Wordpress behind Nginx Proxy on your VPS

The goal of this blog post is to guide you through hosting your WordPress instance on a VPS using Docker, Docker Compose, and an NGINX reverse proxy. By the end of this tutorial, your WordPress site will be running in a container and accessible from the outside.

Step 1: Installing Docker

First, ensure Docker is installed on your VPS. To check if Docker is already installed, run the following command:

docker -v

If Docker is installed, you’ll see output similar to this:

Docker version 27.4.0, build bde2b89

If Docker isn’t installed, please follow an installation guide specific to your operating system.

Step 2: Understanding Docker Compose

We will configure our setup using two docker-compose.yml files. Docker Compose simplifies container management by allowing you to define and start multiple containers with a single file. Think of Docker Compose as a blueprint that describes:

What containers to start (e.g., a web server, database, etc.).
How they connect (networks, ports, and service links).
What settings they need (environment variables, volumes, and restart policies).

For example, to run a web app with a database, Docker Compose eliminates the need to start containers separately and manually configure communication between them. Instead, you define everything in a docker-compose.yml file and start all services together with:

docker compose up -d

Step 3: Setting Up the NGINX Reverse Proxy

We will use nginxproxy/nginx-proxy and nginxproxy/acme-companion for managing HTTPS certificates and reverse proxying traffic to your services.

Step 3.1: Create an External Network

To allow communication between the proxy and your services (e.g., WordPress), create an external network named www:

docker network create www

Step 3.2: Create the NGINX Compose File

Set up a new folder for the NGINX configuration:

➜ mkdir nginx && cd nginx
➜ nano docker-compose.yml

Add the following content to your docker-compose.yml file:

services:
  nginx-proxy:
    image: nginxproxy/nginx-proxy
    container_name: nginx-proxy
    ports:
      - "80:80"
      - "443:443"
    networks:
      - www
    volumes:
      - certs:/etc/nginx/certs
      - html:/usr/share/nginx/html
      - /var/run/docker.sock:/tmp/docker.sock:ro

  nginx-proxy-acme:
    image: nginxproxy/acme-companion
    container_name: nginx-proxy-acme
    depends_on:
      - nginx-proxy
    networks:
      - www
    volumes:
      - /var/run/docker.sock:/var/run/docker.sock:ro
      - acme:/etc/acme.sh
    environment:
      DEFAULT_EMAIL: "your@mail.com"
    volumes_from:
      - nginx-proxy

volumes:
  certs:
  html:
  acme:

networks:
  www:
    external: true

Step 3.3: Configure Your Domain

Change DEFAULT_EMAIL to your e-mail address. Then, point your subdomain’s DNS record to your VPS’s IP address.

Step 3.4: Start the NGINX Proxy

Run the following command to start the NGINX proxy:

➜ docker compose up -d

This will pull the required images and start the containers. You can view the container logs using:

➜ docker compose logs -f

With docker compose down you can remove the containers if you don’t need them anymore.

Step 4: Adding WordPress

Step 4.1: Create the WordPress Compose File

Set up a new folder and create another docker-compose.yml file:

mkdir wordpress && cd wordpress
nano docker-compose.yml

Add the following content to your file:

services:
  db:
    # We use a mariadb image which supports both amd64 & arm64 architecture
    image: mariadb:10.6.4-focal
    command: '--default-authentication-plugin=mysql_native_password'
    volumes:
      - wordpress-db:/var/lib/mysql
    restart: always
    networks:
      - wordpress
    environment:
      - MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD=somewordpress
      - MYSQL_DATABASE=wordpress
      - MYSQL_USER=wordpress
      - MYSQL_PASSWORD=wordpress
  wordpress:
    image: wordpress:latest
    restart: always
    networks:
      - wordpress
      - www
    environment:
      - WORDPRESS_DB_HOST=db
      - WORDPRESS_DB_USER=wordpress
      - WORDPRESS_DB_PASSWORD=wordpress
      - WORDPRESS_DB_NAME=wordpress
      - VIRTUAL_HOST=yourdomain.tld
      - LETSENCRYPT_HOST=yourdomain.tld

networks:
  www:
   external: true
  wordpress:
   internal: true

volumes:
  wordpress-db:

Update the VIRTUAL_HOST and LETSENCRYPT_HOST environment variables to match your subdomain.

Step 4.2: Start the WordPress Containers

Run the following command to start WordPress and its database:

docker compose up -d

Visit yourdomain.tld in your browser, and you should see the WordPress installation wizard.

Final Words

With this setup, you can host not only WordPress but also other tools and applications. Check out this awesome list of Docker Compose files for inspiration.

Happy hosting!

WordPress behind Nginx Proxy on your VPS

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