docker-bittorrent

Based on the original docktorrent, this Docker container serves as a fully-featured BitTorrent client/server system, consisting of rTorrent, ruTorrent, and flood. It's incredibly easy to get started. Just pull the Docker image and start up a new container.

Table of Contents

• Features
• Installation
• Configuration
• Usage
• Building

Features

• Designed with portability in mind. Run one command and you're good to go.
• No-hassle installation in less than a minute (assuming prerequisites are installed).
• Two rTorrent web clients to choose from: the aging-yet-robust ruTorrent, or the modern-yet-inflexible flood.
• Want to use both clients? No problem! Both are available to use and are interchangeable.
• Automatically restarts rTorrent if it hangs or freezes.
• Easy access to rTorrent CLI or flood terminal output via one command.

Installation

There are two ways to go about installing this Docker container.

Docker CE

Installation via Docker CE takes only one command, assuming you have Docker CE installed.

Prerequisites

• Docker CE installed.
• docker service running.

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Assuming the above prerequisites are met, run the following command. The container will restart on boot automatically.

Replace the words MAIN with your desired web port, PEER with your desired incoming port, DHT with your desired DHT port, and CONTENT with an empty directory to store your content.

$ docker run --name bittorrent \
  --restart always -dit \
  -p MAIN:80 -p PEER:5000 -p DHT:6881 \
  -v CONTENT:/data/rtorrent \
  winneon/docker-bittorrent

To stop and/or start the container, run the following command(s).

$ docker stop bittorrent
$ docker start bittorrent

Afterwards, continue to the next section.

Docker Compose

If you prefer to store these variables in a file, Docker Compose provides an alternative. The steps are a little less straightforward, but the end result is cleaner.

Prerequisites

• Docker CE installed.
• Docker Compose installed.
• docker service running.

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Assuming the above prerequisites are met, download this repository's archive & unzip it. Open docker-compose.yml in your text editor of choice and replace the words MAIN with your desired web port, PEER with your desired incoming port, DHT with your desired DHT port, and CONTENT with an empty directory to store your content. Afterwards, run the following command inside the directory. The container will restart on boot automatically.

$ docker-compose up -d

To stop and/or start the container, run the following command(s).

$ docker-compose stop
$ docker-compose start

Afterwards, continue to the next section.

Configuration

For most, the default configuration will be more than enough. However, if you use private trackers exclusively or like to tinker configurations, then this is the section for you. Otherwise, skip to the next section.

The following environment variables can be used to configure rTorrent.

• PEERS: overrides throttle.max_peers.normal.set, sets the maximum amount of peers per torrent while leeching
• PEERS_SEED: overrides throttle.max_peers.seed.set, sets the maximum amount of peers per torrent while seeding
• DOWNLOADS: overrides throttle.max_downloads.set, sets the maximum amount of simultaneous downloads
• UPLOADS: overrides throttle.max_uploads.set, sets the maximum amount of simultaneous uploads
• DOWNLOAD_RATE: overrides throttle.global_down.max_rate.set_kb, sets the maximum download rate in kb/s
• UPLOAD_RATE: overrides throttle.global_up.max_rate.set_kb, sets the maximum upload rate in kb/s
• DHT: overrides dht.mode.set, enables/disables DHT & peer discovery (set to on/off)

For example, the below docker command uses UPLOAD_RATE to override the maximum allowed upload rate to 1MB/s.

$ docker run --name bittorrent \
  --restart always -dit \
  -p 80:80 -p 5000:5000 -p 6881:6881 \
  -e UPLOAD_RATE=1024 \
  -v /media/alpha/rtorrent:/data/rtorrent \
  winneon/docker-bittorrent

If you prefer to use docker-compose instead, the below example uses DOWNLOAD_RATE to override the maximum allowed download rate to 1MB/s, within docker-compose.yml.

version: '3'
services:
  bittorrent:
    image: winneon/docker-bittorrent
    build: .
    restart: always
    ports:
      - 80:80
      - 5000:5000
      - 6881:6881
    volumes:
      - /media/alpha/rtorrent:/data/rtorrent
    environment:
      - DOWNLOAD_RATE=1024

Usage

Before we continue, ensure that your PEER and DHT ports that you set earlier are port-forwarded correctly, otherwise you may have issues connecting to peers and vice versa.

This Docker container is accessible in multiple ways:

• ruTorrent via web.
• flood via web.
• rTorrent via CLI.

ruTorrent

To use ruTorrent, open http://127.0.0.1:MAIN/ in a web browser, replacing MAIN with the web port you bound (i.e. http://127.0.0.1:8080/). When prompted, input the username/password combo bittorrent/bittorrent.

To change the username/password, run the following command. Replace the words USERNAME and PASSWORD with your desired username & password, respectively. If you used the Docker Compose installation method, replace the word bittorrent with the container name that Docker Compose generated.

$ docker exec -it bittorrent htpasswd -cb /data/rutorrent/.htpasswd USERNAME PASSWORD

flood

To use flood, open http://127.0.0.1:MAIN/flood/ in a web browser, replacing MAIN with the web port you bound (i.e. http://127.0.0.1:8080/flood/). Follow the on-screen instructions to create a flood account.

It is also possible to monitor flood's npm terminal output if you so desire. To do so, run the following command. If you used the Docker Compose installation method, replace the word bittorrent with the container name that Docker Compose generated.

$ docker exec -it bittorrent screen -r flood

Detach from the screen by pressing Ctrl+A, D.

rTorrent

To use rTorrent via a CLI, run the following command. This is not recommended for anyone other than experienced users. If you used the Docker Compose installation method, replace the wordbittorrent with the container name that Docker Compose generated.

$ docker exec -it bittorrent screen -r rtorrent

Detach from the screen by pressing Ctrl+A, D.

Building

If you prefer to build this image from source or you want to modify a wider-range of rTorrent options, follow the below instructions. As with installation, there are two ways to go about building this Docker image.

Docker CE

Prerequisites

• Docker CE installed.
• docker service running.

---

Assuming the above prerequisites are met, run the following command. Replace the word NAME with your desired name of the image.

$ docker build -t NAME .

The build process may take upwards of 30 minutes on even modern machines. When it finishes, you can run the image via the Docker CE instructions laid out in the Installation section, with the major difference being you replacing winneon/docker-bittorrent with the name of the previously build image.

Docker Compose

Prerequisites

• Docker CE installed.
• Docker Compose installed.
• docker service running.

---

Assuming the above prerequisites are met, run the following command.

$ docker-compose build

The build process may take upwards of 30 minutes on even modern machines. When it finishes, you can run the image via the Docker Compose instructions laid out in the Installation section.