Appendix E Bioinformatics + Docker

Simplifying Bioinformatics Tools Delivery with Docker Containers

Overview

The servers in our data centers are typically much more powerful than the PCs under our desks. By using tools such as Docker containers along with complementary technologies, we can extend the data center to the desktop and utilize full server power.

Example Environment

End user connects to computing environment via Windows Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) and an X11 capable shell (mobaxterm, putty+xming, exceed) or directly to the computing environment via an X11 capable shell. We use RDP in our environment to minimize latency with image rendering.

In our example we:

  1. Install Docker =>1.5 on a CentOS 6.6 server.
  2. Install Git =>1.7.
  3. Create a Docker container based on the Ubuntu 14.04 Linux distribution.
  4. Download and extract a prebuilt binary for Slicer 4.
  5. Configure the Docker container and parent host to present the application using X11.

The Docker container built for this document may be downloaded from the public DockerHub repository. Links are provided at the end of this appendix.

Docker Installation

This method is for a Red Hat 6.x or CentOS 6.x server.

  1. Install EPEL (Extra Packages for Enterprise ...

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