How to create Docker PHP SSL setup

Prerequisites:
1. Install Docker on your server.

2. Install Docker Compose on your server.

3. Configure DNS to point the domain to the server to install SSL.

Note: In this document, I use dockerssl.pheonixsolutions.com domain name.

Step 1: Create Docker Compose YML file:

Login into the server via ssh and create a directory “nginx-ssl” by using the below command.

# sudo mkdir nginx-ssl

Move inside the above directory and create a docker-compose.yml file and paste the below configurations inside the file.

version: "3.0"

services:

web:

image: nginx:latest

restart: always

volumes:

- ./public:/var/www/html

- ./conf.d:/etc/nginx/conf.d

- ./certbot/conf:/etc/nginx/ssl

- ./certbot/data:/var/www/certbot

ports:

- 80:80

- 443:443

depends_on:

- php

php:

image: php:7.2-fpm

volumes:

- ./public:/var/www/html

certbot:

image: certbot/certbot:latest

command: certonly --webroot --webroot-path=/var/www/certbot --email dockerssl@gmail.com --agree-tos --no-eff-email -d dockerssl.pheonixsolutions.com

volumes:

- ./certbot/conf:/etc/letsencrypt

- ./certbot/logs:/var/log/letsencrypt

- ./certbot/data:/var/www/certbot

Note: /public:/var/www/html - Application/Website data directory.

Step 2: Configure Nginx:

We will create a directory as mentioned in the docker-compose file as “conf.d” so create this directory inside the nginx-ssl directory.

1. sudo mkdir nginx-ssl/conf.d

Create a configuration file with the dockerssl.pheonixsolutions.com.conf extension in the conf.d directory and paste the below configurations inside the file.

server {

listen [::]:80;

listen 80;

Server_name dockerssl.pheonixsolution.com;

location ~ /.well-known/acme-challenge {

allow all;

root /var/www/certbot;

}

}

Step 3: Start Docker Containers:

Now you can start the containers using the following command to receive the SSL certificates.

# docker-compose up -d

You will see an output similar to the below one.

This output indicates the Nginx and Certbot images are pulled from Docker hub and the containers are created successfully.

Use the below command to view the container's status. You will get below output.
# docker-compose ps

Note: The state Exit 0 indicates the setup is completed without any error.

Now you check your work directory, there will be new directories created as “certbot” and “public”. You can see the SSL certificate synced in the certbot directory.

Step 4: Configure SSL with Nginx:

Now you have received the Let’s Encrypt SSL certificate. You can configure HTTPS and set up redirection to HTTPS.

Edit the dockerssl.pheonixsolutions.com.conf file and make the following changes.

server {

listen [::]:80;

listen 80;

server_name dockerssl.pheonixsolution.com;

location ~ /.well-known/acme-challenge {

allow all;

root /var/www/certbot;

}

1. redirect http to https

return 301 https://dockerssl.pheonixsolutions.com$request_uri;

}

server {

listen [::]:443 ssl http2;

listen 443 ssl http2;

server_name dockerssl.pheonixsolutions.com;

root /var/www/html;

1. SSL code

cd ssl_certificate /etc/nginx/ssl/live/dockerssl.pheonixsolutions.com/fullchain.pem;

ssl_certificate_key /etc/nginx/ssl/live/dockerssl.pheonixsolutions.com/privkey.pem;

location / {

index index.html;

}

location ~ \.php$ {

fastcgi_pass php:9000;

fastcgi_param SCRIPT_FILENAME $document_root$fastcgi_script_name;

include fastcgi_params;

}

}

Step 5: Copy PHP website files :

Copy the files inside the “public” directory which then syncs to the directory configured.

Step 6: Restart the containers:

Restart the containers to load the new configurations by using below command.

1. docker-compose restart

Once the containers are restarted you can check your domain name in your browser. You will get a redirection to HTTPS and your SSL which runs on PHP.