Run as container

The Boatswain docker image is available on dockerhub.

By docker command

Replaced the BOATSWAIN_TOKEN with the one shown in your Boatswain account.

docker run --name boatswain \
  -e "BOATSWAIN_TOKEN=<TO_BE_REPLACED>" \
  -e "BOATSWAIN_PERIOD=default" \
  -e "BOATSWAIN_SEND_LOG=true" \
  -v /var/run/docker.sock:/var/run/docker.sock \
  --pid host \
  --network host \
  --cap-add NET_ADMIN \
  --restart always \
  -d boatswainio/boatswain:<latest or tag> boatswain

By docker compose

Create the following docker-compose.yml and fill in the BOATSWAIN_TOKEN.

version: '3.2'
services:
  boatswain:
    image: boatswainio/boatswain:<latest or tag>
    container_name: boatswain
    volumes:
      - "/var/run/docker.sock:/var/run/docker.sock"
    pid: "host"
    network_mode: "host"
    cap_add:
      - NET_ADMIN
    restart: always
    environment:
      BOATSWAIN_TOKEN: <TO_BE_REPLACED>
      BOATSWAIN_PERIOD: default
      BOATSWAIN_SEND_LOG: "true"

Then you can start the Boatswain container by docker-compose up -d.

Limitation when running Boatswain as container

• The Disk Utilization graph in the Host Status page could not show the correct values.
• Cannot read the network statistics of the Boatswain container.

Other configuration

The following is the Boatswain configuration file for your reference.

# Please register and get the token from https://app.boatswain.io/
token: token_here
# Period is the collection time interval of the host and docker metrics.
# CPU load could be reduced by using longer period.
#   - short   = 10s
#   - default = 30s
#   - long    = 60s
period: default
# Send Log is the flag which determines if you would like to send the docker
# container logs to Boatswain.
#   - true
#   - false
send_log: true

Let’s say if you want to alter the period settings, you could update the command or the docker compose file by editing the BOATSWAIN_PERIOD environment variable.