Erika Heidi, Digital Ocean - With the popularization of microservices and distributed systems, containers became a popular choice for creating lightweight and disposable environments that can be easily replicated and distributed. Docker Compose was created to facilitate managing Docker environments that require multiple service containers, such as the typical LEMP stack. This talk will demonstrate how to create a PHP development environment with Docker Compose, using a Laravel 6 application as case study. We'll see how to define and integrate services, how to share files between containers, and how to manage your environment with Docker Compose commands.

1. How to Create PHP
Development
Environments with
Docker Compose

2. DevOps Tech Writer
@DigitalOcean
@erikaheidi

3. ● Part 1: PHP development environments in the wild,
how Docker Compose fits in
● Part 2: Building a multi-container environment for
Laravel with Docker Compose
● Part 3: Demo
Talk Goals

4. Introduction
Development Environments,
PHP, and
Docker Compose

5. PHP Development
Environments

6. 2000's

7. ~2010

8. ● Pros:
○ Share, dispose and replicate full envs
○ Easy to Understand
● Cons:
○ Big Footprint
○ Depends on Automation Tools
~2012

9. ● Pros:
○ Small footprint, fast and lightweight
○ Eliminates need for heavy automation
● Cons:
○ Not as intuitive as VMs
○ Defining and managing (micro) services
~2014

10. Docker Compose

11. Docker Compose is a tool that allows you to run
multi-container application environments
based on definitions set in a YAML file.
It uses service definitions to build fully
customizable environments with multiple
containers that can share networks and data
volumes.
● Easy to set up and
manage
● Multiple composed
envs on a single host
● Preserves volume data
● Variables to allow
customization

12. Example
docker-compose.yml
version: '3.7'
services:
web:
image: nginx
ports:
- "8000:80"
This simple
docker-compose.yml
file creates a service
container based on an
"nginx" image,
redirecting all requests
on local port 8000 to
port 80 in the container.

13. Up and
Running

14. ● Controlling the Environment
○ up | down | stop | start
● Monitoring & Troubleshooting
○ ps | logs | top | kill
● Executing Commands on containers
○ exec service_name command
Using Docker Compose
docker-compose [ command ]

15. Case Study
Travellist: a Laravel demo
application

16. Travellist

17. Environment Needs
Web Server: Nginx
We'll use Nginx to serve the
application in our
development environment.
Database: MySQL
The application uses a
MySQL database to store
places and mark them as
"visited" or "to go".
PHP-FPM
PHP-FPM is required to parse
the PHP content and return
the results to Nginx.

18. Application Needs
PHP Extensions
Laravel requires a few
different PHP extensions that
should be installed on the
application container.
Artisan Commands
We need the ability to run
Artisan and Composer
commands from the host
machine.
Composer PHP
In order to install and update
Laravel's dependencies, we'll
need Composer installed on
the application container.

19. ● Nginx
○ pre-built image
● MySQL
○ pre-built image
● App (PHP-FPM)
○ Image based on custom Dockerfile

20. ● Application files
○ host app, nginx
● Nginx configuration file
○ host nginx
● MySQL database dump
○ host mysql

21. ● host app, nginx, mysql

22. Setting Up a
docker-compose.yml

23. App+PHP
docker-compose.yml
app:
build:
context: ./
dockerfile: Dockerfile
image: travellist
container_name: travellist-app
restart: unless-stopped
working_dir: /var/www/
volumes:
- ./:/var/www
networks:
- travellist
This service will be
responsible for parsing
all PHP requests and
command-line calls
made with Composer
and Artisan. It will build
a new image based on
the provided Dockerfile.

24. Nginx
docker-compose.yml
nginx:
image: nginx:1.17-alpine
container_name: travellist-nginx
restart: unless-stopped
ports:
- 8000:80
volumes:
- ./:/var/www
- ./docker-compose/nginx:/etc/nginx/conf.d
networks:
- travellist
This service will be
responsible for serving
the application via
Nginx. A port
redirection will allow us
to access port 80 inside
the container through
port 8000 in the host.

25. DB
docker-compose.yml
db:
image: mysql:5.7
container_name: travellist-db
restart: unless-stopped
environment:
MYSQL_DATABASE: ${DB_DATABASE}
MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD: ${DB_PASSWORD}
MYSQL_PASSWORD: ${DB_PASSWORD}
MYSQL_USER: ${DB_USERNAME}
SERVICE_TAGS: dev
SERVICE_NAME: mysql
...
This service will run a
MySQL database to
store the application's
data. It will extract
values from the .env
Laravel file to create a
new DB and user.

26. DB (cont)
docker-compose.yml
...
volumes:
- ./docker-compose/mysql:/docker-entrypoint-initdb.d
networks:
- travellist
The shared volume
contains a .sql file that
will be automatically
imported (a feature
provided by this image).

27. App Dockerfile

28. Dockerfile
Dockerfile
FROM php:7.4-fpm
ARG uid=1000
ARG user=sammy
RUN apt-get update && apt-get install -y
git
curl
libpng-dev
libonig-dev
libxml2-dev
zip
unzip
...
This Dockerfile will build
a new image based on
the php:7.4-fpm
official PHP image.
We start by installing
some required system
packages.

29. Dockerfile
Dockerfile
…
RUN apt-get clean && rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/*
RUN docker-php-ext-install pdo_mysql mbstring exif pcntl bcmath gd
# Create system user to run Composer and Artisan Commands
RUN useradd -G www-data,root -u $uid -d /home/$user $user
RUN mkdir -p /home/$user/.composer &&
chown -R $user:$user /home/$user
...
Variables are used to
create a new user and
grant them the same
privileges as your
current system user on
the host, so that you
don't run into
permission issues with
synced files.

30. Dockerfile
Dockerfile
...
# Install Composer
COPY --from=composer:latest /usr/bin/composer /usr/bin/composer
# Set working directory
WORKDIR /var/www
USER $user
We then install
Composer, set the work
dir and change to the
new user, so that when
we run commands via
docker-compose exec,
they are executed as
the new system user.

31. Directory
Tree
TERMINAL
application/
├── docker-compose
│ ├── mysql
│ │ └── init_db.sql
│ └── nginx
| └── travellist.conf
├── Dockerfile
└── docker-compose.yml
Here's an overview of
what our Docker
Compose setup looks
like, excluding the
application files.

32. Demo Time

33. THANK YOU!
@erikaheidi