Dockerizing PHP/Laravel Applications

This guide provides detailed instructions for containerizing PHP applications using Docker, with specific configurations for Laravel and raw PHP projects.

Project Structure

.
├── Dockerfile
├── docker
│   ├── nginx
│   │   ├── default.conf
│   │   └── Dockerfile
│   └── php
│       └── www.conf
├── docker-compose.yml
└── src/
    └── your-application-files

Docker Configuration Files

PHP Dockerfile

# Base image
FROM php:8.2-fpm

# Arguments defined in docker-compose.yml
ARG user=www-data
ARG uid=1000

# Install system dependencies
RUN apt-get update && apt-get install -y \
git \
curl \
libpng-dev \
libonig-dev \
libxml2-dev \
zip \
unzip \
libzip-dev

# Clear cache
RUN apt-get clean && rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/*

# Install PHP extensions
RUN docker-php-ext-install pdo_mysql mbstring exif pcntl bcmath gd zip

# Get latest Composer
COPY --from=composer:latest /usr/bin/composer /usr/bin/composer

# Create system user
RUN useradd -G www-data,root -u $uid -d /home/$user $user
RUN mkdir -p /home/$user/.composer && \
chown -R $user:$user /home/$user

# Copy configuration file
COPY ./docker/php/www.conf:/usr/local/etc/php-fpm.d/www.conf

# Set working directory
WORKDIR /var/www

# Copy existing application directory
COPY ./src .

# Set permissions
RUN chown -R $user:$user /var/www
USER $user

# Expose port 9000
EXPOSE 9000

CMD ["php-fpm"]

Nginx Dockerfile

# docker/nginx/Dockerfile
FROM nginx:alpine


COPY ./src /var/www
COPY docker/nginx/default.conf /etc/nginx/conf.d/default.conf

EXPOSE 80

CMD ["nginx", "-g", "daemon off;"]

Nginx Configuration

# docker/nginx/default.conf
server {
    listen 80;
    server_name localhost;
    root /var/www/public;  # For Laravel
    # root /var/www;       # For raw PHP projects
    index index.php index.html;

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

    location ~ \.php$ {
    fastcgi_pass app:9000;
    fastcgi_index index.php;
    fastcgi_param SCRIPT_FILENAME $document_root$fastcgi_script_name;
    include fastcgi_params;
    }

    location ~ /\.(?!well-known).* {
    deny all;
    }
}

PHP Config

# docker/php/www.conf
[www]
user = www-data
group = www-data
listen = 0.0.0.0:9000
pm = dynamic
pm.max_children = 5
pm.start_servers = 2
pm.min_spare_servers = 1
pm.max_spare_servers = 3
pm.max_requests = 500

docker-compose

version: '3.8'

services:
  # PHP Application
  app:
    build:
      context: .
      dockerfile: Dockerfile
      args:
        user: www-data
        uid: 1000
    container_name: app
    restart: unless-stopped
    volumes:
      - ./src:/var/www
      - ./docker/php/www.conf:/usr/local/etc/php-fpm.d/www.conf
    networks:
      - app-network

  # Nginx Service
  nginx:
    build:
      context: .
      dockerfile: docker/nginx/Dockerfile
    container_name: nginx
    restart: unless-stopped
    ports:
      - "80:80"
    volumes:
      - ./src:/var/www
      - ./docker/nginx/default.conf:/etc/nginx/conf.d/default.conf
    networks:
      - app-network

networks:
  app-network:
    driver: bridge

Deployment Instructions

Building and Starting Containers

if you want use kli to deploy your project with docker-compose file use this command:

kli compose up -d

Laravel-Specific Setup

# Install dependencies
kli exec app "composer install"

# Generate application key
kli exec app "php artisan key:generate"

# Set proper permissions
kli exec app "chown -R www-data:www-data storage bootstrap/cache"

Environment Configuration

Create a .env file in your project root:

APP_NAME=YourApp
APP_ENV=production
APP_KEY=your-app-key
APP_DEBUG=false
APP_URL=http://localhost

DB_CONNECTION=mysql
DB_HOST=db
DB_PORT=3306
DB_DATABASE=your_database
DB_USERNAME=your_username
DB_PASSWORD=your_password

Security Best Practices

Security Considerations

• Always use non-root users in containers
• Implement proper file permissions
• Use environment variables for sensitive data
• Regular security updates for base images
• Implement proper SSL/TLS in production

Performance Optimization

Performance Tips

• Enable OPcache for PHP
• Configure appropriate PHP-FPM settings
• Implement Nginx caching
• Use volume mounts carefully in production