Nginx + PHP + Docker - Setting Up a Local PHP Page with a Domain Name

Introduction

This guide will walk you through setting up a simple PHP page using Docker and Nginx, complete with a local domain name.

You can find the source files for this tutorial in the recipe-02 folder of this repository: https://github.com/ikknd/docker-study

1. Project Folder Setup

Create the following project directory structure:

/var/www/docker-study.loc/recipe-02
  ├── docker
  └── php

Inside the php folder, create an index.php file that will execute phpinfo():

<?php
phpinfo();
?>

2. Nginx Configuration (site.conf)

Create a site.conf file within the docker folder with the following Nginx configuration:

server {
    server_name myapp.loc;

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

    access_log /var/log/nginx/back-access.log;
    error_log /var/log/nginx/back-error.log;

    location / {
        try_files $uri $uri/ /index.php?$query_string;
    }

    # PHP-FPM Configuration Nginx
    location ~ \.php$ {
        try_files $uri = 404;
        fastcgi_split_path_info ^(.+\.php)(/.+)$;
        fastcgi_pass php:9000;
        fastcgi_index index.php;
        include fastcgi_params;
        fastcgi_param REQUEST_URI $request_uri;
        fastcgi_param SCRIPT_FILENAME $document_root$fastcgi_script_name;
        fastcgi_param PATH_INFO $fastcgi_path_info;
    }
}

The line fastcgi_pass php:9000; is crucial as it tells Nginx how to connect to the PHP container.

3. Host Machine Configuration (/etc/hosts)

Edit the /etc/hosts file on your host machine and add the following record to map your local domain:

127.0.0.1       myapp.loc

4. Docker Compose Configuration (docker-compose.yml)

Create a docker-compose.yml file within the docker folder with the following content:

version: "3.7"

services:

  web:
    image: nginx:1.17
    ports:
      - 80:80
    volumes:
      - /var/www/docker-study.loc/recipe-02/php:/var/www/myapp
      - /var/www/docker-study.loc/recipe-02/docker/site.conf:/etc/nginx/conf.d/site.conf
    depends_on:
      - php

  php:
    image: php:7.2-fpm
    volumes:
      - /var/www/docker-study.loc/recipe-02/php:/var/www/myapp
      - /var/www/docker-study.loc/recipe-02/docker/php.ini:/usr/local/etc/php/php.ini

In this docker-compose.yml file:

• We use a custom php.ini file, which is copied into the PHP container. This allows for easy modification of PHP settings by simply editing php.ini and restarting the container.
• When you make changes to your PHP code (e.g., index.php), these changes are applied immediately upon reloading the browser page; there's no need to restart the container.
• The depends_on directive ensures that the web container (Nginx) does not start before the php container is ready.

5. Running the Setup

Navigate to the docker folder (where your docker-compose.yml file is located) in your terminal and execute the following command:

docker-compose up -d

After the containers have started, you should be able to visit myapp.loc/ in your browser and see the output of the phpinfo() function.