Ubuntu Docker container for Laravel web applications

Docker-laravel is a LEMP base image for running Laravel web applications. It is loosely inspired by phusion/baseimage-docker.

Required and optional packages are bundled into a single container, based on Ubuntu 14.04 server.

These services run with process supervision, using Supervisor:

• nginx
• php5-fpm (with php5-mcrypt, php5-mysqlnd, and php5-curl)
• mysql-server
• openssh-server
• cron
• beanstalkd

Additionally, these services can optionally be enabled for process supervision (see below):

• artisan queue:listen
• selenium server (for testing, not production)

These packages are preinstalled:

• nodejs with npm
• nano
• git
• php5-cli
• mysql-client
• composer
• curl
• phantomjs
• wkhtmltopdf
• php5-xdebug (installed, but disabled by default, see below)
• python (*dependency for supervisord)
• default-jre (*dependency for Selenium server)

Running a container

1. Download the public Docker image from Dockerhub:

docker pull mtmacdonald/docker-laravel:1.4.0

2. Run the Docker image as a new Docker container:

docker run -d \
-p 80:80 -p 443:443 -p 3306:3306 \
-v /home/app:/share \
--restart=always \
--name=appname \
mtmacdonald/docker-laravel:1.4.0

Replace '/home/app' with the path to the Laravel application's root directory in the host. This directory is a shared volume and so can be used to access the application files in either the host or the container.

Connecting to a container with SSH

Development use (insecure)

Docker-laravel ships with SSH server for accessing a terminal inside the container. For convenience, it is preconfigured with an insecure key that should be replaced for production use. To connect with the insecure key:

1. Fetch the insecure SSH key:

cd /home/
curl -o insecure_key -fSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/mtmacdonald/docker-laravel/master/provision/keys/insecure_key
chown `whoami` insecure_key
chmod 600 insecure_key

2. Find the I.P. address of the container:

docker inspect container_name | grep IPA

3. Connect with SSH:

ssh -i /home/insecure_key root@<IP address>

Production use

For production, replace the insecure private key with a true private key:

1. In the host, generate a new public-private key pair (enter 'production.key') when prompted:

cd /home
sudo ssh-keygen -t rsa
sudo chmod 644 production.key

There should then be two new files in the /home directory: i) production.key ii) production.key.pub

2. Copy production.key.pub to /root/.ssh/authorized_keys in the container. Note this is an overwrite, not an append (so all previously valid keys, including insecure_key will be removed).

cat /home/production.key.pub | ssh -i /home/insecure_key root@<IP address> "cat > /root/.ssh/authorized_keys"

3. Connect with SSH:

ssh -i /home/production.key root@<IP address>

Process status

supervisorctl can be used to control the processes that are managed by supervisor.

In the container:

supervisorctl

Installing Laravel

Laravel is not bundled in the Docker image. Laravel, or your own application, need to be installed manually:

In the container:

cd /share
git clone https://github.com/laravel/laravel .
composer install

Queue:listen

The queue listener (php artisan queue:listen) can be added as supervised process by uncommenting the lines in /etc/supervisord/queue.conf (in the container).

Selenium server

Selenium server (for automated headless browser testing with PhantomJS) is installed but does not run by default. Uncomment the lines in /etc/supervisord/selenium.conf to add selenium as a supervised process.

XDEBUG

The XDEBUG PHP extension is installed but not enabled by default. To enable it, uncomment the lines in /etc/php5/mods-available/xdebug.ini.