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Hosting Your Own Core Cast Server

This guide provides the complete steps to deploy a secure, production-ready Core Cast server using Docker and Docker Compose.

How It Works: Secure, Dynamic Setup​

The Core Cast server uses a secure, dynamic method to handle the SDR host's SSH connection. This process is designed to be secure by default and avoids hardcoding any passwords.

Here is the flow:

  1. You (Admin) run the ./setup.sh script once on your server.
  2. setup.sh generates two things:
    • ./ssh_keys/: The unique SSH host keys for your server.
    • ./.env: A new file that contains a secure, randomly generated password (e.g., CORECAST_HOST_PASSWORD=...).
  3. Docker Compose reads the ./.env file when you run docker-compose up.
  4. entrypoint.sh (inside the container) receives the password as an environment variable. It then creates the special sdr_host user and sets its password dynamically at runtime.
  5. sshd_config (the server's SSH config) is set up to only allow this user and to force-run a connection script, making it a highly secure, single-purpose login.
Why this is secure

The Docker image itself contains no secrets. The password lives only in the .env file on your host machine and is injected at runtime, which is a security best practice.

1. Prerequisites​

Before you begin, you must have the following tools installed on your server:

  • Git
  • Docker
  • Docker Compose

2. Installation​

Step 1: Clone the Repository​

First, clone the Core Cast repository onto your server and navigate into the server directory.

# Clone the main repository
git clone https://github.com/corecastsdr/corecast-server.git

# Navigate into the server directory
cd corecast-server/server

Step 2: Run the One-Time Setup Script​

Next, you need to run the setup script. This will create the .env file and generate your server's unique SSH keys.

# Make the setup script executable
sudo chmod +x setup.sh

# Run the script
./setup.sh
IMPORTANT: Save Your Password!

The setup script will output the randomly generated password for the corecast-host user. You must provide this password to the operator of the remote SDR hardware.

🔑 This password is also saved in the .env file if you need to find it later.

Step 3: Create the Docker Network​

The Core Cast server and its related services (like the API) communicate over a dedicated Docker network. You must create this network manually.

# Create the external network
sudo docker network create corecast_net

This is required because the docker-compose.yml file specifies the network as external: true.

Step 4: Build and Run the Container​

You're now ready to build and start the server. We use the --build flag to build the image locally and -d to run it in detached (background) mode.

sudo docker-compose up --build -d

✅ Your server is now running!!!​

3. Managing Your Server​

Stopping and Removing the Server​

The simplest way to stop and remove all the containers, networks, and volumes defined in the compose file is with a single command:

# The standard way to stop and remove
sudo docker-compose down

If you need to forcefully remove only the corecast-server container (for example, if it's stuck), you can use one of these more aggressive commands.

# Force-remove by name (if you used the default docker-compose.yml)
sudo docker rm -f corecast-server 2>/dev/null || true

# OR
# Find the container by name, get its ID, and force-remove it
sudo docker ps -a --filter name=corecast-server --format '{{.ID}}' | xargs -r sudo docker rm -f

Starting the Server​

To start the server again after it's been stopped:

sudo docker-compose up -d

Rebuilding the Image​

If you've made changes to the Dockerfile or related files, you can rebuild the image and restart the server with one command:

sudo docker-compose up -d --build