Inception Project README

Welcome to the Inception project repository! This project was developed as a mandatory part of the 42 School curriculum in Heilbronn and was successfully evaluated on Friday, 27th October 2023.

lsordo@student.42heilbronn.de

Project Overview

Inception is a Docker-based project that focuses on composing three containers to create a networked simulation of a WordPress website. It explores several key areas, including:

• Docker containerization and management
• Networking concepts within Docker
• Understanding the architecture of WordPress and its components
• Deployment of a MariaDB database
• Setting up an Nginx web server

Learning Objectives

Throughout the project, I had the opportunity to gain hands-on experience and knowledge in the following areas:

• Docker: I learned how to use Docker to containerize and manage my application components, ensuring isolation and reproducibility.
• Networking: I explored networking in Docker, enabling containers to communicate with each other and function as a cohesive system.
• WordPress and MariaDB: I delved into the architecture of WordPress and its database management using MariaDB, an essential component of WordPress.
• Nginx: I configured and managed an Nginx web server to serve my WordPress site to users.

Challenges Faced

During the development of Inception, I encountered various challenges:

• Server Networking Setup: Configuring and managing the networking aspects of my containers, including connecting them together, was a complex task.
• SSL Standards (HTTPS): Ensuring compliance with SSL standards for HTTPS security required careful configuration and management.
• Personalization of the Web Domain and WordPress Contents: Customizing the web domain and the content of my WordPress site was essential for making my project unique.
• Configuration of Single Services: Properly configuring each of the service components (WordPress, MariaDB, Nginx) was a detailed and challenging process.
• Security and User Management: Addressing security concerns and managing user access to the application added an extra layer of complexity to the project.

Hosting in VirtualBox

This project must be hosted in a VirtualBox virtual machine due to specific privilege requirements. To set up the project in VirtualBox, I needed to also to:

• Install VirtualBox on my local machine.
• Create a new virtual machine in VirtualBox with the necessary resources (CPU, RAM, etc.).
• Configure the virtual machine to meet the project's privilege requirements. This included adjusting settings related to memory allocation and network configurations.
• Ensured that the necessary environment variables, such as domain names and user datas, were properly configured.
• Start the Docker containers within the virtual machine as per the project's instructions.
• Access the WordPress site via your web browser from my host machine using the configured domain.

Getting Started

To get started with this project, make sure you have VirtualBox and Docker installed on your host machine, and follow the tips for setting up the project in a VirtualBox virtual machine.

Also personalize all files in the repository, i.e. passwords in the .env file (included here solely for didactical purpose), local volumes mouting directories, personalized domain aliases, etc...

Usage

Start

Launch a shell and:

git clone <repository_url> <your_local_folder>
cd <your_local_folder>
make

Open a browser on the host (likely the virtual machine): https://your_domain:443

Stop

Launch another shell and

cd <you_local_folder>
make down

make dozer if you need to really start form scratch again.

Despite not warranting its full functionality in the current source dode state, a develop branch contains lots of interesting stuff for debugging, included some bash scripts that have spared me hours of painful tipping on the keyboard, or at least they should have...

Acknowledgement and credits

A big thank you as always to the 42 School in Heilbronn for the opportunity to work on this project and gain valuable skills in Docker, networking, WordPress, MariaDB, and Nginx.

Thank You (abc order) to Franziska, Max and Rouven: Your generosity is unmatchable, I love you. Thank You Kathrin, not being alone in the darkest moments is of great confort.

Thank You to my three evaluators: slakner, fkhodara, fgabler - it was getting late on Friday evening, but you committed and went through the evaluation with great attention and detail. Really apreaciate your professionalism. As usual, we learn until the very last second.

License

This project is open source and available under the GNU License.