Coturn Docker

If you're building a WebRTC application, you'll need to use a TURN server to relay media between peers when they cannot establish a direct connection. Coturn is an open-source TURN server that can be run in a Docker container, making deployment and scaling easier.

Installing Coturn Docker

To install Coturn Docker, run the following command:

docker pull coturn/coturn

This will pull the latest Coturn Docker image from Docker Hub.

Running Coturn Docker

To run Coturn Docker, you can use the following command:

docker run -d --network="host" coturn/coturn

This will start Coturn Docker in daemon mode and use the host network to communicate with the host machine. You can customize your Coturn Docker configuration by specifying environment variables with the -e flag. For example:

docker run -d --network="host" -e TURN_USERNAME=myuser -e TURN_PASSWORD=mypassword coturn/coturn

This command sets the TURN server's username and password to myuser and mypassword, respectively.

Using Coturn Docker

Once you have Coturn Docker up and running, you can use it in your WebRTC application. You'll need to configure your WebRTC library or framework to use your Coturn server's IP address and ports for TURN server communication.

Here is an example configuration for the popular WebRTC library, simple-peer:

const peer = new SimplePeer({
  initiator: true,
  trickle: false,
  config: {
    iceServers: [
      { urls: "turn:<your-coturn-ip-address>:<your-coturn-port>", username: "myuser", credential: "mypassword" },
      { urls: "stun:stun.l.google.com:19302" }
    ]
  }
});

peer.on("signal", (data) => {
  console.log("Signal data:", data);
});

peer.on("connect", () => {
  console.log("Connected!");
});

peer.on("data", (data) => {
  console.log("Received data:", data.toString());
});

This example uses myuser and mypassword as the TURN server credentials and <your-coturn-ip-address> and <your-coturn-port> as the Coturn Docker container's IP address and port, respectively.

Conclusion

Coturn Docker simplifies TURN server deployment and scaling for WebRTC applications. By using Coturn Docker, you can easily spin up a TURN server in a container and integrate it into your application. Plus, since Coturn is open source, you can contribute to the project and improve the TURN server for everyone.