Waypoint Server Installation

Warning

This content is part of the legacy version of Waypoint that is no longer actively maintained. For additional information on the new vision of Waypoint, check out this blog post and the HCP Waypoint documentation.

The recommended way to install the server is using the waypoint install command. This command will install a server into Docker, Kubernetes, AWS ECS, or Nomad, bootstrap the server, and configure your local CLI to access that server. It is a single command to get up and running with Waypoint.

You can also run and configure the server manually using the waypoint server run command. This is meant for more advanced users who want to run Waypoint in a platform that the install command doesn't support.

It is possible to fine-tune the configuration of the server when using the waypoint install command. To further customize the server installation, you may pass advanced flag options specified in the documentation for the waypoint server run command. To set these values, include a -- after the full argument list for install, followed by these advanced flag options. As an example, to set the server log level to trace and disable the UI, you can use the below command.

  waypoint install -platform=docker -accept-tos -- -vvv -disable-ui

Note: Only one Waypoint server needs to be installed and run for any group of people using Waypoint together. If you are a day-to-day user of Waypoint with a group of people you may not need to install a server. In this case, see the documentation on connecting to a server.

Upgrading

For details on upgrading the server, please see the general Waypoint upgrade documentation.

Easy Installation

We provide an opinionated install method for users who wish to get off the ground quickly on certain server platforms with waypoint install.

For more details on what this command provides, as well as any supported server platform caveats, please check out the documentation for waypoint install.

Manually Running the Server

waypoint install is built to help you setup a Waypoint server, but we understand there are going to be many cases where you'll want to run Waypoint manually. To run a Waypoint server manually, you'll use the waypoint server run command.

The instructions below are only if you're manually running a server with waypoint server run.

Start the Server

First, start the server:

$ waypoint server run -db=data.db -accept-tos

» Server configuration:

             DB Path: data.db
        gRPC Address: 127.0.0.1:9701
        HTTP Address: 127.0.0.1:9702
       Auth Required: yes
  Browser UI Enabled: yes
         URL Service: api.waypoint.run:443 (account: token)

...

The waypoint server run command takes a variety of flags for configuration. See the CLI help output for more information.

If you're manually running the server, we will assume that you know how to use a scheduler such as Nomad or service manager such as systemd to run this command in a production environment.

Bootstrap the Server

If this is your first time starting the server against the configured database path, then you will be required to bootstrap the server to retrieve the initial auth token.

The waypoint server run output should contain instructions on how to do this, including a CLI command you can copy and paste. The output should look like the following:

$ waypoint server run -accept-tos
...

» Server requires bootstrapping!

  New servers must be bootstrapped to retrieve the initial auth token for
  connections. To bootstrap this server, run the following command in your
  terminal once the server is up and running.

    waypoint server bootstrap -server-addr=127.0.0.1:9701 -server-tls-skip-verify

  This command will bootstrap the server and setup a CLI context.

Copy and paste that command to bootstrap:

$ waypoint server bootstrap -server-addr=127.0.0.1:9701 -server-tls-skip-verify

This will output the bootstrap token but more importantly this will configure a CLI context automatically. You can now verify the connection using waypoint context verify.

Ready!

At this point, the running server is ready for use!