Dockerize Node.js Express and MySQL example - Docker Compose

Docker provides lightweight containers to run services in isolation from our infrastructure so we can deliver software quickly. In this tutorial, I will show you how to dockerize Nodejs Express and MySQL example using Docker Compose.

Dockerize the fullstack:
– Docker Compose: React, Node.js, MySQL example
– Docker Compose: MERN stack example

Contents

Node.js and MySQL with Docker Overview
Create Nodejs App
Create Dockerfile for Nodejs App
Write Docker Compose configurations
Docker Compose Environment variables with MySQL
Run Nodejs MySQL with Docker Compose
Stop the Application
Conclusion
Source Code

Node.js and MySQL with Docker Overview

Assume that we have a Nodejs Application working with MySQL database.
The problem is to containerize a system that requires more than one Docker container:

Node.js Express for API
MySQL for database

Docker Compose helps us setup the system more easily and efficiently than with only Docker. We’re gonna following these steps:

Create Nodejs App working with MySQL database.
Create Dockerfile for Nodejs App.
Write Docker Compose configurations in YAML file.
Set Environment variables for Docker Compose
Run the system.

Directory Structure:

Create Nodejs App

You can read and get Github source code from one of following tutorials:
– Build Node.js Rest APIs with Express & MySQL
– Build Node.js Rest APIs with Express, Sequelize & MySQL
– Upload/store images in MySQL using Node.js, Express & Multer
– Node.js: Upload CSV file data into Database with Express
– Node.js: Upload Excel file data into Database with Express
– Node.js Express: Token Based Authentication & Authorization

Using the code base above, we put the Nodejs project in bezkoder-app folder and modify some files to work with environment variables.

Firstly, let’s add dotenv module into package.json.

{
  ...
  "dependencies": {
    "dotenv": "^10.0.0",
    ...
  }
}

Next we import dotenv in server.js and use process.env for setting port.

require("dotenv").config();
..
// set port, listen for requests
const PORT = process.env.NODE_DOCKER_PORT || 8080;
app.listen(PORT, () => {
  console.log(`Server is running on port ${PORT}.`);
});

Then we change modify database configuration and initialization.

app/config/db.config.js

module.exports = {
  HOST: process.env.DB_HOST,
  USER: process.env.DB_USER,
  PASSWORD: process.env.DB_PASSWORD,
  DB: process.env.DB_NAME,
  port: process.env.DB_PORT,
  dialect: "mysql",
  pool: {
    max: 5,
    min: 0,
    acquire: 30000,
    idle: 10000
  }
};

app/models/index.js

const dbConfig = require("../config/db.config.js");

const Sequelize = require("sequelize");
const sequelize = new Sequelize(dbConfig.DB, dbConfig.USER, dbConfig.PASSWORD, {
  host: dbConfig.HOST,
  dialect: dbConfig.dialect,
  port: dbConfig.port,
  operatorsAliases: false,

  pool: {
    max: dbConfig.pool.max,
    min: dbConfig.pool.min,
    acquire: dbConfig.pool.acquire,
    idle: dbConfig.pool.idle
  }
});

...

We also need to make a .env sample file that shows all necessary arguments.

bezkoder-app/.env.sample

DB_HOST=localhost
DB_USER=root
DB_PASSWORD=123456
DB_NAME=bezkoder_db
DB_PORT=3306

NODE_DOCKER_PORT=8080

Create Dockerfile for Nodejs App

Dockerfile defines a list of commands that Docker uses for setting up the Node.js application environment. So we put the file in bezkoder-app folder.

Because we will use Docker Compose, we won’t define all the configuration commands in this Dockerfile.

bezkoder-app/Dockerfile

FROM node:14

WORKDIR /bezkoder-app
COPY package.json .
RUN npm install
COPY . .
CMD npm start

Let me explain some points:

FROM: install the image of the Node.js version.
WORKDIR: path of the working directory.
COPY: copy package.json file to the container, then the second one copies all the files inside the project directory.
RUN: execute a command-line inside the container: npm install to install the dependencies in package.json.
CMD: run script npm start after the image is built.

Write Docker Compose configurations

On the root of the project directory, we’re gonna create the docker-compose.yml file. Follow version 3 syntax defined by Docker:

version: '3.8'

services: 
    mysqldb:
    app:

volumes:

version: Docker Compose file format version will be used.
services: individual services in isolated containers. Our application has two services: app (Nodejs) and mysqldb (MySQL database).
volumes: named volumes that keeps our data alive after restart.

Let’s implement the details.

docker-compose.yml

version: '3.8'

services:
  mysqldb:
    image: mysql:5.7
    restart: unless-stopped
    env_file: ./.env
    environment:
      - MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD=$MYSQLDB_ROOT_PASSWORD
      - MYSQL_DATABASE=$MYSQLDB_DATABASE
    ports:
      - $MYSQLDB_LOCAL_PORT:$MYSQLDB_DOCKER_PORT
    volumes:
      - db:/var/lib/mysql
  app:
    depends_on:
      - mysqldb
    build: ./bezkoder-app
    restart: unless-stopped
    env_file: ./.env
    ports:
      - $NODE_LOCAL_PORT:$NODE_DOCKER_PORT
    environment:
      - DB_HOST=mysqldb
      - DB_USER=$MYSQLDB_USER
      - DB_PASSWORD=$MYSQLDB_ROOT_PASSWORD
      - DB_NAME=$MYSQLDB_DATABASE
      - DB_PORT=$MYSQLDB_DOCKER_PORT
    stdin_open: true
    tty: true

volumes: 
  db:

– mysqldb:

image: official Docker image
restart: configure the restart policy
env_file: specify our .env path that we will create later
environment: provide setting using environment variables
ports: specify ports will be used
volumes: map volume folders

– app:

depends_on: dependency order, mysqldb is started before app
build: configuration options that are applied at build time that we defined in the Dockerfile with relative path
environment: environmental variables that Node application uses
stdin_open and tty: keep open the terminal after building container

You should note that the host port (LOCAL_PORT) and the container port (DOCKER_PORT) is different. Networked service-to-service communication uses the container port, and the outside uses the host port.

Docker Compose Environment variables with MySQL

In the service configuration, we used environmental variables defined inside the .env file. Now we start writing it.

.env

MYSQLDB_USER=root
MYSQLDB_ROOT_PASSWORD=123456
MYSQLDB_DATABASE=bezkoder_db
MYSQLDB_LOCAL_PORT=3307
MYSQLDB_DOCKER_PORT=3306

NODE_LOCAL_PORT=6868
NODE_DOCKER_PORT=8080

Run Nodejs MySQL with Docker Compose

We can easily run the whole with only a single command:
docker-compose up

Docker will pull the MySQL and Node.js images (if our machine does not have it before).

The services can be run on the background with command:
docker-compose up -d

$ docker-compose up -d
Creating network "node-mysql_default" with the default driver
Creating volume "node-mysql_db" with default driver
Pulling mysqldb (mysql:5.7)...
5.7: Pulling from library/mysql
33847f680f63: Pull complete
5cb67864e624: Pull complete
1a2b594783f5: Pull complete
b30e406dd925: Pull complete
48901e306e4c: Pull complete
603d2b7147fd: Pull complete
802aa684c1c4: Pull complete
5b5a19178915: Pull complete
f9ce7411c6e4: Pull complete
f51f6977d9b2: Pull complete
aeb6b16ce012: Pull complete
Digest: sha256:be70d18aedc37927293e7947c8de41ae6490ecd4c79df1db40d1b5b5af7d9596
Status: Downloaded newer image for mysql:5.7
Building app
Sending build context to Docker daemon  17.41kB
Step 1/6 : FROM node:14
14: Pulling from library/node
08224db8ce18: Pull complete
abd3caf86f5b: Pull complete
71c316554a55: Pull complete
721081de66bf: Pull complete
239fb482263d: Pull complete
26d24e5f0efd: Pull complete
4a43fffd53dd: Pull complete
4e10c266ec1a: Pull complete
6c4e1d6ce241: Pull complete
Digest: sha256:adbbb61dab70ea6e5a6c2ad7fba60e4d1047ba98ad1afcd631c15553163b22b7
Status: Downloaded newer image for node:14
 ---> e0ab58ea4a4f
Step 2/6 : WORKDIR /bezkoder-app
 ---> Running in 6ab4079d2f00
Removing intermediate container 6ab4079d2f00
 ---> 59e985358175
Step 3/6 : COPY package.json .
 ---> cc619b75b822
Step 4/6 : RUN npm install
 ---> Running in 90bccd42e0d7

added 88 packages from 144 contributors and audited 88 packages in 7.655s
found 0 vulnerabilities

Removing intermediate container 90bccd42e0d7
 ---> c9f5592ab65a
Step 5/6 : COPY . .
 ---> 65d7d8927e3c
Step 6/6 : CMD npm start
 ---> Running in 2b7b5fe7dbb3
Removing intermediate container 2b7b5fe7dbb3
 ---> 9d0109ff706c
Successfully built 9d0109ff706c
Successfully tagged node-mysql_app:latest
WARNING: Image for service app was built because it did not already exist. To rebuild this image you must use `docker-compose build` or `docker-compose up --build`.
Creating node-mysql_mysqldb_1 ... done
Creating node-mysql_app_1     ... done

Now you can check the current working containers:

$ docker ps
CONTAINER ID   IMAGE            COMMAND                  CREATED         STATUS              PORTS                                                  NAMES
b8b12819d371   node-mysql_app   "docker-entrypoint.s…"   2 minutes ago   Up About a minute   0.0.0.0:6868->8080/tcp, :::6868->8080/tcp              node-mysql_app_1
b0d665c00073   mysql:5.7        "docker-entrypoint.s…"   2 minutes ago   Up 2 minutes        33060/tcp, 0.0.0.0:3307->3306/tcp, :::3307->3306/tcp   node-mysql_mysqldb_1

And Docker images:

$ docker images
REPOSITORY            TAG            IMAGE ID       CREATED         SIZE
node-mysql_app        latest         9d0109ff706c   5 minutes ago   965MB
node                  14             e0ab58ea4a4f   6 minutes ago   944MB
mysql                 5.7            8cf625070931   6 minutes ago   448MB

Stop the Application

Stopping all the running containers is also simple with a single command:
docker-compose down

If you need to stop and remove all containers, networks, and all images used by any service in docker-compose.yml file, use the command:
docker-compose down --rmi all

Conclusion

Today we’ve successfully created Docker Compose file for MySQL and Nodejs application. Now we can deploy Nodejs Express and MySQL with Docker on a very simple way: docker-compose.yml.

You can apply this way to one of following project:
– Build Node.js Rest APIs with Express & MySQL
– Build Node.js Rest APIs with Express, Sequelize & MySQL
– Upload/store images in MySQL using Node.js, Express & Multer
– Node.js: Upload CSV file data into Database with Express
– Node.js: Upload Excel file data into Database with Express
– Node.js Express: Token Based Authentication & Authorization

Or Heroku instead: Deploying/Hosting Node.js app on Heroku with MySQL database

Dockerize the fullstack:
– Docker Compose: React, Node.js, MySQL example
– Docker Compose: MERN stack example

Happy Learning! See you again.

Source Code

The source code for this tutorial can be found at Github.

You can deploy the container on Digital Ocean with very small budget: 5$/month.
Using referral link below, you will have 200$ in credit over 60 days. After that, you can stop the VPS with no cost.

Dockerize Node.js Express and MySQL example – Docker Compose

Node.js and MySQL with Docker Overview

Create Nodejs App

Create Dockerfile for Nodejs App

Write Docker Compose configurations

Docker Compose Environment variables with MySQL

Run Nodejs MySQL with Docker Compose

Stop the Application

Conclusion

Source Code

Tools

Node.js and MySQL with Docker Overview

Create Nodejs App

Create Dockerfile for Nodejs App

Write Docker Compose configurations

Docker Compose Environment variables with MySQL

Run Nodejs MySQL with Docker Compose

Stop the Application

Conclusion

Source Code

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