Docker container with Nginx and Nodejs

First create a directory for both nginx and nodejs.

Within the Node folder, create a Dockerfile that contains the following to expose an app running on a particular port:

FROM mhart/alpine-node
# Pretend to copy the node app entry
# from current folder
COPY index.js .
# Expose the port that it is running on
EXPOSE 3000
# Run node - chances are you want pm2 here
CMD node index.js
copy

Then we can build with docker built -t foo/node .

After the build, run the container with port 3000 exposed using docker run -d -p 3000:3000 --name node-app foo/node.

First, we can test the Nginx latest container container using docker run --rm -p 8000:80 nginx to test out nginx:latest. This just removes the container after running.

In the nginx folder, we can create default.conf file to overwrite the initial one.

If settings are not defined below, Nginx will use the default values.

# config
server {
    location / {
        # host name first
        proxy_set_header Host $host;
        # extra headers for host IP address
        proxy_set_header X-Real-IP $remote_addr;
        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for;
        # passing protocol used (http | https)
        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Proto $scheme;
        # where to proxy reqs to
        proxy_pass http://app:3000;
    }
}
copy

For the Docker file.

FROM nginx
COPY default.cong /etc/nginx/conf.d/
copy

Then build out this file using docker built -t foo/nginx ..

Running it: docker run -p 8000:80 --link node-app:app --name nginx-proxy foo/nginx

Since we expose 3000 for the node-app, we do not need to redo that.