Install CockroachDB on Linux

Download the binary

The CockroachDB binary for Linux requires glibc, libncurses, and tzdata, which are found by default on nearly all Linux distributions, with Alpine as the notable exception.

1. Visit Releases to download the CockroachDB archive for the architecture of your Linux host. The archive contains the cockroach binary and the supporting libraries that are used to provide spatial features. Extract the archive and optionally copy the cockroach binary into your PATH so you can execute cockroach commands from any shell. If you get a permission error, use sudo.

Note:

If you plan to use CockroachDB's spatial features, you must complete the following steps. Otherwise, your installation is now complete.

2. CockroachDB uses custom-built versions of the GEOS libraries. Copy these libraries to one of the locations where CockroachDB expects to find them.

   By default, CockroachDB looks for external libraries in /usr/local/lib/cockroach or a lib subdirectory of the CockroachDB binary's current directory. If you place these libraries in another location, you must pass the location in the --spatial-libs flag to cockroach start. The instructions below assume the /usr/local/lib/cockroach location.

   1. Create the directory where the external libraries will be stored:

      mkdir -p /usr/local/lib/cockroach

   2. Copy the library files to the directory. In the following commands, replace {ARCHITECTURE} with linux-amd64 for Intel, or with linux-arm64 for ARM.

      cp -i cockroach-v25.1.0-alpha.1.linux-{ARCHITECTURE}/lib/libgeos.so /usr/local/lib/cockroach/

      cp -i cockroach-v25.1.0-alpha.1.linux-{ARCHITECTURE}/lib/libgeos_c.so /usr/local/lib/cockroach/

      If you get a permissions error, prefix the command with sudo.

3. Verify that CockroachDB can execute spatial queries.

   1. Make sure the cockroach binary you just installed is the one that runs when you type cockroach in your shell:

      which cockroach

      /usr/local/bin/cockroach

   2. Start a temporary, in-memory cluster using cockroach demo:

      cockroach demo

   3. In the demo cluster's interactive SQL shell, run the following command to test that the spatial libraries have loaded properly:

      > SELECT ST_IsValid(ST_MakePoint(1,2));

      You should see the following output:

        st_isvalid
      --------------
      true
      (1 row)

      If your cockroach binary is not properly accessing the dynamically linked C libraries in /usr/local/lib/cockroach, it will output an error message like the one below.

      ERROR: st_isvalid(): geos: error during GEOS init: geos: cannot load GEOS from dir "/usr/local/lib/cockroach": failed to execute dlopen
                Failed running "sql"

4. Keep up-to-date with CockroachDB releases and best practices:

   Thanks!

Use Kubernetes

To orchestrate CockroachDB using Kubernetes, either with configuration files or the Helm package manager, use the following tutorials:

• Orchestrate CockroachDB Locally with Minikube
• Orchestrate CockroachDB in a Single Kubernetes Cluster
• Orchestrate CockroachDB Across Multiple Kubernetes Clusters

Use Docker

CockroachDB's Docker images are multi-platform images that contain binaries for both Intel and ARM. Multi-platform images do not take up additional space on your Docker host.

Experimental images are not qualified for production use and not eligible for support or uptime SLA commitments.

1. Install a container runtime, such as Docker Desktop.
2. Verify that the runtime service is installed correctly and running in the background. Refer to the runtime's documentation. For Docker, start a terminal and run docker version. If you get an error, verify your installation and try again.

3. Visit Docker Hub and decide which image tag to pull. Releases are rolled out gradually. Docker images for a new release are published when other binary artifacts are published. The following tag formats are commonly used, although other tags are available.

   Tag	Example	Description
   An exact patch	v25.1.0-alpha.1	Pins a cluster to an exact patch. The cluster is upgraded to a newer patch or major version only when you pull a newer tag.
   Latest patch within a major version	latest-v25.1	Automatically updates a cluster to the latest patch of the version you specify. This tag is recommended in production, because it keeps your cluster updated within a major version but does not automatically upgrade your cluster to a new major version.
   latest	The latest patch within the latest major version.	This is the default if you do not specify a tag. It updates your cluster automatically to each new patch and major version, and is not recommended in production.

   Copy the tag you want to pull.

4. Pull the image. Replace {TAG} with the tag from the previous step.

   docker pull cockroachdb/cockroach:{TAG}
   

5. Start a cluster by starting the container on each node using docker start. The default command is cockroach start. Pass your desired flags as the final argument. For details, refer to Deploy a local container in Docker.

For CockroachDB v22.2.beta-5 and above, Docker images are multi-platform images that contain binaries for both Intel and ARM. Multi-platform images do not take up additional space on your Docker host.

Docker images for previous releases contain Intel binaries only. Intel binaries can run on ARM systems, but with a significant reduction in performance.

CockroachDB on ARM is in Limited Access in v22.2.13, and is experimental in all other versions. Experimental images are not qualified for production use and not eligible for support or uptime SLA commitments.

1. Install Docker for Linux. Please carefully check that you meet all prerequisites.

2. Confirm that the Docker daemon is running in the background:

   $ docker version

   If you do not see the server listed, start the Docker daemon.

   Note:

   On Linux, Docker needs sudo privileges.

3. Pull the image for the v25.1.0-alpha.1 release of CockroachDB from Docker Hub:

   $ sudo docker pull cockroachdb/cockroach-unstable:v25.1.0-alpha.1

4. Keep up-to-date with CockroachDB releases and best practices:

   Thanks!

Build from Source

See the public wiki for guidance. When building on the ARM architecture, refer to Limitations.