Docker Agent

The Docker Agent provides the same core functionality as the Native Agent but is designed for containerized environments. It is the ideal choice for edge gateways or servers where you already manage your infrastructure using Docker.

Key Differences

• Containerized execution: It runs within an isolated Docker container rather than directly on the host operating system.

• Environment configuration: Unlike the Native Agent, credentials are not "baked in." You must provide them via environmental variables during startup.

• Hardware & network access: To reach local networks, USB devices, or persist data, you use standard Docker features (like host networking or volume mounting).

• Platform independent: It runs on any platform that supports Docker, providing a consistent deployment model across different hardware.

Where to get it?

Our Docker agent is available as a publicly downloadable image:

heisenware/docker-agent:<version>

You can find a list of all available versions on Docker Hub.

How to use it

Setting up the Docker Agent is straightforward. You simply need to configure the following environment variables when running the container:

docker run -it \
-e HW_DOMAIN=<account>.<workspace> \
-e HW_BROKER=mqtts://<account>.heisenware.cloud \
-e HW_USERNAME=<username> \
-e HW_PASSWORD=<password> \
-e HW_AGENT_ID=<unique-id> \
heisenware/docker-agent:v91-slim

Retrieving Credentials

To get your HW_USERNAME and HW_PASSWORD, you must first add a VRPC Integration in the App Manager.

Example

For an account named my-company, an integration with the username agentRunner, and the password secret, the command would look like this:

docker run -it \
-e HW_DOMAIN=my-company.default \
-e HW_BROKER=mqtts://my-company.heisenware.cloud \
-e HW_USERNAME=agentRunner \
-e HW_PASSWORD=secret \
-e HW_AGENT_ID=my-agent-1 \
heisenware/docker-agent:v91-slim

Once the connection is successfully established, your console will show a confirmation screen (see below) indicating the agent is online and connected to the workspace.

Persisting Data

To ensure your data and configurations (such as created instances) persist across container restarts or updates, you must mount the /shared volume to a persistent location on your host machine.