Containerize Laravel/PHP web application

Return-portal containerization to AWS ECS EC2 cluster

1. created return-portal database into dev-finance-db with the same schema as on local developers machines

   1. export schema with mysqldump into an .sql file and run the script on destination db

2. created ECS cluster app-stack on AWS Dev account

   1. make sure the attached IAM role has access to the required AWS services

3. modify Dockerfile and docker-compose.yml for docker container configuration

   1. docker-compose.yml will be used only for building and running containers (MySQL, app, nginx) on docker local machine

   2. Dockerfile will use php-fpm:alpine image to build an image for our container

4. configured nginx configuration file /config/nginx/conf.d/app.conf

   1. this configuration file will be copied over to /etc/nginx/conf.d location with docker-compose.yml for local env and Dockerfile on AWS ECS env

   2. nginx will proxy route traffic to our app:8000

5. created AWS ECR new repository return-portal-dev-ecr. Connect your local terminal to this new ECR repo:

   1. aws ecr get-login-password --region us-east-2 | docker login --username AWS --password-stdin AWSAccountID.dkr.ecr.us-east-2.amazonaws.com 

6. build local app docker image 

   1. docker build -t return-portal:latest . = this will create an image for ARM64 architecture which will make Docker container to fail on ECS cluster. 

   2. docker buildx build --platform=linux/amd64 -t return-portal-dev-ecr . = this command will build an image for AMD64.

7. build local nginx docker image (optional or you can build image through docker-compose.yml)

   1. docker run -p 127.0.0.1:8000:80 --name returnportal_nginx -it return-portal-nginx

8. run docker-compose to build your app and webserver

   1. docker-compose up

   2. docker-compose up —build ==> this is building new images and updates our app as well

9. add mysql build into your docker-compose.yml

   1. docker-compose up = to bring all containers up

   2. docker-compose exec return-portal-app php artisan migrate = to test database connection and tables creation

10. created start-script.sh script, where we start php-fpm in the background, run ‘php artisan migrate’ and then bring php-fpm back in the foreground:

    1. start-script.sh has been added to Dockerfile

    2. tty needs to be enabled in docker-compose.yml so we have a terminal to run the above script

Note: to run the app you have to run:

- npm run dev = Laravel app will start package.json `dev` script

- npm run build = runs production script

- docker-compose up = will start docker containers so you can open the app in your browser

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On the local machine:

Install ‘composer’ and then all packages required by your project:

$brew install composer = this command will have to go to the ‘Build’ stage

$composer install —ignore-platform-reqs = this command will have to go to the ‘Build’ stage

Clear node module, re-install node and run production environment:

$rm -rf node_modules/ && npm install && npm run prod = this command will have to go to ‘Build’ stage

We need to run the following command so that the app will be able to update the database with new entries, create a queue for client requests and listen on WebSockets port 6001:

$php artisan migrate

$php artisan queue:work

$php artisan websockets:serve

$docker-compose exec app php artisan migrate ==> this will run ‘php artisan migrate’ inside the docker app container

$docker-compose build —no-cache = deletes cache before build 

$docker-compose down = deletes all existing images

$docker build -t return portal-nginx:latest -f Dockerfile_nginx .

$docker exec 76756fd6ebcd php artisan websockets:serve = container needs to listen on port 6001 for incoming client communication aside the port 9000 where it listens for URL requests

Open up MySQL container terminal and type:

$mysql -h 7c0fe2ee16c1 -u root -p password;

$show databases;

$use return_portal;

$show tables;

$show tables from return_portal;

$show tables like ‘permissions%’;

$INSERT INTO `return_portal`.`users` (`id`, `name`, `email`, `email_verified_at`, `password`, `remember_token`, `created_at`, `updated_at`) VALUES ('1', 'nameOfuser', 'UserEmailAddress', '2022-10-03 00:00:00', 'PasswordForAuthentication', 'tokenForGettingAccess', '2022-10-03 00:00:00', '2022-10-03 00:00:00');

$INSERT INTO `entities` VALUES (1,'CompanyName1','2022-10-06 23:36:53','2022-10-06 23:36:53','G'),(2,'CompanyName2','2022-10-06 23:36:53','2022-10-06 23:36:53','W'),(3,'CompanyName3','2022-10-06 23:36:53','2022-10-06 23:36:53','B');

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docker network ls

docker image ls

docker run -d --network=bridge --name=app rportal-app

docker run -d -p 8000:80 --network=bridge --name=nginxserver rportal-nginx

docker exec -it nginxserver ping rportal-app

$docker exec 76756fd6ebcd php artisan migrate:fresh --force = run this artisan migration from container host instance

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FROM nginx:alpine

COPY ./config/nginx/conf.d/app.conf /etc/nginx/conf.d/default.conf

COPY . /var/www

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