A docker container (actually, there's two docker containers in the final app. but one of them is just the stock MySQL one) all set to run Anchor CMS and create a containerized personal website or blog in minutes.
Well, it would have been great to use postgres instead (at least just for its
awesome CLI client), acknowledged. But so far, Anchors CMS hasn't been
supporting postgres, that's why we preferred to stick to MySQL/MariaDB.
Keep in mind that everytime you wish to access your database, you can spin up a
PHPMyAdmin container and connect to your DB container in seconds (this one
does the trick for instance: https://github.com/corbinu/docker-phpmyadmin.
Otherwise the MySQL CLI client might not be as cool as postgres' but it also
does a decent job, especially if you haven't used postgres before ;-)
The requirements are rather simple: you'll just need a Linux machine with
docker and docker-compose installed.
To run your CMS locally and access it via http://localhost, you just have to run
MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD=xxx MYSQL_USER=anchor MYSQL_PASSWORD=xxx docker-compose up(you can also change the MYSQL_USER to whatever you like).
This will pull the necessary images from DockerHub and run them.
If your blog is already set up (which means a database exists and can be found
in ./volumes/mysql) you won't have to worry about that. (In other words, if
you already have a blog set up, dump your MYSQL /var/lib/mysql folder into
./volumes/mysql, remove the /var/www/anchor/install folder (see next
section) and re-run the docker-compose up command above, everything should be
running. Otherwise, access http://localhost/install in your browser and
follow the instructions.
When asked for database credentials, as an hostname, put the IP Adress that appears when you run:
docker inspect anchor_db | grep "\"IPAddress\":"Put the username and password you used when running the docker-compose up
command (as well as the database name) and everything should work like a charm.
When done, done forget to deleate the install folder.
Once the database is setup, delete the install folder in your Anchor root
directory:
docker exec -it anchor_server rm -rf /var/www/anchor/installDon't forget to do this in production or else, everone will be able to reset your blog and get admin rights!!
To avoid loosing the articles you wrote, you can easily back your database up
and restore it later by running ./db_backup.sh. This will create a
./backups folder if it doesn't exist and put a dated backup of your
./volumes/mysql folder in there. Keep it safe.
If you're using custom themes or customizing the default theme, it's also
advised that you back up your ./volumes/anchor/themes folder at regular
interval.
Finally, if you spawn up a new container for an already existing Anchor CMS
installation, copy your old anchor/config and content directories to
./volumes/anchor before running the container as well.
TODO: ECS, GCP, On-Prem' Kubernetes
- Write a little piece of something about how to deal with logging locally and above all, in the cloud (FluentD + ElasticSearch seems to be a good solution, this have to be digged into)
- Write a little something about deploying that on ECS and on Kubernetes
- In the above article, insist on the centralized storage option for the containers' volumes (and suggest a simple, regular S3 backup for a single host configuration)
- Fork it!
- Create your feature branch:
git checkout -b my-new-feature - Commit your changes:
git commit -am 'Add some feature' - Push to the branch:
git push origin my-new-feature - Submit a pull request :D
- January 2016: switched to Anchor CMS, the docker image works and has been pushed to Dockerhub, I'll start using it for my personal blog.
- December 2015: first satisfying proof-of-concept
- Etienne LAFARGE (etienne.lafarge_at_gmail.com)
GNU GPLv3