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Docker Manual

The best and quickest way is to get started with lancache.net is to use the quickstart. The below guides give more information on how to implement these containers without using docker-compose if you have a specific reason not to do so.

Requirements

Simple Full Stack startup

To initialise a full caching setup with dns and https passthrough you can use the following commands as a starting point:

Double Check

Please check that `hostname -I` returns the correct IP before running this snippet! 

export HOST_IP=`hostname -I | cut -d' ' -f1`
docker run --restart unless-stopped --name lancache-dns --detach -p 53:53/udp -e USE_GENERIC_CACHE=true -e LANCACHE_IP=$HOST_IP lancachenet/lancache-dns:latest
docker run --restart unless-stopped --name lancache --detach -v /cache/data:/data/cache -v /cache/logs:/data/logs -p 80:80 -p 443:443 lancachenet/monolithic:latest
echo Please configure your router/dhcp server to serve dns as $HOST_IP

Configuring your firewall

Once lancache-dns and monolithic are up and running you need to configure your router to hand out the IP address of the lancache-dns instance instead of your usual default. This is called “DNS poisoning” and is the primary intercept method for our cachable traffic.

The ideal solution when deploying lancache.net is to distribute the IP of your lancache-dns server via dhcp. Many commercial routers will have an option under LAN settings (or similar) to change the DNS Server IP. Unfortunately not all consumer brand routers are so versatile so if you cannot find a LAN DNS setting you can use the WAN settings instead. There are many different makes and models of router and each is configured differently. We have put together a guide for some common makes and models which can be found here

It's always DNS

It's very important the lancache-dns is the ONLY dns server given out to your clients. Any other dns servers should be configured using the UPSTREAM_DNS option in the .env file.

Testing your cache

Now you’ve configured your dns, started that stack and are ready to test things are operating. Here’s some very basic diagnostics and tests we would suggest to run to see if things are working.

  1. Check your dns is being intercepted
  • Run a few queries using command prompt to check that your dns is pointing at your cache, the following should all result in your cache ip if everything is working
ipconfig /flushdns
nslookup steam.cache.lancache.net
nslookup lancache.steamcontent.com
  1. Download a game through steam

  • If everything is working you should find the first time you download a game speeds which are equivalent to your internet speed. You may find that initial downloads through the cache are slightly slower, but thats ok.

    Why do we cache

    We cache traffic in order to provide benefit to many users in a large environment. LanCache is optimised for hundreds to thousands of gamers downloading at once not one or two users on a small scale. The emphasis is always on superior cached performance over uncached.

  1. Uninstall the first game and download again
  • This time you should find your game downloads much faster (depending on your limiting factor: Server Disk, Client Disk, Network, see hardware.

  1. Try a few other cdns

  2. Precache some of the more popular games you might expect to happen at your event

  • Although precaching isn’t necessary, it certainly helps the initial demand on a cache when everyone turns up at the same time.
  1. Get your friends round and enjoy the entire lan being able to download a game for only 1x external traffic.
Stay Up to Date

We recommend you update your lancache.net containers regularly to benefit from the latest bug fixes. Check out our guide on upgrading →