how to setup a single nginx server with multiple php-fpm docker containers

Question

Nginx is running on my server (not a docker image) to proxy the subdomain requests to my docker containers.

Having an additional nginx container for each image works well as follows:

docker-compose.yml

version: '2'

services:
    nginx:
        image: nginx:latest
        ports:
            - "8080:80"
        volumes:
            - .:/app
            - ./site.conf:/etc/nginx/conf.d/default.conf
        networks:
            - code-network
    php:
        image: php:fpm
        volumes:
            - .:/app
        networks:
            - code-network

networks:
    code-network:
        driver: bridge

site.conf

server {
    listen 80;
    index index.php index.html;
    server_name localhost;
    error_log  /var/log/nginx/error.log;
    access_log /var/log/nginx/access.log;
    root /app;

    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;
    }
}

/etc/nginx/sites-available/dev.domain.co.uk

server {
    listen 80;
    listen [::]:80;
    server_name dev.domain.co.uk;
    location / {
        proxy_pass http://localhost:8080;
        proxy_http_version 1.1;
        proxy_set_header Upgrade $http_upgrade;
        proxy_set_header Connection 'upgrade';
        proxy_set_header Host $host;
        proxy_cache_bypass $http_upgrade;
    }
}

But seems wasteful to have an additional instance of nginx for each php site.

How can I route the server instance of nginx directly to each php:fpm container?

note: the docker 'code-network' gets renamed appname-code-network upon docker-compose up -d

Alexander Benjamin · Accepted Answer · 2021-01-29 08:59:03Z

4

To proxy to multiple php-fpm docker instances, you need to give each php instance a unique alias which then should be referenced in your server configuration.

For example:

in docker-compose.yml file (see php1 in 'aliases' section):

php:
  image: php:fpm
  volumes:
      - .:/app
  networks:
    code-network:
      aliases:
        - php1

and then in site.conf use fastcgi_pass php1:9000; See php1?

Giving each php container instance a unique alias allows you to run different php setup (versions, etc...) on the same host with a single nginx container.

Hope it makes sense.

answered Jan 29, 2021 at 8:59

Alexander Benjamin

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1 Comment

Antoine Over a year ago

2 1/2 years later, this reply saved me from hours of hair pulling. Thank you @Alexander Benjamin

Mike Thrussell · Accepted Answer · 2020-10-01 20:24:52Z

2

Figured this out.

In the nginx server conf, the root is the location to the code on the server host i.e. /home/user/CODE/site

the fastcgi_param is the location of the code on the Docker container, (/app) as defined in docker-compose.yml

fastcgi_param SCRIPT_FILENAME /app$fastcgi_script_name;

You also need to pass to the docker container host ip:

fastcgi_pass 172.21.0.2:9000;

As discovered by hostname -I, when using bash on the container.

I'm yet to discover how to use the container hostname instead

answered Oct 1, 2020 at 20:24

Mike Thrussell

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1 Comment

callmebob Over a year ago

Hi. Thanks for sharing the solution. Your comment regarding fastcgi_param helped me a lot. I think I am also able to replay you :) In docker-compose use container_name: your-name. You can then use this instead of IP for fastcgi_pass. Hope it helps!

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