You can access the code files for this chapter through the following GitHub link: https://github.com/PacktPublishing/Blockchain-Development-for-Finance-Projects/tree/master/Chapter%209.

For this project, we'll be working with the stellar/quickstart Docker container, provided by the Stellar Development Foundation for trying out the Stellar platform. Details of the Docker image can be found at the following link: https://hub.docker.com/r/stellar/quickstart/.

I'm using Ubuntu 18.04.2 LTS for running the applications and deploying my blockchain. This project assumes that you are working on a Unix operating system. Additionally, this project assumes you have node.js and npm installed. I'm using node.js version 13.0.1 and npm version 6.12.0. You will also need the latest versions of Docker and Docker Compose.

We'll be launching a Docker container with a single node, single client-server private instance of the Stellar platform. 

To download the Docker image and launch the container, run the following command in a Terminal window:

docker run --rm -it -p "8000:8000" --name stellar stellar/quickstart --standalone

This runs a standalone instance of the Stellar network, with a single client and a single node that will act as our development environment. It also runs a postgres instance that stores transaction data that can be retrieved using the Horizon client server.

We'll be configuring this network instance further in the Building the private test Stellar network section.