Step 2: Connect

If you want to use the BigchainDB Python driver to communicate with a BigchainDB node or cluster, the first step is to connect to one. This page explains how to do that.

First, make sure you’re using Python 3 and you’ve installed the bigchaindb_driver Python package.

Next, in Python, import the BigchainDB class so we can use it to connect:

from bigchaindb_driver import BigchainDB

Finally, to make the connection, you need to know the BigchainDB Root URL of the BigchainDB node or cluster where HTTP requests can be sent. There are several possible cases, listed below.

Case 1: BigchainDB on localhost

If a BigchainDB node is running locally (and the BIGCHAINDB_SERVER_BIND setting wasn’t changed from the default localhost:9984), you would connect to the local BigchainDB server using:

bdb = BigchainDB('http://localhost:9984')

Case 2: A Known BigchainDB API Root Endpoint

If you’re connecting to a BigchainDB cluster hosted by someone else, then they’ll tell you their API Root Endpoint. A BigchainDB API Root endpoint can take many forms. It can use HTTP or HTTPS. It can use a hostname or an IP address. The port might not be 9984. Here are some examples:

bdb = BigchainDB('http://example.com:9984')
bdb = BigchaindB('http://api.example.com:9984')
bdb = BigchaindB('http://example.com:1234')
bdb = BigchaindB('http://example.com')  # http is port 80 by default
bdb = BigchaindB('https://example.com')  # https is port 443 by default
bdb = BigchaindB('http://12.34.56.123:9984')
bdb = BigchaindB('http://12.34.56.123:5000')

Case 3: Docker Container on localhost

If you are running the Docker-based dev setup that comes along with the bigchaindb_driver repository (see Development Environment with Docker for more information), and wish to connect to it from the bdb-driver linked (container) service, use:

bdb = BigchainDB('http://bdb-server:9984')

Alternatively, you may connect to the containerized BigchainDB node from “outside”, in which case you need to know the port binding:

$ docker-compose port bdb-server 9984
0.0.0.0:32780

bdb = BigchainDB('http://0.0.0.0:32780')