How to access ethereum/client-go shell outside docker container

Question

I have just started learning Blockchain and following a YouTube tutorial . In that tutorial he installed ethereum by cloning the repo , but I have installed the ethereum/go-client using docker as per the instructions given in official documentation . I am beginner to Docker too . When I run the docker container using docker run -it -p 30303:30303 ethereum/client-go command , my terminal looks like this :-

Now I want to make an account using personal.newAccount() command . But where I should run this command ? Container is not providing me any shell where I can run this command .

I have searched about this lot on internet but doesn't get a solution , all of them is showing how to install geth using docker only .

Please help me . I have just started learning blockchain .

Thank

Answer 1

Welcome to the Ethereum Stack Exchange.

The following should enable you to connect to the Geth console through the Docker container. There may be other ways of accomplishing the same thing.

1. Find the name of the container running Geth

The following command will list all running Docker containers:

docker ps

make note of the name and/or id

2. Connect to the container

docker exec -it <NAME OR ID> bash

This should put the terminal "in" the Docker container.

(Note: if this command gives you a no such file or directory: unknown. error, try replacing bash with sh, zsh, or ash. It depends on which shell is installed in the container by default. (Source)

3. Create an account

Your reference to personal.newAccount() seems to be a reference to the Geth console. You'll need to find the .ipc file Geth creates while running and connect to it. You may already know where it is. If you don't, you should be able to use:

find / -name "geth.ipc"

make note of the path

4. Open the Geth Console

geth attach path/to/geth.ipc

This should open the Geth JavaScript console in the terminal. You will now be able to use personal.newAccount()!

(Please note that this answer assumes that you want to use the Geth console, and not clef.)

Note: While researching the answer to this question, I came across something that might be useful for you. Running these commands as is will not save the data between sessions. That means that if you are syncing a public network (testnet or mainnet), that you'll need to restart syncing from the beginning every time you launch the container. If you'd like to save the sync data to disk, then when you run docker run, you should add the -v flag along with the path you want the data saved in, like this:

docker run -it -p 30303:30303 -v /path/on/host:/root/.ethereum ethereum/client-go

where /path/on/host is the directory the data should be saved in. (Source)

Answer 2

docker exec -it /bin/sh

should do it at least with new images as of 2/23/22