SageCell Docker Instructions

These are instructions to build and use a docker image for running a SageCell service in production.

Build and Run the Docker Image

Execute the following command from the sagecell-docker directory.

docker build -t sagecell .

Then run the container by executing the following command in the sagecell-docker directory.

docker run --rm -p 127.0.0.1:3500:3500 sagecell:latest

Note that the -p argument exposes port 3500 inside the container to port 3500 outside the container, but only allows connections from localhost. This is important as it does not allow anyone else to use the SageCell service other than the local webwork server. If a different port outside the container is needed, then change the first 3500 to the desired port. Adding --rm removes the created volume for the container when it exits. Exit the container by typing Ctrl-C.

Access by specific external IP addresses is also possible if you want to have the SageCell service on another server. The easiest way to accomplish this is by using an SSH tunnel. For example, execute ssh -L 3500:127.0.0.1:3550 userId@sagecell.server where userId is your username on the SageCell server and sagecell.server is the domain name or IP address of the SageCell server. There are other ways to accomplish this as well, but the important thing is that access to the SageCell service be highly restricted as it allows untrusted code to be executed.

Deploy the Image for Production Usage

Copy the file sagecell-docker.dist.service to sagecell-docker.service and execute the following command from the sagecell-docker directory to enable a systemd service for running the container.

sudo systemctl enable $(pwd)/sagecell-docker.service

Then you can start the container by executing sudo systemctl start sagecell-docker, and stop the container by executing sudo systemctl stop sagecell-docker. Note that any time the server is rebooted the service will start automatically, so you usually do not need to execute those commands other than to start the service the first time after enabling it.

Note that the service simply executes the command give above for running the container directly. So modify the command in the sagecell-docker.service file as described above if a different port is needed.