Installing a NATS Server

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NATS philosophy is simplicity. Installation is just decompressing a zip file and copying the binary to an appropriate directory; you can also use your favorite package manager. Here's a list of different ways you can install or run NATS:
​Docker​
​Kubernetes​
​Package Manager​
​Release Zip​
​Development Build​
Installing via Docker
With Docker you can install the server easily without scattering binaries and other artifacts on your system. The only pre-requisite is to install docker.
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docker pull nats:latest
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To run NATS on Docker:
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docker run -p 4222:4222 -ti nats:latest
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[1] 2019/05/24 15:42:58.228063 [INF] Starting nats-server version #.#.#
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[1] 2019/05/24 15:42:58.228115 [INF] Git commit [#######]
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[1] 2019/05/24 15:42:58.228201 [INF] Starting http monitor on 0.0.0.0:8222
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[1] 2019/05/24 15:42:58.228740 [INF] Listening for client connections on 0.0.0.0:4222
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[1] 2019/05/24 15:42:58.228765 [INF] Server is ready
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[1] 2019/05/24 15:42:58.229003 [INF] Listening for route connections on 0.0.0.0:6222
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More information on containerized NATS is available here.
Installing via a Package Manager
On Windows:
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choco install nats-server
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On Mac OS:
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brew install nats-server
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To test your installation (provided the executable is visible to your shell):
Typing nats-server should output something like
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[41634] 2019/05/13 09:42:11.745919 [INF] Starting nats-server version 2.*.*
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[41634] 2019/05/13 09:42:11.746240 [INF] Listening for client connections on 0.0.0.0:4222
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...
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[41634] 2019/05/13 09:42:11.746249 [INF] Server id is NBNYNR4ZNTH4N2UQKSAAKBAFLDV3PZO4OUYONSUIQASTQT7BT4ZF6WX7
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[41634] 2019/05/13 09:42:11.746252 [INF] Server is ready
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On Linux:
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yay nats-server
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Downloading a Release Build
You can find the latest release of nats-server on the nats-io/nats-server GitHub releases page.
From the releases page, copy the link to the release archive file of your choice and download it using curl -L.
For example, assuming version X.Y.Z of the server and a Linux AMD64:
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curl -L https://github.com/nats-io/nats-server/releases/download/vX.Y.Z/nats-server-vX.Y.Z-linux-amd64.zip -o nats-server.zip
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unzip nats-server.zip -d nats-server
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Archive:  nats-server.zip
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   creating: nats-server-vX.Y.Z-linux-amd64/
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...
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and finally:
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sudo cp nats-server/nats-server-vX.Y.Z-linux-amd64/nats-server /usr/bin
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Installing From the Source
If you have Go installed, installing the binary is easy:
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GO111MODULE=on go get github.com/nats-io/nats-server/v2
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This mechanism will install a build of master, which almost certainly will not be a released version. If you are a developer and want to play with the latest, this is the easiest way.
To test your installation (provided the $GOPATH/bin is set) by typing nats-server which should output something like
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[41634] 2019/05/13 09:42:11.745919 [INF] Starting nats-server version 2.6.2
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[41634] 2019/05/13 09:42:11.746240 [INF] Listening for client connections on 0.0.0.0:4222
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...
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[41634] 2019/05/13 09:42:11.746249 [INF] Server id is NBNYNR4ZNTH4N2UQKSAAKBAFLDV3PZO4OUYONSUIQASTQT7BT4ZF6WX7
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[41634] 2019/05/13 09:42:11.746252 [INF] Server is ready
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NATS v2 and Go Modules
If you are having issues when using the recent versions of NATS and Go modules such as:
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go: github.com/nats-io/[email protected]: parsing go.mod: unexpected module path "github.com/nats-io/nats.go"
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go: github.com/nats-io/[email protected]: parsing go.mod: unexpected module path "github.com/nats-io/stan.go"
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To fix it:
1.Update your go.mod using the latest tags, for example for both NATS and NATS Streaming clients:
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module github.com/wallyqs/hello-nats-go-mod
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​
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go 1.12
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​
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require (
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    github.com/nats-io/nats.go v1.8.1
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    github.com/nats-io/stan.go v0.5.0
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)
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Or if you want to import the NATS Server v2 to embed it, notice the /v2 after the nats-server module name. If that is not present, then go modules will not fetch it and would accidentally end up with 1.4.1 version of the server.
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require (
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    github.com/nats-io/nats-server/v2 v2.0.0
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    github.com/nats-io/nats.go v1.8.1
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)
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If embedding both NATS Streaming and NATS Servers:
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require (
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    github.com/nats-io/nats-server/v2 v2.0.0 // indirect
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    github.com/nats-io/nats-streaming-server v0.15.1
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)
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1.Next, update the imports within the repo:
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find ./ -type f -name "*.go" -exec sed -i -e 's/github.com\/nats-io\/go-nats-streaming/github.com\/nats-io\/stan.go/g' {} \;
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​
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find ./ -type f -name "*.go" -exec sed -i -e 's/github.com\/nats-io\/go-nats/github.com\/nats-io\/nats.go/g' {} \;
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​
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find ./ -type f -name "*.go" -exec sed -i -e 's/github.com\/nats-io\/gnatsd/github.com\/nats-io\/nats-server\/v2/g' {} \;
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​
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find ./ -type f -name "*.go" -exec sed -i -e 's/github.com\/nats-io\/nats-server/github.com\/nats-io\/nats-server\/v2/g' {} \;
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1.(Recommended) Run Go fmt as the rename will affect the proper ordering of the imports
Gotchas when using go get
When using go get to fetch the client, include an extra slash at the end of the repo. For example:
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GO111MODULE=on go get github.com/nats-io/nats.go/@latest
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GO111MODULE=on go get github.com/nats-io/nats.go/@v1.8.1
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When trying to fetch the latest version of the server with go get, you have to add v2 at the end:
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GO111MODULE=on go get github.com/nats-io/nats-server/[email protected]
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Otherwise, go get will fetch the v1.4.1 version of the server, which is also named (gnatsd), the previous name for nats-server.
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GO111MODULE=on go get github.com/nats-io/[email protected]
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go: finding github.com/nats-io/gnatsd/server latest
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go: finding golang.org/x/crypto/bcrypt latest
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go: finding golang.org/x/crypto latest
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In order to use an older tag, you will have to use the previous name (gnatsd) otherwise it will result in go mod parsing errors.
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# OK
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GO111MODULE=on go get github.com/nats-io/go-nats/@v1.7.2
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​
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# Not OK
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GO111MODULE=on go get github.com/nats-io/nats.go/@v1.7.2
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go: finding github.com/nats-io/nats.go v1.7.2
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go: downloading github.com/nats-io/nats.go v1.7.2
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go: extracting github.com/nats-io/nats.go v1.7.2
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go: finding github.com/nats-io/go-nats/encoders/builtin latest
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go: finding github.com/nats-io/go-nats/util latest
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go: finding github.com/nats-io/go-nats/encoders latest
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go: finding github.com/nats-io/go-nats v1.8.1
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go: downloading github.com/nats-io/go-nats v1.8.1
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go: extracting github.com/nats-io/go-nats v1.8.1
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go: github.com/nats-io/[email protected]: parsing go.mod: unexpected module path "github.com/nats-io/nats.go"
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go: error loading module requirements
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For more information you can review the original issue in GitHub.
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Running and deploying a NATS Server
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Contents
Installing via Docker
Installing via a Package Manager
Downloading a Release Build
Installing From the Source
NATS v2 and Go Modules
Gotchas when using go get