Docker-Proxy-Stack

What is the Docker-Proxy-Stack?

The docker proxy stack is primarily a toolkit for local web development that supports

1. SSL (https://) for all local projects.

2. descriptive names instead of localhost.

3. running multiple projects at the same time

   • sharing database containers (MySQL, PostgreSQL & Redis)

   • sharing certificates

   • sharing a reverse proxy (thus not blocking port 80/443)

4. easy initial setup

5. adding as much “global service” docker containers as you like

6. optional catching E-Mails via SMTP with mailcatcher

Its tools are based on the nginx-proxy from Jason Wilder and contributors.

» Take me to the installation part

How does the Proxy-Stack work?

We first started with a basic docker-compose setup of MySQL, PostgreSQL, Redis, Adminer and PhpMyAdmin. This setup was pretty static and not really extensible, as the compose file was comitted to the repository. This also limited the possibility to configure those five containers or even swap versions. If you wanted to change mysql:5.7 image to a mysql:8, you probably lost those changes after a DockerExec self-update command.

The new Proxy configuration does not work with docker-compose anymore (at least not the proxy itself), but with single shell files. Each one of those files will start a single container into the proxy network. Like the Apache2, we now have spawns-available and spawns-enabled folders withing the repository directory, to tell the proxy, which containers will be started on init command.

This allows to have a mysql:5.7 and mysql:8 container configured for the Proxy-Stack. You can even start and run both at the same time without conflicts, or just start the one you need and disable the other. The way to add projects from (multiple) docker-compose.proxy.yaml files (see below) did not change at all.

How to add Projects to the Docker Proxy Network

The main goal here is to add multiple projects, that are dockerized, to the same proxy network. For a documentation on how to resolve URLs to a specific docker container, please read the nginx-proxy documentation.

1. DockerExec expects a docker-compose.proxy.y(a)ml file that contains services you might need for your project. You may configure some NGINX like this:

   nginx:
       image: nginx:latest
       container_name: ${CON_PREFIX}-web
       volumes:
           - .:/var/www/html
       environment:
           # choose a docker.test subdomain
           VIRTUAL_HOST: my-project.docker.test
           VIRTUAL_PORT: 443
           VIRTUAL_PROTO: https
   

   my-project should be your project name.

2. Specify the Docker network you created above in docker-compose.proxy.y(a)ml:

   services:
      # ...
   
   networks:
       default:
           external: true
           name: ${NETWORK_NAME}
   

3. You also need a .env file to specify at least CON_PREFIX or CON_NAME

As the --link argument for docker run and docker compose is deprecated, make sure to define bridge networks for duplicated containers with the same ports, e.g. MySQL. Take a closer look at the “A Minimal Configuration for PHP” chapter, to get an idea of how to configure the networks.