Docker: localhost -> production

Simple example how to deploy local environment to production server using Docker.

This workshop is really introductory - don't expect too much. I want to make you curious what is possible...

Requirements:

• local working Docker 17.03+
• local working Docker machine 0.12+
• working server in the cloud with installed Ubuntu 16.04+ and ssh access
• after clonning repository rename provided env-example file to .env

Local development & testing environment

Let's start with typical use case - we have epic application and we need a simple way to show a working Proof of Concept or MVP.

docker-compose up -d --build

docker-compose ps
docker-compose logs -f

Endpoints to check:

Our epic web app http://0.0.0.0

Broken sidekick http://0.0.0.0:8000

Master Rabbit http://0.0.0.0:9000

Backup Rabbit http://0.0.0.0:9001

We have 2 other services without web UI - producer and consumer (you can configure them using environment variables). Those services are here for testing our solution. You can scale them and check server and application reliability.

monitoring & info about our infrastructure:

cAdvisor http://0.0.0.0:10000

Portainer http://0.0.0.0:10001

In Rabbit UI you can check how producer and consumer services works. In cAdvisor and Portainer you can monitor system health and containers logs.

Fix for our sidekick

• Uncomment (remove #) line with BROKER=rabbit-master in .env file
• Redeploy our stack executing in shell docker-compose up -d

Now you know how to "fix" (configure) application using environment variables at runtime. Try to modify other variables and redeploy stack.

Clean up before real test

docker-compose down

Production deployment preflight

Your local Docker should be in swarm mode - if this is not a case just run: docker swarm init

docker-compose build && docker stack deploy app --prune -c docker-compose.yml

docker stack ls
docker stack ps app
docker service ls

You can try the same endpoints like in previous step and maybe you can notice some changes? ;) Take a look at Rabbit UI, cAdvisor and Portainer.

Preparing production server

You need a working server with ubuntu 16.04+ and key based ssh access. Replace "ubuntu" and 54.246.147.65 with your server user name and your server ip address or domain.

docker-machine create -d generic --generic-ssh-user "ubuntu" --generic-ip-address 54.246.147.65 production-server

eval $(docker-machine env production-server)
docker-machine ls
docker swarm init
docker node ls

Production deployment

You have to push images of your application into registry (remember to change swoldanski in docker-compose.yml to your registered user name for Docker registry):

docker-compose build && docker-compose push

Deployment to production server:

docker stack deploy app --prune -c docker-compose.yml

docker stack ls
docker stack ps app
docker service ls

Try the same endpoints like in previous steps but replace 0.0.0.0 with your server ip address or domain.

What next?

You can continue development of your application. After every iteration bump VERSION in .env file and test it locally with docker-compose. When you are ready for next deployment to production or staging, just change ${VERSION:-0.1.8} for every service in docker-compose.yml to match current VERSION in .env file and use docker deploy stack to publish your changes.

Clean up or switching between docker-compose and docker swarm

docker-compose down

docker stack rm app

Clean up production server

eval $(docker-machine env production-server)
docker stack rm app
docker-machine rm production-server