Mirth Connect: Part 1 - Getting Started with 🐳 Docker

Technical schematic of Mirth Connect inside a Docker container with HL7v2 message flow — The engine that has run healthcare integrations for twenty years

Getting Started

Head over to Docker and download the application for your OS.

Once Docker is installed and running, pull the latest NextGen Connect Docker image with: docker pull nextgenhealthcare/connect

You should see an image with repository: nextgenhealthcare/connect and tag 'latest'.

Start a Connect container by running: docker run --name connect -d -p 8443:8443 nextgenhealthcare/connect

-name connect names your container connect
d runs your container in the background
p 8443:8443 maps your OS port 8443 to the container's port 8443
nextgenhealthcare/connect tells docker what image to use, in this case the latest image, when creating your container

Connect is now running and you can reach it at https://localhost:8443. One thing to know: only port 8443 is mapped to the host OS. If you deploy a channel inside this container and try to send a message to it, it will fail until you map the channel's port as well.

Check the container status with: docker ps -a

Check the server logs with: docker logs connect

Stop and remove the container with: docker stop connect && docker rm connect

When you remove a container running on the embedded Derby database, the database goes with it — all your channels and messages included. The "Docker Volumes" section below covers how to persist that data.

Configuring

The Connect Docker image supports configuration via environment variables, custom properties files, and Docker Secrets. Here's how each approach works.

Environment Variables

The Docker images support these environment variables natively:

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# Docker provides a single command that will clean up any resources — images, # containers, volumes, and networks — that are dangling (not tagged or associated # with a container). docker system prune # To additionally remove any stopped containers and all unused images (not just # dangling images), add the -a flag to the command. docker system prune -a # Use the docker images command with the -a flag to locate the ID of the images # you want to remove. This will show you every image, including intermediate # image layers. When you've located the images you want to delete, you can pass # their ID or tag to docker rmi. docker images -a docker rmi Image Image # Remove Dangling Images docker images -f dangling=true docker image prune # Remove By Pattern docker images -a | grep "pattern" docker images -a | grep "pattern" | awk '{print $3}' | xargs docker rmi # Remove all images docker images -a docker rmi $(docker images -a -q) # Remove Containers docker ps -a docker rm ID_or_Name ID_or_Name # Remove all exited containers docker ps -a -f status=exited docker rm $(docker ps -a -f status=exited -q) # Remove all containers with multiple filters docker ps -a -f status=exited -f status=created docker rm $(docker ps -a -f status=exited -f status=created -q) # Stop and remove all containers docker ps -a docker stop $(docker ps -a -q) docker rm $(docker ps -a -q) # Remove volumes docker volume ls docker volume rm volume_name volume_name # Remove dangling volumes docker volume ls -f dangling=true docker volume prune # Remove a container and its volume docker rm -v container_name # Remove all containers according to a pattern # You can find all the containers that match a pattern using a # combination of `docker ps` and `grep`. # When you're satisfied that you have the list you want to delete, # you can use `awk` and `xargs` to supply the ID to `docker rm`. # Note that these utilities are not supplied by Docker and are # not necessarily available on all systems: docker ps -a | grep "pattern" docker ps -a | grep "pattern" | awk '{print $1}' | xargs docker rm

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Clint Johnson

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Mirth Connect: Part 1 - Getting Started with 🐳 Docker

Getting Started

Configuring

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