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3. Set up BinderHub

BinderHub uses Helm Charts to set up the applications we’ll use in our Binder deployment. If you’re curious about what Helm Charts are and how they’re used here, see the Zero to JupyterHub guide.

Below we’ll cover how to configure your Helm Chart, and how to create your BinderHub deployment.

3.1. Preparing to install

To configure the Helm Chart we’ll need to generate several pieces of information and insert them into yaml files.

First we’ll create a folder where we’ll store our BinderHub configuration files. You can do so with the following commands:

mkdir binderhub
cd binderhub

Now we’ll collect the information we need to deploy our BinderHub. The first is the content of the JSON file created when we set up the container registry. For more information on getting a registry password, see Set up the container registry. We’ll copy/paste the contents of this file in the steps below.

Create two random tokens by running the following commands then copying the outputs.:

openssl rand -hex 32
openssl rand -hex 32

Note

This command is run twice because we need two different tokens.

3.2. Create secret.yaml file

Create a file called secret.yaml and add the following:

jupyterhub:
    hub:
      services:
        binder:
          apiToken: "<output of FIRST `openssl rand -hex 32` command>"
    proxy:
      secretToken: "<output of SECOND `openssl rand -hex 32` command>"

Next, we’ll configure this file to connect with our registry.

3.2.1. If you are using gcr.io

Add the information needed to connect with the registry to secret.yaml. You’ll need the content in the JSON file that was created when we created our gcr.io registry account. Below we show the structure of the YAML you need to insert. Note that the first line is not indented at all:

registry:
  # below is the content of the JSON file downloaded earlier for the container registry from Service Accounts
  # it will look something like the following (with actual values instead of empty strings)
  # paste the content after `password: |` below
  password: |
    {
    "type": "<REPLACE>",
    "project_id": "<REPLACE>",
    "private_key_id": "<REPLACE>",
    "private_key": "<REPLACE>",
    "client_email": "<REPLACE>",
    "client_id": "<REPLACE>",
    "auth_uri": "<REPLACE>",
    "token_uri": "<REPLACE>",
    "auth_provider_x509_cert_url": "<REPLACE>",
    "client_x509_cert_url": "<REPLACE>"
    }

Tip

  • The content you put just after password: | must all line up at the same tab level.
  • Don’t forget the | after the password: label.

3.2.2. If you are using Docker Hub

Update secret.yaml by entering the following:

registry:
  username: <docker-id>
  password: <password>

Note

  • ``<docker-id>`` and ``<password>`` are your credentials to login to Docker Hub. If you use an organization to store your Docker images, this account must be a member of it.

3.3. Create config.yaml

Create a file called config.yaml and choose the following directions based on the registry you are using.

3.3.1. If you are using gcr.io

To configure BinderHub to use gcr.io, simply add the following to your config.yaml file:

registry:
  prefix:  gcr.io/<google-project-id>/<prefix>
  enabled: true

Note

  • ``<google-project-id>`` can be found in the JSON file that you pasted above. It is the text that is in the project_id field. This is the project ID, which may be different from the project name.
  • ``<prefix>`` can be any string, and will be prepended to image names. We recommend something descriptive such as binder-dev or binder-prod.

3.3.2. If you are using Docker Hub

Using Docker Hub is slightly more involved as the registry is not being run by the same platform that runs BinderHub.

Update config.yaml by entering the following:

registry:
  enabled: true
  prefix: <docker-id/organization-name>/<prefix>
  host: https://registry.hub.docker.com
  authHost: https://index.docker.io/v1
  authTokenUrl: https://auth.docker.io/token?service=registry.docker.io

Note

  • ``<docker-id/organization-name>`` is where you want to store Docker images. This can be your Docker ID account or an organization that your account belongs to.
  • ``<prefix>`` can be any string, and will be prepended to image names. We recommend something descriptive such as binder-dev or binder-prod.

3.4. Install BinderHub

First, get the latest helm chart for BinderHub.:

helm repo add jupyterhub https://jupyterhub.github.io/helm-chart
helm repo update

Next, install the Helm Chart using the configuration files that you’ve just created. Do this by running the following command:

helm install jupyterhub/binderhub --version=0.1.0-...  --name=<choose-name> --namespace=<choose-namespace> -f secret.yaml -f config.yaml

Note

  • --version refers to the version of the BinderHub Helm Chart. Available versions can be found here.
  • name and namespace may be different, but we recommend using the same name and namespace to avoid confusion. We recommend something descriptive and short, such as binder.
  • If you run kubectl get pod --namespace=<namespace-from-above> you may notice the binder pod in CrashLoopBackoff. This is expected, and will be resolved in the next section.

This installation step will deploy both a BinderHub and a JupyterHub, but they are not yet set up to communicate with each other. We’ll fix this in the next step. Wait a few moments before moving on as the resources may take a few minutes to be set up.

3.5. Connect BinderHub and JupyterHub

In the google console, run the following command to print the IP address of the JupyterHub we just deployed.:

kubectl --namespace=<namespace-from-above> get svc proxy-public

Copy the IP address under EXTERNAL-IP. This is the IP of your JupyterHub. Now, add the following lines to config.yaml file:

hub:
  url: http://<IP in EXTERNAL-IP>

Next, upgrade the helm chart to deploy this change:

helm upgrade <name-from-above> jupyterhub/binderhub --version=v0.1.0-85ac189  -f secret.yaml -f config.yaml

3.6. Try out your BinderHub Deployment

If the helm upgrade command above succeeds, it’s time to try out your BinderHub deployment.

First, find the IP address of the BinderHub deployment by running the following command:

kubectl --namespace=<namespace-from-above> get svc binder

Note the IP address in EXTERNAL-IP. This is your BinderHub IP address. Type this IP address in your browser and a BinderHub should be waiting there for you.

You now have a functioning BinderHub at the above IP address.

3.7. Increase your GitHub API limit

Note

Increasing the GitHub API limit is not strictly required, but is recommended before sharing your BinderHub URL with users.

By default GitHub only lets you make 60 requests each hour. If you expect your users to serve repositories hosted on GitHub, we recommend creating an API access token to raise your API limit to 5000 requests an hour.

  1. Create a new token with default (check no boxes) permissions here.

  2. Store your new token somewhere secure (e.g. keychain, netrc, etc.)

  3. Update secret.yaml by entering the following:

    github:
  accessToken: <insert_token_value_here>

This value will be loaded into GITHUB_ACCESS_TOKEN environment variable and BinderHub will automatically use the token stored in this variable when making API requests to GitHub. See the GitHub authentication documentation for more information about API limits.

For next steps, see Debugging BinderHub and Tear down your Binder deployment.

2. Set up the container registry 4. Tear down your Binder deployment