A very informal introduction
to Docker
Federico Galatolo
Once upon a time...
Webserver
Database Server
Reverse Proxy
Webserver
And then was the cloud...
Datacenter
Database
Webserver
Webserver
OS Architecture
GNU Coreutils Applications
GNU
GNU C Library
Linux Kernel
Hardware
GNU Coreutils Applications
VM Architecture GNU C Library
Kernel
Virtual Hardware
GNU Coreutils Hypervisor
GNU C Library
Kernel
Hardware
VMs Architecture
GNU Coreutils Applications GNU Coreutils Applications GNU Coreutils Applications
GNU C Library GNU C Library GNU C Library
Kernel Kernel Kernel
Virtual Hardware Virtual Hardware Virtual Hardware
Hypervisor
Too much overhead
GNU Coreutils Applications
Linux Containers GNU C Library
Kernel
Virtual Hardware
GNU Coreutils Hypervisor
GNU C Library
Kernel
Hardware
Linux Container
GNU Coreutils Applications
GNU C Library
Linux Containers Architecture
GNU Coreutils Applications GNU Coreutils Applications
GNU C Library GNU C Library
Linux Containers Interface
Kernel
Hardware
Containers VS VMs: Open a File in VM
Application Open a File
GNU C Library open(file)
Kernel HD Block
Virtual Hardware Virtual HD Location
Hypervisor Locate Virt. HD file and offset
GNU C Library open(virt_hd_file)
Kernel HD Block
Virtual Hardware HD Location
Containers VS VMs: Open a File in Container
Application Open a File
GNU C Library open(file)
Linux Containers Interface open(container_file)
Kernel HD Block
Hardware HD Location
Linux Containers
Basically zero overhead and
host-like performances
GNU Coreutils Applications
GNU C Library
VM-like isolation
Lightweight and portable
But can we do better?
Linux Containers
What if some
Application applications use the
same linux
Library Library Library distribution or
libraries?
GNU Coreutils Linux Distribution
How to handle
GNU C Library
updates?
Wouldn't be nice if ...?
Distribution
DistributionV2 DistributionV2
Distribution
Libraries Libraries
Application 1 Application 2
Docker
Docker is an interface to easily
manage containers
It can use different containers
backends (even full
virtualization)
Handle containers in a onion-like
structure
Time to get your hads dirty
Download and install docker:
https://docs.docker.com/install/
Dockerfile(1)
The Dockerfile is a file with which you can specify a docker image.
It is a plaintext file representing a sequence of steps needed to create your image.
Each command creates a “layer”
• FROM <image>
• Use <image> as base image
• RUN <cmd>
• Run the command <cmd>
• CMD <cmd>
• Specify the command to run your application
Docker: build and run a container
• Build a container
• docker build -t <container name> <Dockerfile path>
• Run a container
• docker run <container name>
Hello world Example
Docker EXPOSE
Host
• EXPOSE <port>
Docker
• docker -p
<host_ip>:<host_port>
:<container_port>/
Container <protocol>
• iptables?
Dockerfile(2)
• COPY <host src> <container dst>
• Copy a file/folder from host <host src> to container <container dst>
• EXPOSE <port>/<protocol>
• Expose the container port <port> to docker
Hello world v2 Example
Echo Server Example
Docker Volumes
Volumes are a way to mount host folders in container ones
Container
Host
/
etc bin var /home/user/website
... ...
Docker Volumes
• docker -v <host_path>:<container_path>
• Mount <host_path> host folder into <container_path> container folder
• Docker volumes are way more complex than this. But for now this is
enough
Hello world v3 Example
Python webserver Example
Docker CLI isnt enough
Docker CLI interface is amazing!
Manage lifecycle of container with a bunch of batch scripts?
Maybe there is a better way
Docker Compose
With Docker Compose you can define and control an entire architecture
with one yaml file
• Services
• Volumes
• Networks
• Connections
• Dependencies
• ...
YAML
YAML is a human readable serialization language, easier than XML and JSON.
• field: value
• - for list elements
• indentation spaces for objects
That's all
YAML: Example
XML JSON YAML
YAML: Example 2
Docker Compose
• version: <docker-compose-version>
• services:
• service-name:
• image: <docker-image>
• build: <path-to-dockerfile>
• ports:
• <host-port>:<container-port>
• ...
• volumes:
• <host-path>:<container-path>
• ...
• environment:
• ENV_VAR=value
• ...
• deploy:
• replicas: <number_of_replicas> Works only in
• .... “swarm” mode
Docker Compose CLI
• Uses the file “docker-compose.yml” by default, you can specify a
different yaml file with -f
• docker-compose up
• Starts all the containers
• docker-compose stop
• Stops all the containers
• docker-compose build
• Builds all the containers that use the “build” keyword
• You can start the containers in detached mode with -d
• You can add the flag --compatibility to use “swarm” features
Docker internal DNS
• Docker SDN (Software Defined Network) has its own DNS resolver
• You can use the container name to resolve its ip
• If you scale a container (with docker-compose scale o replicas) the
internal DNS will round-robin all the containers
• Do NOT use this as redundancy but always use a proper reverse proxy
Let's build a LEMP stack
Docker
Webserver PHP Server
Load Load
...
...
Balancer Balancer
Database
Webserver PHP Server
linux-nginx-php-mysql
Let's build a LEMP stack: Webserver
Docker
Webserver
Let's build a LEMP stack: Webserver
https://hub.docker.com/_/nginx
Default configuration file location: /etc/nginx/conf.d/default.conf
OT: nginx
nginx (pronounced “Engine-X”) is an high performance
• Web Server
• Reverse Proxy
• Load Balancer
• HTTP Cache
• ...
Very easy to configure and manage. Used by 30% of the websites worldwide
OT: nginx basic webserver
server {
server {
listen <port>;
listen 80;
location <regex> {
location / {
root <path>;
root /var/www;
}
location /images/ {
location <regex> {
root /data/images;
root <path>;
}
}
}
}
OT: nginx basic reverse proxy
upstream <name> { upstream revhttp {
server host1:port; server http-1:8080;
server host2:port; server http-2:8080;
.... }
}
server {
server { listen 80
listen <port> location / {
location <regex> { proxy_pass http://revhttp;
proxy_pass <proto>://<name> }
} }
}
Let's build a LEMP stack: PHP
Docker
Webserver PHP Server
php-fpm
OT: Why php-fpm?
Apache php_mod php-fpm reverse proxy
PHP execute in the same machine of the PHP execute in a different machine than
webserver the webserver
PHP interpreter is always loaded PHP interpreter is loaded only for php
content
Scale websever = scale php Scale webserver only or php only (or both)
Apache is slow php-fpm is webserver agnostic
PHP Server
Webserver
PHP Server
How php-fpm with nginx?
server {
listen 80;
location / {
root /website;
location ~ \.php$ {
try_files $uri =404;
fastcgi_split_path_info ^(.+\.php)(/.+)$;
fastcgi_pass php:9000;
fastcgi_index index.php;
include fastcgi_params;
fastcgi_param SCRIPT_FILENAME $document_root$fastcgi_script_name;
fastcgi_param PATH_INFO $fastcgi_path_info;
}
}
}
Assuming php-fpm running on port 9000 of host “php”
fastcgi_pass beheaves like proxy_pass it accepts both an host or an upstream
Let's build a LEMP stack: PHP Load Balancer
Docker
PHP Server
Load
...
Balancer
Webserver
PHP Server
You just need to scale the php container and add a couple of lines to the webserver configuration
Let's build a LEMP stack: HTTP Load Balancer
Docker
Webserver PHP Server
Load Load
...
...
Balancer Balancer
Webserver PHP Server
Scale the webserver container, add another container just for the HTTP reverse proxy and expose
its port to the host.
Let's build a LEMP stack: MySQL Server
Docker
Webserver PHP Server
Load Load
...
...
Balancer Balancer
Database
Webserver PHP Server
Let's build a LEMP stack: MySQL Server
php:7-fpm does not have mysqli installed:
• Create your own container with a Dockerfile
• Start from php:7-fpm
• Execute docker-php-ext-install mysqli
• Use this image in your docker-compose (with “build”)
Use the mysql image mysql:5.7
• set the environment variable MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD
