The application uses docker compose to orchestrate three containers or services: a MYSQL database (db), a Flask application (backend) an NGINX proxy to route the request to the backend. The services communicate internally using docker networking and only the proxy is exposed to the internet. When a user sends a request, it is routed from the proxy to the backend.
The application has the following structure:
- db: contains the database password and database schema files
- backend: contains the Flask application code and a Dockerfile
- proxy: contains the NGINX proxy configuration and a Dockerfile
The MySQL database requires a password.txt file to be present in the db folder. Create the password.txt file and put a password inside. Delete the MySQL docker volume lca-tool_db-data and restart the containers.
For development, the easiest approach is to use the docker desktop application. After installation, any editor can be used to edit the code. However, to spawn a local development server to run the application locally, start the docker desktop application. Then, in a terminal prompt, run the command:
# inside the root folder of the repository, run the command:
docker compose upFor development with vagrant, use vagrant up in the root of the repository to build the VM.
Then use vagrant ssh to login to the VM. Finally, cd /vagrant and run docker compose up to start the containers:
vagrant up
vagrant ssh
cd vagrant
docker compose up