Docker for local Dev

I’m dumping this here more for reference than anything as I’ve been asked several times for info on how I run local envs. I tend to run as much as possible in docker containers. I don’t profess to be a docker expert and I’m open to suggestions on how I can improve this workflow but for me, it’s worked fine for a good few years now. Having come from an era where getting a local dev env up and running either meant bare metal installs or some dodgy Xamp stack, docker hit home as being an ideal solution for me and my local dev workflow.

In this article, I will demonstrate a couple of different examples of using docker to allow you some local development options for databases and other services.

Prerequisites

You are going to need a local instance of docker up and running. Currently, I’m using Docker Desktop on both my Windows box and my Mac but I understand there are probably alternative solutions for this and reading up on https://blog.logrocket.com/docker-desktop-alternatives/ is on my todo list. For now, I’m just going to assume that you managed to win whatever install/permissions/licencing-based battle you had and have a working docker

Docker Compose

Below are a few docker-compose files showing different databases and configs. Some of the things to note are the images and versions. This may seem obvious but there may often be situations where you need to use different versions of MySQL or Postgress, for example.

The env_file file is something I tend to rely on heavily. This way I don’t have to put my passwords and user names int the compose file. This allows the compose file to be committed. I then tend to place an example .env.<platform> file in the folder so the user can easily create their own.

“Volumes” is also a significant property/option as this allows for the container to keep data even after it’s been killed or restarted. The volume alias also means it can be shared if needed.

Examples

An example of a simple MySQL docker-compose file

version: '3.7'
services:
  mysql-db:
    image: mysql:8.0.33
    restart: always
    env_file:
      - .env.mysql
    ports:
      - '3308:3306'
    volumes:
      - mysql-db-data:/var/lib/mysql
    networks:
      - mysql-server

Postgress example

version: '3.7'
services:
  postgres:
    image: postgres:latest
    container_name: my-postgres-container
    env_file:
      - .env.postgres
    ports:
      - "5432:5432"
    volumes:
      - postgress-db-data:/var/lib/mysql
    networks:
      - postgress-server

A full-on example which uses a dockerfile for building and running a NestJS server with redis, mysql and a seq logging server.

version: '3.7'
services:
  basic-server-docker:
    env_file:
      - .env
    build:
      context: .
      dockerfile: Dockerfile
    volumes:
      - ./:/usr/app
    container_name: basic-server
    expose:
      - "6008"
    ports:
      - "6008:6006"
  mysql-db:
    image: mysql:8.0.33
    restart: always
    env_file:
      - .env.mysql
    ports:
      - '3307:3306'
    expose:
      - '3307'
    volumes:
      - basic-server-db-data:/var/lib/mysql
    networks:
      - basic-server
  seq:
    environment:
      - ACCEPT_EULA=Y
    volumes:
      - seq:/data
    ports:
      - '8080:80' # exposes ui ports
      - '5341:5341' # handles ingestion http end-point
    image: 'datalust/seq:latest'
  cache:
    image: redis:7.2.2-alpine
    restart: always
    ports:
      - '6379:6379'
    command: redis-server --save 20 1 --loglevel warning --requirepass eYVX7EwVmmxKPCDmwMtyKVge8oLd2t81
    volumes:
      - cache:/data
volumes:
  basic-server-data:
  basic-server-db-data:
  seq:
  cache:
    driver: local
networks:
  basic-server:
  cache:
    driver: local

Example .env.mysql

MYSQL_DATABASE=""
MYSQL_USER="sqluser123"
MYSQL_PASSWORD="^Y"
MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD="^"

Round up

I did this document more as a reminder and as something I could point people at when they ask about my local dev environments. It's things that have helped devs get up and running when they just want a quick local env setting up. If you have thoughts or experiences with how to do similar drop them in the comments.