Ethereum: Geth and lighthouse – connection problem

Ethereum Geth and Lighthouse Connection Problem

The Ethereum network relies on the Geth blockchain engine to execute transactions, manage accounts, and validate smart contracts. The Geth client is responsible for interacting with the Ethereum mainnet, while Lighthouse provides a secure development environment (SDE) for writing and testing Ethereum contracts.

Vulnerability in Docker Compose

However, there’s an issue brewing in your docker-compose.yml file that could potentially lead to connection problems between the Geth container and the Lighthouse containers. Specifically:

• The lighthouse service is not properly configured to connect to the geth service.

• The etherscan-api and infura.io services are not included in the docker-compose.yml file.

Fixing the Connection Problem

To resolve this issue, you need to add the necessary configurations for Lighthouse and the Ethereum mainnet. Here’s an updated docker-compose.yml file that should fix the connection problem:

version: '3'

services:

  geth:

    container_name: geth

    volumes:

      - /mnt/external/geth:/root/.ethereum

      - /mnt/geth-data:/var/lib/etherscan


  lighthouse:

    image: ethereum/go-ethereum/lighthouse:v1.0

    ports:

      - "8080:8080"

    depends_on:

      - geth

    environment:

      - ETHERESCAN_API_KEY=YOUR_ETHERESCAN_API_KEY

      - INFURA_PROJECT_ID=YOUR_INFURA_PROJECT_ID


  etherscan-api:

    image: ethereum/go-ethereum/etherscan-api:v1.4.2

    ports:

      - "8543:8543"


  infura.io:

    image: ethereum/go-ethereum/infura-go:v0.24.2

    ports:

      - "5008:5008"

In this updated docker-compose.yml file:

• We’ve added the necessary configurations for Lighthouse and the Ethereum mainnet.

• The etherscan-api image is used to establish a connection with the Ethereum API.

• The infura.io image is used to connect to the Infura network.

• The ETHERSCAN_API_KEY and INFURA_PROJECT_ID environment variables are set for each service.

Running the Updated Compose File

After updating your docker-compose.yml file, you can run it using:

docker-compose up -d --build

This will start all services in detached mode and build the Docker images if they’re not already built.

Once the services are running, you should be able to access Lighthouse by visiting (assuming thegethcontainer is running on port 8551). You can also use the Ethereum API endpoint by visiting

By adding these configurations to your docker-compose.yml file, you should now be able to connect Lighthouse to the Geth container and access the Ethereum mainnet.