WordPress Deployment: Docker, Nginx, Apache, and SSL

Simplify the deployment of your WordPress website with our easy-to-follow guide. Use Docker Compose, Nginx, Apache, and SSL for a seamless installation process.

We will also create volumes so the changes or updates will be preserved while the container restarts.

This setup is tested on Google cloud with an instance running Ubuntu 22.04 OS. You can also make this setup in any cloud services like AWS or, Azure or, DigitalOcean, or any dedicated or VPS servers.

Prerequisites

1. Install Docker on Ubuntu 22.04
2. Install Docker Compose on Ubuntu 22.04.

Please make sure you have completed all the steps mentioned above.

• Domain pointed to your server IP address.
• Docker installed and configured.
• Docker Compose installed and configured.

Once you have all the prerequisites done, you can proceed to make the setup and configure WordPress.

Create Project Directory

SSH to your server and start by creating a new project directory named wp-project. You can also name it whatever you need.

mkdir wp-project

Create Docker Compose YML File

Now, navigate inside the project directory and create a new docker-compose.yml file with the following configuration.

cd wp-project

Create a new docker-compose.yml file.

nano docker-compose.yml

Copy the entire contents below and paste it in the file.

Configure Docker Compose

Make sure to replace the below mentioned environment variables.

docker-compose.ymlversion: "3.9"
services:
    wordpress:
        container_name: wordpress
        image: wordpress:php8.2-apache
        restart: always
        stdin_open: true
        tty: true
        environment:
            WORDPRESS_DB_HOST: mariadb
            WORDPRESS_DB_USER: db_user
            WORDPRESS_DB_PASSWORD: db_user_pass
            WORDPRESS_DB_NAME: db_name
        volumes:
            - wordpress_data:/var/www/html
    mariadb:
        container_name: mariadb
        image: mariadb
        restart: always
        environment:
            MYSQL_DATABASE: db_name
            MYSQL_USER: db_user
            MYSQL_PASSWORD: db_user_pass
            MYSQL_RANDOM_ROOT_PASSWORD: 'root_pass'
        volumes:
            - db_data:/var/lib/mysql
    nginx:
        container_name: nginx
        image: nginx:latest
        restart: unless-stopped
        ports:
            - 80:80
            - 443:443
        volumes:
            - ./nginx/conf:/etc/nginx/conf.d
            - ./certbot/conf:/etc/nginx/ssl
            - ./certbot/data:/var/www/html
    certbot:
        container_name: certbot
        image: certbot/certbot:latest
        command: certonly --webroot --webroot-path=/var/www/html --email youremail@domain.com --agree-tos --no-eff-email -d domain.com -d www.domain.com
        volumes:
            - ./certbot/conf:/etc/letsencrypt
            - ./certbot/logs:/var/log/letsencrypt
            - ./certbot/data:/var/www/html
volumes:
    db_data:
    wordpress_data:

Hit CTRL-X followed by Y and ENTER to save and exit the file.

Docker Compose Configuration: Explanation

Here are the configuration details:

• Version: Compose a file version compatible with the Docker Engine. You can check compatibility here.
• Services: Here, we have four services named WordPress, MariaDB, nginx, and certbot.
• Image: We use the latest WordPress with PHP 8.2, Apache, Mariadb, Nginx, and Certbotimages available in the Docker hub.
• Volumes:
  • wordpress_data: We have configured this directory to be synced with the directory we wish to use as the web root inside the container.
  • conf: Here, we will place the Nginx configuration file to be synced with the default Nginx conf.d folder inside the container.
  • cedtbot/conf: This is where we will receive the SSL certificate, and this will be synced with the folder we wish to inside the container.
  • ports: Configure the container to listen upon the listed ports.
  • command: The command used to receive the SSL certificate.
• Environment: Here, we list all the environment variables that are available for the WordPress image.
  • WORDPRESS_DB_HOST: Here, we use the service name of the MariaDB container.
  • WORDPRESS_DB_USER: Same as the one we have configured in mariadb service.
  • WORDPRESS_DB_PASSWORD: Same as the one we have configured in mariadb service.
  • WORDPRESS_DB_NAME: Same as the one we have configured in mariadb service.

Configure Nginx

According to the docker-compose.yml configuration, we need to create the default.conf file inside the nginx/conf directory.

Create the directory besides your docker-compose.yml file to hold the configuration file.

mkdir -p nginx/conf

Create a file named default.conf.

nano nginx/conf/default.conf

Place the following configurations; here, we use reverse proxy configuration to the wordpress container running Apache.

nginx/conf/default.conf server {
    listen [::]:80;
    listen 80;

    server_name domain.com www.domain.com;

    root /var/www/html;
    index index.php;

    location ~ /.well-known/acme-challenge {
        allow all; 
        root /var/www/html;
    }

    location / {
        try_files $uri @apache;
    }

    location ~ ^/.user.ini {
        deny all;
    }

    location ~*  .(svg|svgz)$ {
        types {}
        default_type image/svg+xml;
    }

    location = /favicon.ico {
        log_not_found off;
        access_log off;
    }

    location = /robots.txt {
        allow all;
        log_not_found off;
        access_log off;
    }

    location @apache {
        proxy_set_header X-Real-IP  $remote_addr;
        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $remote_addr;
        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Proto $scheme;
        proxy_set_header Host $host;
        proxy_pass http://wordpress:80;
    }

    location ~[^?]*/$ {
        proxy_set_header X-Real-IP  $remote_addr;
        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $remote_addr;
        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Proto $scheme;
        proxy_set_header Host $host;
        proxy_pass http://wordpress:80;
    }

    location ~ .php$ {
        proxy_set_header X-Real-IP  $remote_addr;
        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $remote_addr;
        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Proto $scheme;
        proxy_set_header Host $host;
        proxy_pass http://wordpress:80;
    }
} 

Hit CTRL-X followed by Y and ENTER to save and exit the file. 

Now you have your docker-compose configuration and your Nginx configuration.

Deploy WordPress With Docker Compose

Start the containers using the following command; you will receive the SSL certificates once the containers are started.

docker-compose up -d

Once all containers are started, you will see two additional directories, certbotand WordPress, created alongside your docker-compose.yml file.

The directory wordpress holds all your WordPress website source code.

The directory certbot holds all the files related to your SSL certificates.

To view the containers, you can execute the following command.

docker-compose ps

Configure Let’s Encrypt SSL With Nginx

As you have received the Let’s Encrypt SSL certificate, you can configure HTTPS and set up redirection to HTTPS.

Edit the default.conf and make the following changes.

nano nginx/conf/default.conf

nginx/conf/default.confserver {
    listen [::]:80;
    listen 80;

    server_name domain.com www.domain;

    return 301 https://www.domain.com$request_uri;
}

 server {
    listen [::]:443 ssl http2;
    listen 443 ssl http2;

    server_name domain.com;

    ssl_certificate /etc/nginx/ssl/live/domain.com/fullchain.pem;
    ssl_certificate_key /etc/nginx/ssl/live/domain.com/privkey.pem;

    return 301 https://www.domain.com$request_uri; 
}

server {
    listen [::]:443 ssl http2;
    listen 443 ssl http2;

    server_name www.domain.com;

    ssl_certificate /etc/nginx/ssl/live/domain.com/fullchain.pem;
    ssl_certificate_key /etc/nginx/ssl/live/domain.com/privkey.pem;

    root /var/www/html;
    index index.php;

    location ~ /.well-known/acme-challenge {
         allow all; 
         root /var/www/html;
    }

    location / {
        try_files $uri @apache;
    }

    location ~ ^/.user.ini {
        deny all;
    }

    location ~*  .(svg|svgz)$ {
        types {}
        default_type image/svg+xml;
    }

    location = /favicon.ico {
        log_not_found off;
        access_log off;
    }

    location = /robots.txt {
        allow all;
        log_not_found off;
        access_log off;
    }

    location @apache {
        proxy_set_header X-Real-IP  $remote_addr;
        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $remote_addr;
        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Proto $scheme;
        proxy_set_header Host $host;
        proxy_pass http://wordpress:80;
    }

    location ~[^?]*/$ {
        proxy_set_header X-Real-IP  $remote_addr;
        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $remote_addr;
        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Proto $scheme;
        proxy_set_header Host $host;
        proxy_pass http://wordpress:80;
    }

    location ~ .php$ {
        proxy_set_header X-Real-IP  $remote_addr;
        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $remote_addr;
        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Proto $scheme;
        proxy_set_header Host $host;
        proxy_pass http://wordpress:80;
    }
} 

Hit CTRL-X followed by Y and ENTER to save and exit the file. 

Now, you can restart the Nginx service to load the new configurations.

docker-compose restart nginx

Now, you can check your domain name from your browser. You will get a redirection to HTTPS, and you will see the WordPress installation page to complete the installation.

Troubleshooting

Below are some tips for SSH to containers; see the error logs.

SSH to Docker Container

To SSH into the wordpress container, you can use the below command.

docker-compose exec wordpress /bin/bash

To SSH into the nginx container, you can use the below command.

docker-compose exec nginx /bin/bash

Check Container Logs

You can use the below command to check the logs of containers using docker-compose

docker-compose logs -f

Restart Containers

You can restart the containers using the restart command easily.

docker-compose restart container_name

Replace container_name with your container name (wordpress, nginx, certbot)

Stop All Docker Containers

You can stop all docker containers using the below command.

docker-compose down

Remove All Containers and Volumes

You can use docker-compose to remove all containers and their volumes with the below command.

docker compose rm -fv

Remove All Docker Containers

Remove all containers using the following command.

docker rm -f $(docker ps -a -q)

Delete All Volumes

You can also delete all volumes using the below command.

docker volume rm $(docker volume ls -q)

Start All Containers

With a single Docker compose command, you can start all containers.

docker-compose up -d

Conclusion

Now you have learned how to install and set up WordPress with Nginx, Apache, PHP 8.2, MariaDB, and Let’s Encrypt with Docker and Docker Compose on Ubuntu 22.04.

Thanks for your time.