❔Deploy new Container Stack

Required Knowledge

• How to create Docker Compose files

• Authentication, Access and Accounts

• Creation and Managment of Servers or Services

• External Access to Systems

• Monitoring and Alerting

• Management of Documentation

Create Compose file in Github

Handling Variables

When variables are used, such as variables for Ports, please use the ${VARIABLENAME:-DefaultValue} structure. This ensures that if the variable is not set, it will be set to the default rather than null. Some containers will not start with null variables. Some example use cases;

ports:
  - ${PORT:-8200}:8200  #If a $PORT variable is not provided, it will default to 8200
environment:
  - CONFIGFILE=${CONFIGFILE:-/path/to/config.yml} #if the $CONFIGFILE variable is not provided, it will default to /path/to/config.yml

Logging

Each container should have the below to ensure that logging is reduced. The settings can be tweaked where required.

    logging:
      driver: "json-file"
      options:
        max-size: "10m"
        max-file: "3" 

Health Checks

Where possible, all containers should have health checks. We utilize the AutoHeal container which will restart unhealthy containers. The intention of this is to automate DR.

Here are some examples of health checks;

Web UI

    healthcheck:
      test: curl --connect-timeout 15 --silent --show-error --fail -k ${HEALTHCHECK:-://localhost:<>}
      interval: 30s
      retries: 3
      start_period: 30s
      timeout: 20s
    labels:
      - "autoheal=true"

    healthcheck:
      test: wget --no-verbose --tries=1 --spider ${HEALTHCHECK:-://localhost:} || exit 1
      interval: 30s
      retries: 3
      start_period: 30s
      timeout: 20s
    labels:
      - "autoheal=true"

MongoDB

    healthcheck:
      test: ["CMD", "mongo", "--eval", "db.adminCommand('ping')"]
      interval: 30s
      timeout: 10s
      retries: 5
    labels:
      - "autoheal=true"

    healthcheck:
      test: ["CMD-SHELL", "pidof mongod || exit 1"]
      interval: 30s
      timeout: 10s
      retries: 5
    labels:
      - "autoheal=true"

MariaDB

    healthcheck:
      test: ["CMD", "mariadb-admin", "ping", "-proot", "--password=$MYSQL_PASS_ROOT"]
      interval: 30s
      timeout: 10s
      retries: 5
    labels:
      - "autoheal=true"

Deploy Stack

What server?

Pick a server that is relevant to the use-case.

• If the app relates to Plex, the container should be installed on the same host as the Plex server

• If the app requires a GPU, the container should be on a server with a GPU

• If the app relates to Pterodactyl, it should be installed on the same server as either the panel or wings.

• Etc

Deploy Stack

ENV file required?

If an ENV file is required,

1. SSH into Portainer host
2. Run the below command to CD into the Portainer files

   cd /var/snap/docker/common/var-lib-docker/volumes/portainer/_data/env

3. Run the below command (correct the file name) to create a new ENV file,

   nano myapp.env

4. Paste the contents of the ENV file and save it

5. Update the Docker Compose file to reference the env file per below

       env_file:
         - $ENV

6. Update the stack and set the ENV variable as below (correct the file name)

   /data/env/myapp.env

7. Save and stop the stack

8. Delete and related docker volumes

9. Pull and deploy the stack