worldserver console**

Open a new terminal and run the following command

```
./acore.sh docker attach ac-worldserver
```

If you got error message `the input device is not a TTY.  If you are using mintty, try prefixing the command with 'winpty'`, you may run the following command 

```
docker-compose ps
```

find the name of worldserver

```
azerothcore-wotlk_ac-authserver_1    ./acore.sh run-authserver     Up             0.0.0.0:3724->3724/tcp,:::3724->3724/tcp
azerothcore-wotlk_ac-database_1      docker-entrypoint.sh mysqld   Up (healthy)   0.0.0.0:3306->3306/tcp,:::3306->3306/tcp, 33060/tcp
azerothcore-wotlk_ac-worldserver_1   ./acore.sh run-worldserver    Up             0.0.0.0:7878->7878/tcp,:::7878->7878/tcp, 0.0.0.0:8085->8085/tcp,:::8085->8085/tcp
```

and then attach the worldserver name with winpty

```
winpty docker attach azerothcore-wotlk_ac-worldserver_1
```

This command will automatically attach your terminal to the worldserver console. 
Now you can run the `account create <user> <password>` command to [create your first in-game account.](creating-accounts.md)

**5) Access database and update realmlist**

To access your MySQL database we recommend clients like [HeidiSQL](https://www.heidisql.com/) (for Windows/Linux+Wine) or [SequelPro](https://www.sequelpro.com/) (for macOS). Use `root` as user and `127.0.0.1` as default host.
The default password of the root DB user will be `password`.

Unless your server installation is on the same network as your client, you might want to update the `realmlist` address in the `acore_auth` database with your server public IP address :
```sql
USE acore_auth;
SELECT * FROM realmlist;
UPDATE realmlist SET address='<SERVER PUBLIC IP ADDRESS>';
```

### How to keep your AzerothCore updated with the latest changes

First of all, you just need to use the `git` tool to update your repository by running the following common command:

`git pull origin master` : this will download latest commits from the azerothcore repository

Then you can just run the following command:

`./acore.sh docker build`: to rebuild the images and generate new binaries. Moreover, it will also import latest database changes.

NOTE:  We do not update so often the client data, but when it happens you can run the following command:

`./acore.sh client-data`: it will download the new version of the client data if there's a new version available

### How to run the worldserver with GDB

Running the server with GDB allows you to generate a crashdump if the server crashes. The crashdump file is useful for developers to understand which lines are failing and possibly fix it.

**Keep in mind that you should compile your code with one of the following compilation types: Debug or RelWithDebInfo, otherwise GDB won't work properly**

To enable GDB the steps are the following:

1. Create a `config.sh` file under the `/conf/` directory of the azerothcore-wotlk repository
2. Add this configuration inside: `AC_RESTARTER_WITHGDB=true`. It will configure the restarter used by our docker services to use GDB instead of the binaries directly
3. Restart your containers and that's it!

If the server crashes, you will find the crashdump file (`gdb.txt`) within the `/env/docker` folder

### How to use the dev-container

Within our docker-compose you can find the `ac-dev-server` service
This service is used for our build and db operations, but it can also be used
by you to develop with the [VSCode Remote Docker extension](https://code.visualstudio.com/docs/remote/containers)

A dev-container lets you use a Docker container as a full-featured development environment. The **.devcontainer** folder in our project contains files to tell VS Code how to access (or create) a development container with all the needed tools. This container will run the AzerothCore with all the software and the configurations needed for working with our codebase and debugging the server.

Inside the azerothcore repo there's a pre-configured `devcontainer.json` that can be opened by using the VSCode command palette.
To setup the Dev-Container follow these steps:

1. Copy the `docker-compose.override.yml` file from the /conf/dist folder to the root directory of the azerothcore repo. (needed until [this](https://github.com/microsoft/vscode-remote-release/issues/1080) will be solved)
2. [install and open VSCode](https://code.visualstudio.com/)
3. install the [remote-container](https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=ms-vscode-remote.remote-containers) extension
4. Open the azerothcore folder inside VSCode
5. Open the VSCode [command palette](https://code.visualstudio.com/docs/getstarted/userinterface#_command-palette) (Ctrl+Shift+P) and run: `>Remote-Containers: Reopen in Container` 

**IMPORTANT**: The dev-container also contains a pre-configured debugger action that allows you to use breakpoints and debug your worldserver. 

Do not forget that you need to [Remote Container extension](https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=ms-vscode-remote.remote-containers) 
installed in your [Visual Studio Code](https://code.visualstudio.com/) IDE

#### How to debug your code with the dev-container

NOTE: **Keep in mind that you should compile your code with the Debug mode, otherwise the debugger won't work properly**

Once inside the VSCode dev-container you can go to the debug session and use the `Linux/Docker debug` action as you can see in this image:

![image](https://user-images.githubusercontent.com/147092/115712693-5a837d80-a375-11eb-98aa-b415e1919125.png)

It will run a worldserver in debug mode and then you can start placing breakpoints in your code to debug it.

![image](https://user-images.githubusercontent.com/147092/115712867-9cacbf00-a375-11eb-9cab-890e4f68d98b.png)

For more info about how to debug in vscode you can refer to the [official guide](https://code.visualstudio.com/docs/editor/debugging)

### How to create a second realm with docker-compose

To create a second realm we suggest you to take a look at the example available within the http://github.com/azerothcore/acore-docker repository.

## More info

### Adding Modules

To add a module simply place the module directory inside of the `/azerothcore-wotlk/modules` directory.

After adding a module you'll have to rebuild azerothcore:
```
./acore.sh docker build
```

If the added module makes use of configurations files you'll have to place them in the `azerothcore-wotlk/env/docker/etc/modules` directory.  If this modules directory doesn't exist, you'll have to manually create it yourself.

After rebuilding you can [(re)start the containers](#how-can-i-start-stop-create-and-destroy-my-containers) again.

### Memory usage

The total amount of RAM when running all AzerothCore docker containers is **less than 2 GB** with no players online.

This is an example of a fresh, empty AzerothCore server running with Docker on macOS:

![AzerothCore Containers Memory](https://user-images.githubusercontent.com/75517/51341568-f258d980-1a91-11e9-9cc1-121591477910.png)

When used on GNU/Linux system, the amount of memory used by Docker is even less.

### Docker containers vs Virtual machines

Using Docker will have the same benefits as using virtual machines, but with much less overhead:

![Docker containers vs Virtual machines](https://user-images.githubusercontent.com/75517/51078179-d4fec680-16b1-11e9-8ce6-87b5053f55dd.png)

_AzerothCore running on macOS with Docker_
![AzerothCore on macOS using Docker](https://user-images.githubusercontent.com/75517/51341229-2089e980-1a91-11e9-8d06-ebd5897552d4.png)

_AzerothCore running on Windows 10 with Docker_
![AzerothCore on Windows 10 with Docker](https://user-images.githubusercontent.com/75517/51561998-966ec600-1e80-11e9-939e-d522c71de459.png)

### Docker reference & support requests

For server administrators, we recommend to read the [Docker documentation](https://docs.docker.com/) as well as the [Docker Compose reference](https://docs.docker.com/compose/reference/overview/).

If you want to be an administrator of an AzerothCore production server, it helps if you master the basics of Docker usage.

Feel free to ask questions on [StackOverflow](https://stackoverflow.com/) and link them in the **#support-docker** channel of our [Discord chat](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/tagged/azerothcore). We will be happy to help you!

## FAQ

### Where are the etc and logs folders of my server?

By default they are located in `env/docker/authserver/` and `env/docker/worldserver/`.

### How can I change the docker containers configuration?

You can copy the file `/conf/dist/.env.docker` to `.env` and place it in the root folder of the project, then edit it according to your needs.

In the `.env` file you can configure:

- the location of the `data`, `etc` and `logs` folders
- the open ports
- the MySQL root password

Then your `docker-compose up` will automatically locate the `.env` with your custom settings.

### How can I start, stop, create and destroy my containers?

- The `docker-compose start --profile app start` will start your existing app containers in detached mode.

- The `docker-compose stop` will stop your containers, but it won't remove them.

- The `docker-compose --profile app up` builds, (re)creates, and starts your app services.

- The `docker-compose down` command will stop your containers, but it also removes the stopped containers as well as any networks that were created.

- ⚠️ The `docker-compose down --rmi all -v` : command will stop, remove, and delete EVERYTHING. Including the volumes with the associated database ⚠️ 

### How can I delete my database files?

**Warning** Once you've deleted your database files they are unrecoverable unless you have a backup.

To remove your database files you firstly want to make sure that your containers have been stopped and removed by typing: `docker-compose down`.

After stopping and removing your containers you can proceed to remove the volume by typing: `docker volume rm azerothcore-wotlk_ac-database`

**Note** If you've changed your folder name from the default `azerothcore-wotlk` the volume name will be slightly different. To find the new volume name you can use the command `docker volume ls`. The volume should be labelled something along the lines of `xxxx_ac-database`.

### macOS optimizations (for dev server)

The **osxfs** is well known to have [performance limitations](https://github.com/docker/for-mac/issues/1592), that's why we optimized the docker-compose 
file for the **osxfs** by using volumes and the "delegated" strategy. However, we also introduced an experimental feature to let you use named volumes instead of binded ones.
You can use this feature by setting this environment variable in your `.env` file:

`DOCKER_EXTENDS_BIND=abstract-no-bind`

This will copy all the external sources in a persistent volume inside docker which means that, as a drawback, changes inside 
the container won't be reflected outside (host) and vice-versa. 

NOTE: If you are not experimenting any particular issues with I/O performance, we suggest to **NOT** use this configuration

### How can I run commands in the worldserver console?

Besides the usage of the `./acore.sh docker attach` command, you can use a manual approach if you encountered any problems.

First of all, type `docker-compose ps` to know the name of your worldserver container, it should be something like `azerothcore-wotlk_ac-worldserver_1`.

**To attach**: open a new terminal tab and type `docker attach azerothcore-wotlk_ac-worldserver_1`

Note for Windows users: using git bash on Windows you have to prefix this command with `winpty`. Example:

`winpty docker attach azerothcore-wotlk_ac-worldserver_1`

**To detach**: press `ctr+p` and `ctrl+q`.

Do **NOT** try to detach using `ctrl+c` or you will kill your worldserver process!