Docker: Production platform

This documentation is part of the Node.js guide. View the full guide here: How to use and deploy a Node.js app with Docker.

👋 Welcome to the Stackhero documentation!

Stackhero offers a ready-to-use Docker cloud CaaS (Containers as a Service) solution that provides a host of benefits, including:

• Easily deploy your containers to production with just a docker-compose up.
• Customizable domain name secured with HTTPS (for example, https://api.your-company.com, https://www.your-company.com, https://backoffice.your-company.com).
• Optimal performance and robust security powered by a private and dedicated VM.
• Effortless updates with just a click.

Save time and simplify your life: it only takes 5 minutes to try Stackhero's Docker CaaS cloud hosting solution and deploy your containers to production!

If you do not yet have a Stackhero for Docker service, you can create one easily from your Stackhero dashboard. It will be activated within approximately 2 minutes.

If you are new to Stackhero, you can try the Docker container cloud hosting free for a month.

Prepare your first deploy to production

Before deploying your app to production, you need to prepare a few configuration files:

1. Copy secrets/global.production.example to secrets/global.production.
2. Edit secrets/global.production and replace <XXXXXX>.stackhero-network.com with your Docker service hostname from your Stackhero dashboard.
3. Copy secrets/my-app.production.example to secrets/my-app.production.
4. Edit secrets/my-app.production and insert your credentials.
5. Update docker/docker-compose.production.yml by replacing <XXXXXX>.stackhero-network.com with your Docker service hostname.

Deploy to production

Deploying to production is straightforward: run:

make production-deploy

This command creates a Docker container, transfers your project data, and sends it to your Docker service in production. Open your browser and navigate to your Docker service hostname (for example, https://<XXXXXX>.stackhero-network.com). You should see your REST API reply "Hello World".

You can also use make production, which deploys your containers and displays real-time logs.

Display logs

To monitor your production environment or troubleshoot issues, you can view your logs using these commands:

• To stream live logs, run: make production-logs-live
• To retrieve all stored logs, run: make production-logs
• To retrieve logs for a specific day (replace YYYY-MM-DD with the desired date), run: make production-logs | grep "YYYY-MM-DD"

Customize domain names

If you wish to use a different domain name instead of https://<XXXXXX>.stackhero-network.com, Stackhero for Docker integrates Traefik to simplify domain management. Traefik handles HTTP routing and TLS encryption (HTTPS) for you.

Here are a couple of examples to customise your domain names:

• To serve api.my-company.com via your container my-app on port 5000 with TLS encryption, update the docker/docker-compose.production.yml file by replacing the labels section with:

      labels:
        - "traefik.enable=true" # Enable Traefik to route traffic to this container
        - "traefik.http.routers.my-app.rule=Host(`api.my-company.com`)" # Define the host
        - "traefik.http.routers.my-app.tls.certresolver=letsencrypt" # Use letsencrypt for TLS certificates
        - "traefik.http.services.my-app.loadbalancer.server.port=5000" # Specify port 5000
  

• To serve my-company.com via your container my-app on port 5000 and redirect all requests from www.my-company.com to my-company.com, update the labels section in the same file with:

      labels:
        - "traefik.enable=true"
        - "traefik.http.routers.my-app.rule=Host(`my-company.com`) || Host(`www.my-company.com`)" # Include both domains
        - "traefik.http.routers.my-app.tls.certresolver=letsencrypt"
        - "traefik.http.services.my-app.loadbalancer.server.port=5000" # Specify port 5000
  
        # Redirect www.my-company.com to my-company.com:
        - "traefik.http.routers.my-app.middlewares=redirect-www"
        - "traefik.http.middlewares.redirect-www.redirectregex.regex=^https://www.my-company.com/(.*)"
        - "traefik.http.middlewares.redirect-www.redirectregex.replacement=https://my-company.com/$${1}"
        - "traefik.http.middlewares.redirect-www.redirectregex.permanent=true"
  

Do not forget to configure the DNS for my-company.com and www.my-company.com so that each points as a CNAME to your Docker service at https://<XXXXXX>.stackhero-network.com.