ab-nginx

Containerized fully-functional implementation of NGINX running on Alpine. The container is preconfigured to serve files and has common-sense settings out of the box. Also, it organizes configurations a little more intuitively than the default NGINX set up. Coupled with the helper scripts, certificates can be automatically installed, Let's Encrypt can be automated and swapping configurations and content to serve is as simple as changing a bind-mount.

Alternate repository
Documentation and scripts
Quick-start
Shell mode
Environment variables
Final thoughts

Alternate repository

Throughout this document, I will reference the repository on DockerHub (asifbacchus/ab-nginx:tag). If you want access to perhaps slightly newer releases or need signed containers, feel free to pull them directly from my private registry instead. Simply use docker.asifbacchus.app/nginx/ab-nginx:tag. I usually sign major dot-version releases (1.18, 1.19, etc.) as well as the 'latest' image.

Documentation and scripts

Check out the repo wiki for detailed examples and documentation about the container and the helper scripts which are located here.

Quick-start

At its most basic, you only need to mount a directory with content to serve. If you want, you can also provide custom site and server configurations via bind-mounts. Let's run through a few examples:

Basic server

The container will serve static content found at the NGINX default location of /usr/share/nginx/html in the container.

docker run -d --name nginx --restart unless-stopped \
  -v /myWebsite/content:/usr/share/nginx/html \
  asifbacchus/ab-nginx:latest

TLS

The container will automatically update its configuration to use provided certificates. Simply mount them, as separate PEM files, in /certs. The examples below assume you have all required files in one directory, but you can also mount them all separately. The required files and their locations in the container are:

file type	container-location
Full-chain certificate (certificate concatenated with intermediates and/or root CA)	/certs/fullchain.pem
Private key	/certs/privkey.pem
Certificate chain (intermediates concatenated with root CA)	/certs/chain.pem
DH Parameters file (NOT required for TLS 1.3-only mode)	/certs/dhparams.pem

Once those files are available, you can run the container as follows:

# TLS 1.2 (requires: fullchain.pem, privkey.pem, chain.pem and dhparam.pem)
docker run -d --name nginx --restart unless-stopped \
  -v /myWebsite/content:/usr/share/nginx/html \
  -v /myCerts:/certs:ro \
  asifbacchus/ab-nginx:latest

# TLS 1.3 only mode (requires fullchain.pem, privkey.pem, chain.pem)
docker run -d --name nginx --restart unless-stopped \
  -v /myWebsite/content:/usr/share/nginx/html \
  -v /myCerts:/certs:ro \
  -e TLS13_ONLY=TRUE
  asifbacchus/ab-nginx:latest

If you want to enforce HSTS, simply set the HSTS environment variable to true by adding -e HSTS=TRUE before specifying the container name. Careful about doing this while testing though! Also, certificates should always be mounted read-only (:ro) for security reasons!

Custom configuration

The container comes pre-configured with pretty general but useful settings for things like timeouts and buffers. Also, settings are split in separate files making overriding easier. If you want to override these with your own settings, simply bind-mount over the appropriate file or the entire config directory. You can also do the same with nginx.conf if you want.

# replace the buffers configuration, for example
docker run -d --name nginx --restart unless-stopped \
  -v /myWebsite/content:/usr/share/nginx/html \
  -v /myWebsite/myConfigs/buffers.conf:/etc/nginx/config/buffers.conf:ro \
  asifbacchus/ab-nginx:latest

# replace all default configurations
docker run -d --name nginx --restart unless-stopped \
  -v /myWebsite/content:/usr/share/nginx/html \
  -v /myWebsite/myConfigs:/etc/nginx/config:ro \
  asifbacchus/ab-nginx:latest

# replace nginx.conf and default configurations
docker run -d --name nginx --restart unless-stopped \
  -v /myWebsite/content:/usr/share/nginx/html \
  -v /myWebsite/myConfigs:/etc/nginx/config:ro \
  -v /myWebsite/nginx.conf:/etc/nginx/nginx.conf:ro \
  asifbacchus/ab-nginx:latest

You might notice that I've been mounting configurations as read-only (:ro). This is a safety precaution but is not strictly necessary.

Custom server blocks

If you only want to serve static assets from the webroot directory, then you can just stick with the defaults. If you'd like to specify your own server blocks for particular applications, you can easily overwrite the container defaults with as many server blocks as you'd like. Just put each one in a separate file, all in one directory, and bind-mount it in the container at /etc/nginx/sites:

docker run -d --name nginx --restart unless-stopped \
  -v /myWebsite/content:/usr/share/nginx/html \
  -v /myWebsite/serverBlocks:/etc/nginx/sites:ro \
  asifbacchus/ab-nginx:latest

Remember that NGINX processes files in order, so you might want to number your configurations! For example, 00-redirect_to_ssl, 10-letsEncrypt, 20-mySite, etc.

Shell mode

Running the container in shell mode as a great way to verify configurations or just to see what the defaults are. This will apply all configurations but will not actually start NGINX. This lets you browse all mounted locations, make sure everything is where you want it, etc.

docker run -d --name nginx --restart unless-stopped \
  -v /myWebsite/content:/usr/share/nginx/html \
  -v /myWebsite/myConfigs:/etc/nginx/config:ro \
  -v /myWebsite/serverBlocks:/etc/nginx/sites:ro \
  -v /myWebsite/certs:/certs:ro \
  -e TLS13_ONLY=TRUE \
  asifbacchus/ab-nginx:latest /bin/sh

Remember that this container is running Alpine linux, so the shell is ASH. You do not have all the bells and whistles of BASH! Also, many commands are run via busybox, so some things may not work exactly like you might be used to in a Debian/Ubuntu environment, for example. As a side note, ping is installed and fully functional in this container so that makes troubleshooting a little easier.

Environment variables

You can set several options simply by passing environment variables. They are pretty self-explanatory but examples and more details are available in the wiki. Here's a list of them:

name	description	default
TZ	Set the container time zone for proper logging.	Etc/UTC
SERVER_NAMES	Comma-delimited list of hostnames/FQDNs to which NGINX should respond. This can be overridden via individual server blocks.	"_" (this means "anything")
HTTP_PORT	Port on which HTTP connections should be accepted. If you set this, make sure you set your port mapping properly! For example, if you set this to 8080 then you need to specify `-p 8080:8080` or something like `-p 12.34.567.89:8080:8080`.	80
HTTPS_PORT	Port on which HTTPS connections should be accepted. If you set this, make sure you set your port mapping properly! For example, if you set this to 8443 then you need to specify `-p 8443:8443` or something like `-p 12.34.567.89:8443:8443`.	443
ACCESS_LOG	Turn on/off access logging. There is a default format specified in the container's nginx.conf, but you can override this via configuration files.	off
HSTS	Activate the HSTS header. Please be sure you know what this means and that your SSL configuration is correct before enabling!	FALSE
TLS13_ONLY	Activate the container's default TLS 1.3 configuration. This is a strict TLS 1.3 implementation and does not fall back to TLS 1.2. If you still need to support TLS 1.2, then leave this turned off. The TLS 1.2 configuration does upgrade to TLS 1.3 where possible.	FALSE

Final thoughts

I think that's everything to get you going if you are already familiar with docker and with NGINX in general. If you need more help, please refer to the wiki. I've explained everything there in detail. Also, check out the helper scripts especially if you are deploying certificates. The scripts take care of all the docker command-lines for you so you have much less typing!

If I've forgotten anything, you find any bugs or you have suggestions, please file an issue either on my private git server or on github. Also, I am not affiliated with NGINX in any way, so please do not bother them with any issues you find with this container. Bother me instead, I actually enjoy it!

All the best and have fun!

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