How to install LAMP Stack on Docker

Learn how to install LAMP stack on Docker with this step-by-step guide. Set up Linux, Apache, MySQL, and PHP in isolated containers for efficient and scalable web development. Perfect for beginners and advanced users. #centlinux #linux #docker

What is LAMP Stack?

The LAMP stack is a popular set of open-source software used together to create dynamic websites and web applications. LAMP stands for:

1. Linux: The operating system that forms the foundation of the stack. It’s known for its stability, security, and flexibility.
2. Apache: The web server software that handles HTTP requests and serves web content to users. It’s highly customizable and widely used.
3. MySQL: The relational database management system that stores and manages the data for your web application. It’s known for its reliability and performance.
4. PHP: The server-side scripting language used to develop dynamic web pages. PHP processes the business logic and interacts with the database to generate web content. (Source: Wikipedia)

Key Features

• Open Source: All components of the LAMP stack are free and open-source, making it a cost-effective solution.
• Widely Supported: There is extensive community support and a vast amount of documentation available.
• Flexibility: Each component can be replaced or upgraded independently, providing flexibility in configuration.
• Performance: Optimized for performance, making it suitable for high-traffic websites and applications.
• Security: Proven track record of security, with regular updates and a strong focus on secure coding practices.

Use Cases

• Web Development: Ideal for developing dynamic websites and web applications.
• Content Management Systems (CMS): Commonly used as the foundation for popular CMS platforms like WordPress, Joomla, and Drupal.
• E-commerce Platforms: Frequently used in building and running e-commerce websites due to its robustness and scalability.
• Prototyping and Testing: Useful for developers to quickly prototype and test web applications.

The LAMP stack’s combination of Linux, Apache, MySQL, and PHP offers a powerful and versatile environment for web development, making it a popular choice among developers worldwide.

We are already learned how to install LAMP stack on Ubuntu. But this is now the era of DevOps and it is necessary to explore how to install LAMP Stack on Docker.

LAMP Stack Alternatives

There are several alternatives to the traditional LAMP stack, each offering different combinations of technologies to suit various needs and preferences in web development. Here are some popular alternatives:

1. LEMP Stack

• Linux: Operating system.
• Nginx: Web server, known for its performance and ability to handle many concurrent connections.
• MySQL/MariaDB: Relational database management system.
• PHP/Python/Perl: Server-side scripting languages.

2. MEAN Stack

• MongoDB: NoSQL database for storing JSON-like documents.
• Express.js: Web application framework for Node.js.
• Angular: Front-end web application framework.
• Node.js: JavaScript runtime for server-side programming.

3. MERN Stack

• MongoDB: NoSQL database.
• Express.js: Web application framework.
• React: Front-end library for building user interfaces.
• Node.js: JavaScript runtime.

4. LEPP Stack

• Linux: Operating system.
• Nginx: Web server.
• PostgreSQL: Object-relational database management system.
• PHP/Python/Perl: Server-side scripting languages.

5. JAM Stack

• JavaScript: For dynamic functionalities.
• APIs: Backend services are abstracted into reusable APIs.
• Markup: Static site generators for serving pre-rendered HTML files.

6. WAMP Stack

• Windows: Operating system.
• Apache: Web server.
• MySQL/MariaDB: Relational database management system.
• PHP: Server-side scripting language.

7. XAMPP

• Cross-platform: Supports multiple operating systems (Windows, Linux, macOS).
• Apache: Web server.
• MySQL: Relational database management system.
• PHP/Perl: Server-side scripting languages.

8. Serverless Architecture

• AWS Lambda, Azure Functions, Google Cloud Functions: Run code in response to events without provisioning or managing servers.
• API Gateway: Manage APIs and serve as a “front door” for applications.
• DynamoDB, Firestore: NoSQL databases provided by cloud providers.

9. Docker and Kubernetes

• Containers: Use Docker to containerize applications for consistent environments.
• Orchestration: Use Kubernetes for managing containerized applications at scale.

10. DigitalOcean App Platform

• Managed PaaS: Deploy, manage, and scale applications without worrying about underlying infrastructure.
• Supports multiple languages and frameworks: Node.js, Python, Ruby, PHP, Go, etc.

Each of these alternatives offers different advantages, depending on the specific requirements of the project, such as the need for performance, scalability, ease of development, or the preference for certain programming languages or databases.

Docker Host Specification

We are using a Linux based Docker host with following specification.

• CPU – 3.4 Ghz (2 cores)
• Memory – 2 GB
• Storage – 20 GB
• Operating System – Ubuntu Server 18.04 LTS
• Hostname – docker-01.centlinux.com
• IP Address – 192.168.116.218 /24

Setting up a LAMP stack using Docker requires a host system capable of running Docker and Docker Compose efficiently, which typically means having at least 2GB of RAM, a multi-core CPU, and sufficient disk space (around 20GB) to store container images and persistent data.

Utilizing a mini PC or a VPS makes this process versatile and practical. For instance, a VPS like Hostinger VPS provides a stable Linux environment with dedicated resources, ideal for developing, testing, and deploying containerized LAMP stacks remotely without affecting local machine performance.

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Read Also: How to install LAMP on Rocky Linux 9

Although there are many pre-build single LAMP images are available on Docker Hub. But by following the best practice and to maintain the modularity of the software stack, we will run each service in its relevant container.

Configure a PHP/Apache Docker Container

Connect with Docker host (docker-01.centlinux.com) as a privileged user by using a ssh tool.

Create a directory to store files related to our LAMP Server.

mkdir ~/lamp-server
cd ~/lamp-server/

Create a directory that will be mounted as Apache Document Root within the Apache container. This directory is used to deploy our web applications and the php-apache Docker container will serve our web applications to clients.

mkdir ~/lamp-server/html

Create a default PHP page in this directory. The PHP script contains a single phpinfo() function, that generates a webpage with detailed information about Apache server and installed plugins.

echo "<?php phpinfo(); ?>" > ~/lamp-server/html/index.php

We need to install some additional PHP plugins on the php-apache Docker container. For this purpose, we have to create the build context file for our php-apache Docker container.

Create a directory to store php-apache build context.

mkdir php-apache

Create build context file for php-apache Docker container.

vi php-apache/Dockerfile

Add following directives there in.

FROM php:7.4-apache
RUN docker-php-ext-install pdo pdo_mysql mysqli

Since, we are deploying a multi-container Docker application, therefore, we need to use docker-compose to create and execute our containers.

For this purpose, we need to create a YAML file that contains the directives to create our containers.

vi docker-compose.yml

And add following directives to create php-apache container.

version: '3'
services:
  php-apache:
    build:
      context: ./php-apache
    ports:
    - 80:80
    volumes:
    - ./html:/var/www/html
    links:
    - 'mariadb'

Configure MariaDB Docker Container

Create a directory for Dockerfile that will be used to create mariadb Docker container.

mkdir -p mariadb/sql

Create a SQL script to prepare our sample table.

vi mariadb/sql/init-db.sql

Add following SQL statements in this file.

USE testdb;

CREATE TABLE test (
        name varchar(30),
        email varchar(50)
);

INSERT INTO test (name, email)
VALUES
        ('Ahmer', 'ahmer@centlinux.com'),
        ('Mansoor','mansoor@centlinux.com'),
        ('Salman','salman@centlinux.com');

Create a Dockerfile to customize our mariadb Docker container.

vi mariadb/Dockerfile

Add the following build context there in.

FROM mariadb:10.5

ENV MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD 123
ENV MYSQL_USER ahmer
ENV MYSQL_PASSWORD 123
ENV MYSQL_DATABASE testdb

COPY ./sql /docker-entrypoint-initdb.d/

Create a directory on Docker Host to store MariaDB Server data files. This directory will be mounted within the MariaDB Docker container on startup.

mkdir mariadb_data

Now, configure a MariaDB docker container in the same docker-compose.yml file.

vi docker-compose.yml

Append following lines of code under the “services” section in this file.

 mariadb:
   build:
     context: ./mariadb
   volumes:
   - ./mariadb_data:/var/lib/mysql

Install LAMP Stack in Docker

Start our LAMP stack environment by using docker-compose command.

sudo docker-compose up

Output:

...
Starting lamp-server_mariadb_1 ... done
Starting lamp-server_php-apache_1 ... done
Attaching to lamp-server_mariadb_1, lamp-server_php-apache_1
...
mariadb_1     | 2020-02-28 17:46:24 0 [Note] InnoDB: Buffer pool(s) load completed at 200228 17:46:24

Open URL http://docker-01.centlinux.com in a web browser.

Our LAMP Stack has been serving the default PHP page that we have created above.

Connect PHP Application with MariaDB Database

To demonstrate the connectivity between php-apache and mariadb Docker containers, we are creating a PHP webpage that creates connection to MariaDB database to fetch and display the data from a database table.

For this purpose, we are replacing the existing index.php with a new webpage that contains the PHP code to accomplish the required task..

mv html/index.php html/phpinfo.php
vi html/index.php

Add following HTML code in this file.

<html>
   <head>
      <title>Fetching Data from MariaDB Server</title>
   </head>
   <body>
        <style>
        td,th {
        border: solid black 1px;
        font-size: 30px;
        width: 200px;
        }
        </style>
        <table>
        <tr>
        <th>Name</th>
        <th>Email</th>
        </tr>
      <?php
         $dbhost = "mariadb";
         $dbuser = "ahmer";
         $dbpass = "123";
         $db = "testdb";
         $dbconn = mysqli_connect($dbhost, $dbuser, $dbpass, $db);

         if(! $dbconn ) {
            die('Could not connect: ' . mysql_error());
         }
         $query = mysqli_query($dbconn, "SELECT * FROM test")
            or die (mysqli_error($dbconn));

         while ($row = mysqli_fetch_array($query)) {
            echo
                "<tr>
                <td>{$row['name']}</td>
                <td>{$row['email']}</td>
                </tr>";
         }

         mysqli_close($dbconn);
      ?>
   </body>
</html>

Open URL http://docker-01.centlinux.com in a web browser.

You can see that, our web page is now displaying data from the test table.

Final Thoughts

Setting up the LAMP stack on Docker provides a flexible and efficient environment for web development, allowing you to run your applications in isolated containers for better performance and scalability. Whether you’re a beginner or an experienced developer, Docker can simplify the deployment and management of your LAMP stack.

If you need assistance with installing the LAMP stack on Docker, I offer a comprehensive service on Fiverr. This service includes:

• Step-by-step installation of the LAMP stack on Docker
• Configuration and optimization for performance
• Setup of containers for Linux, Apache, MySQL, and PHP
• Guidance on best practices for container management

Whether you need cloud optimization, server management, or automation, I provide comprehensive AWS and Linux services. Hire me to elevate your systems.

Let me help you get started with Docker and the LAMP stack today!

FAQs

1. What is the easiest way to set up a LAMP stack using Docker?
The easiest method is to use Docker Compose with a docker-compose.yml file defining services for Apache+PHP, MySQL or MariaDB, and optionally phpMyAdmin, allowing you to spin up the full stack with one command.

2. How do I write a Docker Compose file for a LAMP stack?
Define separate services for php-apache, mysql (or mariadb), and phpmyadmin with appropriate images, port mappings (e.g., 80:80 for Apache, 3306 for MySQL), volume mounts for persistence, and environment variables for database credentials.

3. Can I run a customized PHP Apache container in my Docker LAMP setup?
Yes, create a custom Dockerfile extending from an official PHP-Apache image to add extra PHP extensions or config tweaks, then reference this Dockerfile in the Compose build context.

4. How do I persist data in Docker containers for MySQL/MariaDB in LAMP?
Use Docker named volumes or bind mounts linked to the database container’s data directory (e.g., /var/lib/mysql) to ensure your database data persists across container restarts.

5. How do I test my LAMP stack running on Docker?
Create a PHP phpinfo() file in the web root directory mounted into the PHP-Apache container, then browse to your server’s IP or localhost to verify PHP and Apache are serving properly.

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