# Set Up & Run a Dev/Test Node

This page explains how to set up a minimal local BigchainDB node for development and testing purposes.

The BigchainDB core dev team develops BigchainDB on recent Ubuntu and Fedora distributions, so we recommend you use one of those. BigchainDB Server doesn't work on Windows and Mac OS X (unless you use a VM or containers).


## Option A: Using a Local Dev Machine

Read through the BigchainDB [CONTRIBUTING.md file](https://github.com/bigchaindb/bigchaindb/blob/master/CONTRIBUTING.md). It outlines the steps to setup a machine for developing and testing BigchainDB.

### With RethinkDB

Create a default BigchainDB config file (in `$HOME/.bigchaindb`):
```text
$ bigchaindb -y configure rethinkdb
```

Note: [The BigchainDB CLI](../server-reference/bigchaindb-cli.html) and the [BigchainDB Configuration Settings](../server-reference/configuration.html) are documented elsewhere. (Click the links.)

Start RethinkDB using:
```text
$ rethinkdb
```

You can verify that RethinkDB is running by opening the RethinkDB web interface in your web browser. It should be at http://localhost:8080/

<!-- Don't hyperlink http://localhost:8080/ because Sphinx will fail when you do "make linkcheck" -->

To run BigchainDB Server, do:
```text
$ bigchaindb start
```

You can [run all the unit tests](running-unit-tests.html) to test your installation.

The BigchainDB [CONTRIBUTING.md file](https://github.com/bigchaindb/bigchaindb/blob/master/CONTRIBUTING.md) has more details about how to contribute.


### With MongoDB

Create a default BigchainDB config file (in `$HOME/.bigchaindb`):
```text
$ bigchaindb -y configure mongodb
```

Note: [The BigchainDB CLI](../server-reference/bigchaindb-cli.html) and the [BigchainDB Configuration Settings](../server-reference/configuration.html) are documented elsewhere. (Click the links.)

Start MongoDB __3.4+__ using:
```text
$ mongod --replSet=bigchain-rs
```

You can verify that MongoDB is running correctly by checking the output of the
previous command for the line:
```text
waiting for connections on port 27017
```

To run BigchainDB Server, do:
```text
$ bigchaindb start
```

You can [run all the unit tests](running-unit-tests.html) to test your installation.

The BigchainDB [CONTRIBUTING.md file](https://github.com/bigchaindb/bigchaindb/blob/master/CONTRIBUTING.md) has more details about how to contribute.


## Option B: Using a Local Dev Machine and Docker

You need to have recent versions of [Docker Engine](https://docs.docker.com/engine/installation/)
and (Docker) [Compose](https://docs.docker.com/compose/install/).

Build the images:

```bash
docker-compose build
```

### Docker with RethinkDB

**Note**: If you're upgrading BigchainDB and have previously already built the images, you may need
to rebuild them after the upgrade to install any new dependencies.

Start RethinkDB:

```bash
docker-compose up -d rdb
```

The RethinkDB web interface should be accessible at http://localhost:58080/.
Depending on which platform, and/or how you are running docker, you may need
to change `localhost` for the `ip` of the machine that is running docker. As a
dummy example, if the `ip` of that machine was `0.0.0.0`, you would access the
web interface at: http://0.0.0.0:58080/.

Start a BigchainDB node:

```bash
docker-compose up -d bdb-rdb
```

You can monitor the logs:

```bash
docker-compose logs -f bdb-rdb
```

If you wish to run the tests:

```bash
docker-compose run --rm bdb-rdb py.test -v -n auto
```

### Docker with MongoDB

Start MongoDB:

```bash
docker-compose up -d mdb
```

MongoDB should now be up and running. You can check the port binding for the
MongoDB driver port using:
```bash
$ docker-compose port mdb 27017
```

Start a BigchainDB node:

```bash
docker-compose up -d bdb
```

You can monitor the logs:

```bash
docker-compose logs -f bdb
```

If you wish to run the tests:

```bash
docker-compose run --rm bdb py.test -v --database-backend=mongodb
```

### Accessing the HTTP API

A quick check to make sure that the BigchainDB server API is operational:

```bash
curl $(docker-compose port bdb 9984)
```

should give you something like:

```bash
{
  "keyring": [],
  "public_key": "Brx8g4DdtEhccsENzNNV6yvQHR8s9ebhKyXPFkWUXh5e",
  "software": "BigchainDB",
  "version": "0.6.0"
}
```
How does the above curl command work? Inside the Docker container, BigchainDB
exposes the HTTP API on port `9984`. First we get the public port where that
port is bound:

```bash
docker-compose port bdb 9984
```

The port binding will change whenever you stop/restart the `bdb` service. You
should get an output similar to:

```bash
0.0.0.0:32772
```

but with a port different from `32772`.


Knowing the public port we can now perform a simple `GET` operation against the
root:

```bash
curl 0.0.0.0:32772
```

## Option C: Using a Dev Machine on Cloud9

Ian Worrall of [Encrypted Labs](http://www.encryptedlabs.com/) wrote a document (PDF) explaining how to set up a BigchainDB (Server) dev machine on Cloud9:

[Download that document from GitHub](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/bigchaindb/bigchaindb/master/docs/server/source/_static/cloud9.pdf)