Dockerizing a Laravel Application: Step-by-Step Tutorial

Dockerizing a Laravel Application: Step-by-Step Tutorial

Dockerizing a Laravel application allows you to easily package and deploy your application in a consistent and reproducible way. In this step-by-step tutorial, we will guide you through the process of dockerizing a Laravel application.

Step 1: Install Docker
Before we begin, make sure you have Docker installed on your machine. You can download and install Docker from the official website (https://www.docker.com/get-started).

Step 2: Create a Laravel Application
If you don’t have a Laravel application yet, you can create a new one by running the following command in your terminal:
“`
composer create-project –prefer-dist laravel/laravel myapp
“`
This will create a new Laravel application in a directory named "myapp".

Step 3: Create a Dockerfile
In the root directory of your Laravel application, create a new file named "Dockerfile" (without any file extension). This file will contain the instructions for building your Docker image. Open the Dockerfile in a text editor and add the following content:
“`
# Use the official PHP image as the base image
FROM php:7.4-fpm

# Set the working directory in the container
WORKDIR /var/www/html

# Install dependencies
RUN apt-get update && apt-get install -y
git
curl
libpng-dev
libonig-dev
libxml2-dev
zip
unzip

# Install PHP extensions
RUN docker-php-ext-install pdo_mysql mbstring exif pcntl bcmath gd

# Install Composer
RUN curl -sS https://getcomposer.org/installer | php — –install-dir=/usr/local/bin –filename=composer

# Copy the application files to the container
COPY . .

# Install application dependencies
RUN composer install –no-interaction

# Generate application key
RUN php artisan key:generate

# Set permissions
RUN chown -R www-data:www-data /var/www/html/storage

# Expose port 9000
EXPOSE 9000

# Start the PHP-FPM server
CMD ["php-fpm"]
“`
This Dockerfile uses the official PHP image as the base image and installs the necessary dependencies for running a Laravel application. It also copies the application files to the container, installs the application dependencies using Composer, generates the application key, sets the necessary permissions, and starts the PHP-FPM server.

Step 4: Build the Docker Image
To build the Docker image, open a terminal, navigate to the root directory of your Laravel application (where the Dockerfile is located), and run the following command:
“`
docker build -t myapp .
“`
This command builds a Docker image with the tag "myapp" using the Dockerfile in the current directory. The dot at the end of the command specifies the build context, which includes all the files in the current directory.

Step 5: Run the Docker Container
Once the Docker image is built, you can run a Docker container based on that image. Run the following command in your terminal:
“`
docker run -p 8000:9000 myapp
“`
This command runs a Docker container based on the "myapp" image and maps port 8000 on your host machine to port 9000 in the container. You can access your Laravel application by opening http://localhost:8000 in your web browser.

Congratulations! You have successfully dockerized your Laravel application. You can now easily deploy your application to any environment that supports Docker, ensuring consistent and reproducible deployments.