# Bitnami package for NATS

## What is NATS?

> NATS is an open source, lightweight and high-performance messaging system. It is ideal for distributed systems and supports modern cloud architectures and pub-sub, request-reply and queuing models.

[Overview of NATS](https://nats.io/)
Trademarks: This software listing is packaged by Bitnami. The respective trademarks mentioned in the offering are owned by the respective companies, and use of them does not imply any affiliation or endorsement.

## TL;DR

```console
docker run -it --name nats bitnami/nats:latest
```

## Why use Bitnami Images?

* Bitnami closely tracks upstream source changes and promptly publishes new versions of this image using our automated systems.
* With Bitnami images the latest bug fixes and features are available as soon as possible.
* Bitnami containers, virtual machines and cloud images use the same components and configuration approach - making it easy to switch between formats based on your project needs.
* All our images are based on [**minideb**](https://github.com/bitnami/minideb) -a minimalist Debian based container image that gives you a small base container image and the familiarity of a leading Linux distribution- or **scratch** -an explicitly empty image-.
* All Bitnami images available in Docker Hub are signed with [Notation](https://notaryproject.dev/). [Check this post](https://blog.bitnami.com/2024/03/bitnami-packaged-containers-and-helm.html) to know how to verify the integrity of the images.
* Bitnami container images are released on a regular basis with the latest distribution packages available.

Looking to use NATS in production? Try [VMware Tanzu Application Catalog](https://bitnami.com/enterprise), the commercial edition of the Bitnami catalog.

## How to deploy NATS in Kubernetes?

Deploying Bitnami applications as Helm Charts is the easiest way to get started with our applications on Kubernetes. Read more about the installation in the [Bitnami NATS Chart GitHub repository](https://github.com/bitnami/charts/tree/master/bitnami/nats).

## Why use a non-root container?

Non-root container images add an extra layer of security and are generally recommended for production environments. However, because they run as a non-root user, privileged tasks are typically off-limits. Learn more about non-root containers [in our docs](https://techdocs.broadcom.com/us/en/vmware-tanzu/application-catalog/tanzu-application-catalog/services/tac-doc/apps-tutorials-work-with-non-root-containers-index.html).

## Only the latest stable branch maintained in the free Bitnami catalog

Starting December 10th, 2024, only the latest stable branch of each container image will receive updates in the free Bitnami catalog. To access up-to-date releases for all upstream-supported branches (e.g., LTS), consider upgrading to Bitnami Premium. Previously released versions will not be deleted and will remain available for pulling from DockerHub.

Please check the Bitnami Premium page in our partner [Arrow Electronics](https://www.arrow.com/globalecs/na/vendors/bitnami?utm_source=GitHub&utm_medium=containers) for more information.

## Supported tags and respective `Dockerfile` links

Learn more about the Bitnami tagging policy and the difference between rolling tags and immutable tags [in our documentation page](https://techdocs.broadcom.com/us/en/vmware-tanzu/application-catalog/tanzu-application-catalog/services/tac-doc/apps-tutorials-understand-rolling-tags-containers-index.html).

You can see the equivalence between the different tags by taking a look at the `tags-info.yaml` file present in the branch folder, i.e `bitnami/ASSET/BRANCH/DISTRO/tags-info.yaml`.

Subscribe to project updates by watching the [bitnami/containers GitHub repo](https://github.com/bitnami/containers).

## Prerequisites

To run this application you need [Docker Engine](https://www.docker.com/products/docker-engine) >= `1.10.0`. [Docker Compose](https://docs.docker.com/compose/) is recommended with a version `1.6.0` or later.

## Get this image

The recommended way to get the Bitnami NATS Docker Image is to pull the prebuilt image from the [Docker Hub Registry](https://hub.docker.com/r/bitnami/nats).

```console
docker pull bitnami/nats:latest
```

To use a specific version, you can pull a versioned tag. You can view the
[list of available versions](https://hub.docker.com/r/bitnami/nats/tags/)
in the Docker Hub Registry.

```console
docker pull bitnami/nats:[TAG]
```

If you wish, you can also build the image yourself by cloning the repository, changing to the directory containing the Dockerfile and executing the `docker build` command. Remember to replace the `APP`, `VERSION` and `OPERATING-SYSTEM` path placeholders in the example command below with the correct values.

```console
git clone https://github.com/bitnami/containers.git
cd bitnami/APP/VERSION/OPERATING-SYSTEM
docker build -t bitnami/APP:latest .
```

## Connecting to other containers

Using [Docker container networking](https://docs.docker.com/engine/userguide/networking/), a NATS server running inside a container can easily be accessed by your application containers using a NATS client.

Containers attached to the same network can communicate with each other using the container name as the hostname.

### Using the Command Line

In this example, we will create a NATS client instance that will connect to the server instance that is running on the same docker network as the client.

#### Step 1: Create a network

```console
docker network create app-tier --driver bridge
```

#### Step 2: Launch the NATS server instance

Use the `--network app-tier` argument to the `docker run` command to attach the NATS container to the `app-tier` network.

```console
docker run -d --name nats-server \
    --network app-tier \
    --publish 4222:4222 \
    --publish 6222:6222 \
    --publish 8222:8222 \
    --volume /path/to/nats-server.conf:/etc/nats-server.conf:ro \
    bitnami/nats:latest -c /etc/nats-server.conf
```

#### Step 3: Launch your NATS client instance

You can create a NATS client instance as shown below:

```console
docker run -it --rm \
    --network app-tier \
    --volume /path/to/your/workspace:/go
    bitnami/natscli -s nats://nats-server:4222 <your-nats-command>
```

### Using a Docker Compose file

When not specified, Docker Compose automatically sets up a new network and attaches all deployed services to that network. However, we will explicitly define a new `bridge` network named `app-tier`. In this example we assume that you want to connect to the NATS server from your own custom application image which is identified in the following snippet by the service name `myapp`.

```yaml
version: '2'

networks:
  app-tier:
    driver: bridge

services:
  nats:
    image: 'bitnami/nats:latest'
    ports:
      - 4222:4222
      - 6222:6222
      - 8222:8222
    networks:
      - app-tier
    volumes:
      - /path/to/nats-server.conf:/etc/nats-server.conf:ro
  myapp:
    image: 'YOUR_APPLICATION_IMAGE'
    networks:
      - app-tier
```

> **IMPORTANT**:
>
> 1. Please update the `YOUR_APPLICATION_IMAGE` placeholder in the above snippet with your application image
> 2. In your application container, use the hostname `nats` to connect to the NATS server

Launch the containers using:

```console
docker-compose up -d
```

## Configuration

### Running commands

To run commands inside this container you can use `docker run`, for example to execute `nats-server -c nats-server.cfg` you can follow the example below:

```console
docker run -d --name nats-server -p 4222:4222 -p 6222:6222 -p 8222:8222 \
  --volume /path/to/nats-server.conf:/etc/nats-server.conf:ro \
  bitnami/nats:latest -c /etc/nats-server.conf
```

### Further documentation

For further documentation, please check [NATS documentation](https://docs.nats.io/)

## Notable Changes

### 2.10.24-debian-12-r3

* This image revision dramatically reduces the image given it removes the existing OS distro. Instead, it simply includes the NATS binary on top of a scratch base image.

### 2.6.4-debian-10-r14

* The configuration logic is now based on Bash scripts in the *rootfs/* folder.

## Using `docker-compose.yaml`

Please be aware this file has not undergone internal testing. Consequently, we advise its use exclusively for development or testing purposes. For production-ready deployments, we highly recommend utilizing its associated [Bitnami Helm chart](https://github.com/bitnami/charts/tree/main/bitnami/nats).

If you detect any issue in the `docker-compose.yaml` file, feel free to report it or contribute with a fix by following our [Contributing Guidelines](https://github.com/bitnami/containers/blob/main/CONTRIBUTING.md).

## Contributing

We'd love for you to contribute to this container. You can request new features by creating an [issue](https://github.com/bitnami/containers/issues) or submitting a [pull request](https://github.com/bitnami/containers/pulls) with your contribution.

## Issues

If you encountered a problem running this container, you can file an [issue](https://github.com/bitnami/containers/issues/new/choose). For us to provide better support, be sure to fill the issue template.

## License

Copyright &copy; 2025 Broadcom. The term "Broadcom" refers to Broadcom Inc. and/or its subsidiaries.

Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
You may obtain a copy of the License at

<http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0>

Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
limitations under the License.
