261 lines
10 KiB
Markdown
261 lines
10 KiB
Markdown
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Up to this point, we have been working with single container apps. But, we now want to add MySQL to the
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application stack. The following question often arises - "Where will MySQL run? Install it in the same
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container or run it separately?" In general, **each container should do one thing and do it well.** A few
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reasons:
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- There's a good chance you'd have to scale APIs and front-ends differently than databases
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- Separate containers let you version and update versions in isolation
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- While you may use a container for the database locally, you may want to use a managed service
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for the database in production. You don't want to ship your database engine with your app then.
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- Running multiple processes will require a process manager (the container only starts one process),
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which adds complexity to container startup/shutdown
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And there are more reasons. So, we will update our application to work like this:
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{: .text-center }
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## Container Networking
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Remember that containers, by default, run in isolation and don't know anything about other processes
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or containers on the same machine. So, how do we allow one container to talk to another? The answer is
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**networking**. Now, you don't have to be a network engineer (hooray!). Simply remember this rule...
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> If two containers are on the same network, they can talk to each other. If they aren't, they can't.
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## Starting MySQL
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There are two ways to put a container on a network: 1) Assign it at start or 2) connect an existing container.
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For now, we will create the network first and attach the MySQL container at startup.
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1. Create the network.
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```bash
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docker network create todo-app
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```
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1. Start a MySQL container and attach it to the network. We're also going to define a few environment variables that the
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database will use to initialize the database (see the "Environment Variables" section in the [MySQL Docker Hub listing](https://hub.docker.com/_/mysql/)).
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```bash
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docker run -d \
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--network todo-app --network-alias mysql \
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-v todo-mysql-data:/var/lib/mysql \
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-e MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD=secret \
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-e MYSQL_DATABASE=todos \
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mysql:5.7
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```
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If you are using PowerShell then use this command.
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```powershell
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docker run -d `
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--network todo-app --network-alias mysql `
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-v todo-mysql-data:/var/lib/mysql `
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-e MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD=secret `
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-e MYSQL_DATABASE=todos `
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mysql:5.7
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```
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You'll also see we specified the `--network-alias` flag. We'll come back to that in just a moment.
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!!! info "Pro-tip"
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You'll notice we're using a volume named `todo-mysql-data` here and mounting it at `/var/lib/mysql`, which is
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where MySQL stores its data. However, we never ran a `docker volume create` command. Docker recognizes we want
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to use a named volume and creates one automatically for us.
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1. To confirm we have the database up and running, connect to the database and verify it connects.
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```bash
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docker exec -it <mysql-container-id> mysql -p
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```
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When the password prompt comes up, type in **secret**. In the MySQL shell, list the databases and verify
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you see the `todos` database.
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```cli
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mysql> SHOW DATABASES;
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```
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You should see output that looks like this:
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```plaintext
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+--------------------+
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| Database |
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+--------------------+
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| information_schema |
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| mysql |
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| performance_schema |
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| sys |
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| todos |
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+--------------------+
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5 rows in set (0.00 sec)
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```
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Hooray! We have our `todos` database and it's ready for us to use!
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## Connecting to MySQL
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Now that we know MySQL is up and running, let's use it! But, the question is... how? If we run
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another container on the same network, how do we find the container (remember each container has its own IP
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address)?
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To figure it out, we're going to make use of the [nicolaka/netshoot](https://github.com/nicolaka/netshoot) container,
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which ships with a _lot_ of tools that are useful for troubleshooting or debugging networking issues.
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1. Start a new container using the nicolaka/netshoot image. Make sure to connect it to the same network.
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```bash
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docker run -it --network todo-app nicolaka/netshoot
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```
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1. Inside the container, we're going to use the `dig` command, which is a useful DNS tool. We're going to look up
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the IP address for the hostname `mysql`.
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```bash
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dig mysql
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```
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And you'll get an output like this...
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```text
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; <<>> DiG 9.14.1 <<>> mysql
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;; global options: +cmd
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;; Got answer:
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;; ->>HEADER<<- opcode: QUERY, status: NOERROR, id: 32162
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;; flags: qr rd ra; QUERY: 1, ANSWER: 1, AUTHORITY: 0, ADDITIONAL: 0
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;; QUESTION SECTION:
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;mysql. IN A
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;; ANSWER SECTION:
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mysql. 600 IN A 172.23.0.2
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;; Query time: 0 msec
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;; SERVER: 127.0.0.11#53(127.0.0.11)
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;; WHEN: Tue Oct 01 23:47:24 UTC 2019
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;; MSG SIZE rcvd: 44
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```
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In the "ANSWER SECTION", you will see an `A` record for `mysql` that resolves to `172.23.0.2`
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(your IP address will most likely have a different value). While `mysql` isn't normally a valid hostname,
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Docker was able to resolve it to the IP address of the container that had that network alias (remember the
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`--network-alias` flag we used earlier?).
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What this means is... our app only simply needs to connect to a host named `mysql` and it'll talk to the
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database! It doesn't get much simpler than that!
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## Running our App with MySQL
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The todo app supports the setting of a few environment variables to specify MySQL connection settings. They are:
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- `MYSQL_HOST` - the hostname for the running MySQL server
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- `MYSQL_USER` - the username to use for the connection
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- `MYSQL_PASSWORD` - the password to use for the connection
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- `MYSQL_DB` - the database to use once connected
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!!! warning Setting Connection Settings via Env Vars
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While using env vars to set connection settings is generally ok for development, it is **HIGHLY DISCOURAGED**
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when running applications in production. Diogo Monica, the former lead of security at Docker,
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[wrote a fantastic blog post](https://diogomonica.com/2017/03/27/why-you-shouldnt-use-env-variables-for-secret-data/)
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explaining why.
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A more secure mechanism is to use the secret support provided by your container orchestration framework. In most cases,
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these secrets are mounted as files in the running container. You'll see many apps (including the MySQL image and the todo app)
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also support env vars with a `_FILE` suffix to point to a file containing the variable.
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As an example, setting the `MYSQL_PASSWORD_FILE` var will cause the app to use the contents of the referenced file
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as the connection password. Docker doesn't do anything to support these env vars. Your app will need to know to look for
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the variable and get the file contents.
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With all of that explained, let's start our dev-ready container!
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1. We'll specify each of the environment variables above, as well as connect the container to our app network.
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```bash hl_lines="3 4 5 6 7"
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docker run -dp 3000:3000 \
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-w /app -v "$(pwd):/app" \
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--network todo-app \
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-e MYSQL_HOST=mysql \
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-e MYSQL_USER=root \
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-e MYSQL_PASSWORD=secret \
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-e MYSQL_DB=todos \
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node:12-alpine \
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sh -c "yarn install && yarn run dev"
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```
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If you are using PowerShell then use this command.
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```powershell hl_lines="3 4 5 6 7"
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docker run -dp 3000:3000 `
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-w /app -v "$(pwd):/app" `
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--network todo-app `
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-e MYSQL_HOST=mysql `
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-e MYSQL_USER=root `
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-e MYSQL_PASSWORD=secret `
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-e MYSQL_DB=todos `
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node:12-alpine `
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sh -c "yarn install && yarn run dev"
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```
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1. If we look at the logs for the container (`docker logs <container-id>`), we should see a message indicating it's
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using the mysql database.
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```plaintext hl_lines="7"
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# Previous log messages omitted
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$ nodemon src/index.js
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[nodemon] 1.19.2
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[nodemon] to restart at any time, enter `rs`
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[nodemon] watching dir(s): *.*
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[nodemon] starting `node src/index.js`
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Connected to mysql db at host mysql
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Listening on port 3000
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```
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1. Open the app in your browser and add a few items to your todo list.
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1. Connect to the mysql database and prove that the items are being written to the database. Remember, the password
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is **secret**.
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```bash
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docker exec -it <mysql-container-id> mysql -p todos
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```
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And in the mysql shell, run the following:
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```plaintext
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mysql> select * from todo_items;
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+--------------------------------------+--------------------+-----------+
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| id | name | completed |
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+--------------------------------------+--------------------+-----------+
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| c906ff08-60e6-44e6-8f49-ed56a0853e85 | Do amazing things! | 0 |
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| 2912a79e-8486-4bc3-a4c5-460793a575ab | Be awesome! | 0 |
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+--------------------------------------+--------------------+-----------+
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```
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Obviously, your table will look different because it has your items. But, you should see them stored there!
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If you take a quick look at the Docker Dashboard, you'll see that we have two app containers running. But, there's
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no real indication that they are grouped together in a single app. We'll see how to make that better shortly!
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## Recap
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At this point, we have an application that now stores its data in an external database running in a separate
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container. We learned a little bit about container networking and saw how service discovery can be performed
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using DNS.
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But, there's a good chance you are starting to feel a little overwhelmed with everything you need to do to start up
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this application. We have to create a network, start containers, specify all of the environment variables, expose
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ports, and more! That's a lot to remember and it's certainly making things harder to pass along to someone else.
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In the next section, we'll talk about Docker Compose. With Docker Compose, we can share our application stacks in a
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much easier way and let others spin them up with a single (and simple) command!
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