Using Nginx on Docker

#nginx #docker #beginners #devops

Introduction

Nginx is a popular open-source web server known for its superior performance compared to the Apache web server. Nginx supports various functionalities, including deploying an API gateway (reverse proxy), load balancer, and email proxy. It was initially developed to build a web server capable of efficiently handling 10,000 concurrent connections with low memory usage.

Run Nginx with Docker

To use Nginx with Docker, simply execute the following command:

docker run -dp 8080:80 nginx:alpine

By default, Nginx uses port 80, but you can map it to a different port if needed.

Custom Nginx Configuration

To customize the Nginx configuration, first, create a docker-compose.yml file with the following content:

services:
  serviceName:
    image: nginx:alpine
    ports:
      - 8080:80
    volumes:
      - ./default.conf:/etc/nginx/conf.d/default.conf
      - ./index.html:/usr/share/nginx/html/index.html

In the volumes field, note that I have mapped two files: default.conf to change the default Nginx configuration and index.html to customize the default interface when accessing the Nginx web view.

The content of the default.conf file is as follows:

server {
  listen 80 default_server;
  listen [::]:80 default_server;

  server_name _;
  root /usr/share/nginx/html;

  location / {
  }
}

This is the content of the index.html file, which you can modify as needed:

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">

<head>
  <meta charset="UTF-8">
  <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0">
  <title>Nginx</title>
</head>

<body>
  <h1>This is custom index page</h1>
</body>

</html>