Install Airflow on Docker

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Hi, I am coder2j.

In this airflow tutorial, I will show you how to install Airflow on Docker and run it with Docker Compose.

If you are a video person, check out the YouTube video.

Let’s dive right in!

At the time of writing this post, the latest version of Apache Airflow is 2.6.3.

Prerequisites #

Before we begin, ensure you have Docker and Docker Compose installed on your system. You can download them from the official Docker website: Docker Downloads.

Check the docker & docker-compose version

Step 1: Create a Docker Compose File #

First, you’ll need to create a docker-compose.yaml file in a directory of your choice. This file will define the services required for running Apache Airflow and its dependencies. Below is a basic example of a docker-compose.yaml file:

version: '3.8'
x-airflow-common:
  &airflow-common
  image: ${AIRFLOW_IMAGE_NAME:-apache/airflow:2.6.3}
  environment:
    &airflow-common-env
    AIRFLOW__CORE__EXECUTOR: LocalExecutor
    AIRFLOW__DATABASE__SQL_ALCHEMY_CONN: postgresql+psycopg2://airflow:airflow@postgres/airflow
    # For backward compatibility, with Airflow <2.3
    AIRFLOW__CORE__SQL_ALCHEMY_CONN: postgresql+psycopg2://airflow:airflow@postgres/airflow
    AIRFLOW__CORE__FERNET_KEY: 'your-very-strong-key'
    AIRFLOW__CORE__DAGS_ARE_PAUSED_AT_CREATION: 'true'
    AIRFLOW__CORE__LOAD_EXAMPLES: 'true'
    AIRFLOW__API__AUTH_BACKENDS: 'airflow.api.auth.backend.basic_auth,airflow.api.auth.backend.session'
    AIRFLOW__SCHEDULER__ENABLE_HEALTH_CHECK: 'true'
  volumes:
    - ${AIRFLOW_PROJ_DIR:-.}/dags:/opt/airflow/dags
    - ${AIRFLOW_PROJ_DIR:-.}/logs:/opt/airflow/logs
    - ${AIRFLOW_PROJ_DIR:-.}/config:/opt/airflow/config
    - ${AIRFLOW_PROJ_DIR:-.}/plugins:/opt/airflow/plugins
  user: "${AIRFLOW_UID:-50000}:0"
  depends_on:
    &airflow-common-depends-on
    postgres:
      condition: service_healthy

services:
  postgres:
    image: postgres:13
    environment:
      POSTGRES_USER: airflow
      POSTGRES_PASSWORD: airflow
      POSTGRES_DB: airflow
    volumes:
      - postgres-db-volume:/var/lib/postgresql/data
    healthcheck:
      test: ["CMD", "pg_isready", "-U", "airflow"]
      interval: 10s
      retries: 5
      start_period: 5s
    restart: always

  airflow-webserver:
    <<: *airflow-common
    command: webserver
    ports:
      - "8080:8080"
    healthcheck:
      test: ["CMD", "curl", "--fail", "http://localhost:8080/health"]
      interval: 30s
      timeout: 10s
      retries: 5
      start_period: 30s
    restart: always
    depends_on:
      <<: *airflow-common-depends-on
      airflow-init:
        condition: service_completed_successfully

  airflow-scheduler:
    <<: *airflow-common
    command: scheduler
    healthcheck:
      test: ["CMD", "curl", "--fail", "http://localhost:8974/health"]
      interval: 30s
      timeout: 10s
      retries: 5
      start_period: 30s
    restart: always
    depends_on:
      <<: *airflow-common-depends-on
      airflow-init:
        condition: service_completed_successfully

  airflow-init:
    <<: *airflow-common
    entrypoint: /bin/bash
    # yamllint disable rule:line-length
    command:
      - -c
      - |
        function ver() {
          printf "%04d%04d%04d%04d" $${1//./ }
        }
        airflow_version=$$(AIRFLOW__LOGGING__LOGGING_LEVEL=INFO && gosu airflow airflow version)
        airflow_version_comparable=$$(ver $${airflow_version})
        min_airflow_version=2.2.0
        min_airflow_version_comparable=$$(ver $${min_airflow_version})
        if (( airflow_version_comparable < min_airflow_version_comparable )); then
          echo
          echo -e "\033[1;31mERROR!!!: Too old Airflow version $${airflow_version}!\e[0m"
          echo "The minimum Airflow version supported: $${min_airflow_version}. Only use this or higher!"
          echo
          exit 1
        fi
        if [[ -z "${AIRFLOW_UID}" ]]; then
          echo
          echo -e "\033[1;33mWARNING!!!: AIRFLOW_UID not set!\e[0m"
          echo "If you are on Linux, you SHOULD follow the instructions below to set "
          echo "AIRFLOW_UID environment variable, otherwise files will be owned by root."
          echo "For other operating systems you can get rid of the warning with manually created .env file:"
          echo "    See: https://airflow.apache.org/docs/apache-airflow/stable/howto/docker-compose/index.html#setting-the-right-airflow-user"
          echo
        fi
        one_meg=1048576
        mem_available=$$(($$(getconf _PHYS_PAGES) * $$(getconf PAGE_SIZE) / one_meg))
        cpus_available=$$(grep -cE 'cpu[0-9]+' /proc/stat)
        disk_available=$$(df / | tail -1 | awk '{print $$4}')
        warning_resources="false"
        if (( mem_available < 4000 )) ; then
          echo
          echo -e "\033[1;33mWARNING!!!: Not enough memory available for Docker.\e[0m"
          echo "At least 4GB of memory required. You have $$(numfmt --to iec $$((mem_available * one_meg)))"
          echo
          warning_resources="true"
        fi
        if (( cpus_available < 2 )); then
          echo
          echo -e "\033[1;33mWARNING!!!: Not enough CPUS available for Docker.\e[0m"
          echo "At least 2 CPUs recommended. You have $${cpus_available}"
          echo
          warning_resources="true"
        fi
        if (( disk_available < one_meg * 10 )); then
          echo
          echo -e "\033[1;33mWARNING!!!: Not enough Disk space available for Docker.\e[0m"
          echo "At least 10 GBs recommended. You have $$(numfmt --to iec $$((disk_available * 1024 )))"
          echo
          warning_resources="true"
        fi
        if [[ $${warning_resources} == "true" ]]; then
          echo
          echo -e "\033[1;33mWARNING!!!: You have not enough resources to run Airflow (see above)!\e[0m"
          echo "Please follow the instructions to increase amount of resources available:"
          echo "   https://airflow.apache.org/docs/apache-airflow/stable/howto/docker-compose/index.html#before-you-begin"
          echo
        fi
        mkdir -p /sources/logs /sources/dags /sources/plugins
        chown -R "${AIRFLOW_UID}:0" /sources/{logs,dags,plugins}
        exec /entrypoint airflow version        
    # yamllint enable rule:line-length
    environment:
      <<: *airflow-common-env
      _AIRFLOW_DB_UPGRADE: 'true'
      _AIRFLOW_WWW_USER_CREATE: 'true'
      _AIRFLOW_WWW_USER_USERNAME: ${_AIRFLOW_WWW_USER_USERNAME:-airflow}
      _AIRFLOW_WWW_USER_PASSWORD: ${_AIRFLOW_WWW_USER_PASSWORD:-airflow}
      _PIP_ADDITIONAL_REQUIREMENTS: ''
    user: "0:0"
    volumes:
      - ${AIRFLOW_PROJ_DIR:-.}:/sources

volumes:
  postgres-db-volume:

Make sure to replace your-very-strong-key with your secret keys for security purposes. For test purposes, you can leave it as it is.

Step 2: Start Apache Airflow #

Open your terminal, navigate to the directory containing your docker-compose.yaml file, and run the following command:

docker-compose up

This command will start Apache Airflow and PostgreSQL (used as Airflow’s metadata database) containers. Once the containers have been launched successfully, you can see the log like the following:

The log shows that airflow has been launched successfully and is ready to use

Airflow will create a couple of folders and your project directory will look similar to this:

Airflow project directory tree of running airflow on docker

Step 3: Access the Airflow Web UI #

Once the containers are up and running, you can access the Apache Airflow Web UI by opening a web browser and navigating to http://localhost:8080. The default login username is airflow and the password is airflow too. You should see the Airflow dashboard, where you can start managing your workflows.

Launch airflow webserver UI

Step 4: Change Airflow’s Configurations #

You can create a .env environmental variable file in the project directory to customize the airflow’s configuration. For example, use the following two environmental variables to change the airflow webserver login username and password

_AIRFLOW_WWW_USER_USERNAME=my_username
_AIRFLOW_WWW_USER_PASSWORD=my_password

Step 5: Add Your DAGs #

Remember the dags directory that was created by Airflow earlier? This is where you can add your custom DAG files to define your workflows. Apache Airflow will automatically detect and execute these DAGs according to your specifications.

That’s it! You should have successfully installed Apache Airflow on Docker and get it running with Docker Compose.

Now, it’s your turn. Do I cover everything you need to get Airflow running on Docker?

Let me know if you face any issues or any suggestions in the comment below.

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