Docker with Apache, PHP, MySQL, phpMyAdmin

This set of images creates a container running an Apache Web server with a MySQL database backend. PHP is the language of choice in this setup. A running copy of phpMyAdmin is included for easy database administration.

This setup makes use of http://lvh.me, which is a free service that seamlessly redirects lvh.me and any sub-domains back to your local computer, specifically to 127.0.0.1. This makes the nice trick of having your project look like it is being hosted at a real domain name. But be aware, nobody else in the world will be able to see what you see at lvh.me. It will redirect them to their own computer and likely result in an error message in the browser unless they have a web server running on their computer.

You can also still use the IP address http://127.0.0.1 or http://localhost and to access phpMyAdmin use http://pma.localhost

What does this set up contain?

• PHP/Apache image
  • PHP 7.4.14 with the following additional modules
    • gd
    • exif
    • ImageMagick (via imagick)
    • mysqli
    • pdo
    • pdo_mysql
  • Apache 2.4.38 with mod_rewrite enabled
  • ImageMagick
• phpMyAdmin image
  • phpMyAdmin 5.0.4
  • PHP 7.4.13
  • Apache 2.4.38
• MySQL image
  • MySQL 8.0.22

• Install and run Docker Desktop
  • https://www.docker.com/get-started

On the command line (the terminal)

• Clone this repository where you want it.
  • git clone
• Change into the directory
• cd pmamp
• Change the MySQL account info in the docker-compose.yml file if you want

  MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD: "rootPASS"
  MYSQL_DATABASE: "dbase"
  MYSQL_USER: "dbuser"
  MYSQL_PASSWORD: "dbpass"

• The first time you run this, you will need to create a 'dbdata' folder
  • On the command line, issue the command: mkdir dbdata
  • Or create the folder in your Finder.app (MacOS) or Folder Explorer (Windows) application
• You will also need to create a new docker network
  • docker network create traefikNetwork
• Start the container
  • docker compose up
  • Or run it in the background to free up the terminal
    • docker compose up -d
• To stop the containers
  • press ctrl-c
  • then run docker compose down
• View the web pages at http://localhost , http://lvh.me or http://pmamp.lvh.me
  • You can also edit the /etc/hosts file to allow for using existing domain names. For example, add the following to your /etc/hosts file:

    • 127.0.0.1 example.com

    • How to change your /etc/hosts file:

      • (Linux or Mac),
      • or c:\windows\system32\drivers\etc\hosts (Windows).

    • Update the docker-compose.yml file to include the domain you added to the /etc/hosts file. Add the domain to the line like this:

      • "traefik.http.routers.php-apache.rule=Host(`lvh.me`, `fun.lvh.me`, `example.com`)"

    • Now you can browse to http://example.com .

• View phpMyAdmin at http://pma.lvh.me
  • type in the db user name and db password to log in

• Connect to the MySQL database with the following credentials:

    $server = 'mysql';
    $dbname = 'dbase';
    $username = 'dbuser';
    $password = 'dbpass';
    $dsn = "mysql:host=$server;dbname=$dbname";
  
  

  • The server/host/database url is mysql which is the name of the MySQL container. Because the PHP, Apache and Mysql are all in containers, they know to connect to each other through shortcut network names.

• This will run four containers: a proxy container, a PHP-Apache container, a MySQL container and a phpMyAdmin container.
• All of the files for the website building can go in the www folder.
• The database files are stored in the dbdata folder. This allows for the data to persist between restarts and for hands on access.
  • To restart with a clean database, just delete this folder.
  • To seed the database with a database, tables, and data, just uncomment the line in the docker-compose.yml file referencing mysql_seed.sql. The dbdata folder will need to be deleted first. This works best if using a mysql dump file. Otherwise, the sql file just needs to have valid SQL statments.
    • #- ./mysql_seed.sql:/docker-entrypoint-initdb.d/mysql_seed.sql

This uses the Traefik image from here: https://hub.docker.com/_/traefik/

• Documentation is here: https://doc.traefik.io/traefik/
• You can have multiple domains and subdomains pointing to a single container using the Hosts line in the label section of docker-compose.yml
  • "traefik.http.routers.php-apache.rule=Host(`lvh.me`, `fun.lvh.me`, `example.com`)"

lvh.me is a free service that redirects to localhost, so now you can access the site at http://lvh.me as well as http://localhost

To update a specific software package to a different version, change the image called in the docker-compose.yml or Dockerfile file. After any changes to Dockerfile or docker-compose.yml you will need to run docker compose build or add the --build flag the first time you run "docker compose up", like so docker compose up --build -d

NOTE: When editing the Dockerfile, make sure to add a backslash (\) to any lines that you add to the RUN command, unless it is the last line.

NOTE: Any changes to versions can totally break the setup. For example, at present, ImageMagick is not available for PHP 8. To use PHP 8, you would need to remove the line using pecl to install imagick in the Dockerfile. Other changes to commands within the RUN line may need to change based on the version you choose.

For PHP, the image is set on the first line in the Dockerfile FROM php:7-apache will grab the latest version of PHP 7. To get the latest version of PHP 8, change the line to FROM php:8-apache. PHP developers set the version of Apache. This can not be changed (easily). For more options, see the offical DockerHub page https://hub.docker.com/_/php .

To add more PHP extensions, add the package to install in the list of packages to install after the 'apt-get install' line (put them in alphabetical order). Then add a 'docker-php-ext-install' line.

FROM php:7-apache

RUN apt-get update && apt-get install -y \
  imagemagick \
  libfreetype6-dev \
  libjpeg62-turbo-dev \
  libmagickwand-dev --no-install-recommends \
  libpng-dev \
  --> add new software above this line (delete this line)
  && rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/* \
  && a2enmod rewrite \
  --> add new php extensions below this line (delete this line)
  && docker-php-ext-install exif \
  && docker-php-ext-configure gd --with-freetype-dir=/usr/include/ --with-jpeg-dir=/usr/include/ && docker-php-ext-install -j$(nproc) gd \
  && pecl install imagick && docker-php-ext-enable imagick \
  && docker-php-ext-install mysqli \
  && docker-php-ext-install pdo pdo_mysql

By default the file upload size and post limit size are set to 256MB. If you need to change these values, edit the uploads.ini file.

Apache is built into the PHP image used and can minimially be altered. To install or enable modules, add a line after the list of packages in the Dockerfile.

FROM php:7-apache

RUN apt-get update && apt-get install -y \
  imagemagick \
  libfreetype6-dev \
  libjpeg62-turbo-dev \
  libmagickwand-dev --no-install-recommends \
  libpng-dev \
  && rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/* \
  --> add new a2enmod lines below this line (delete this line)
  && a2enmod rewrite \
  && docker-php-ext-install exif \
  && docker-php-ext-configure gd --with-freetype-dir=/usr/include/ --with-jpeg-dir=/usr/include/ && docker-php-ext-install -j$(nproc) gd \
  && pecl install imagick && docker-php-ext-enable imagick \
  && docker-php-ext-install mysqli \
  && docker-php-ext-install pdo pdo_mysql

Change the image line in docker-compose.yml. To use MySQL 5.6 use image: "mysql:5.6" in the mysql section (about line 32). For more options, see the official DockerHub page https://hub.docker.com/_/mysql .

For options, see the official DockerHub page https://hub.docker.com/_/phpmyadmin .

• Note in particular the Environment Variables section to update the file upload size and post limit size for PHP. By default, this is set to 256MB.

To add aditional software, add it to the Dockerfile. Add packages to the list of packages after the 'apt-get install' line in alphabetical order.

FROM php:7-apache

RUN apt-get update && apt-get install -y \
  imagemagick \
  libfreetype6-dev \
  libjpeg62-turbo-dev \
  libmagickwand-dev --no-install-recommends \
  libpng-dev \
  --> add new software above this line (delete this line)
  && rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/* \
  && a2enmod rewrite \
  && docker-php-ext-install exif \
  && docker-php-ext-configure gd --with-freetype-dir=/usr/include/ --with-jpeg-dir=/usr/include/ && docker-php-ext-install -j$(nproc) gd \
  && pecl install imagick && docker-php-ext-enable imagick \
  && docker-php-ext-install mysqli \
  && docker-php-ext-install pdo pdo_mysql