Local WordPress Development Using Docker

Local WordPress development using Docker has changed the way developers work by offering efficiency, consistency, and flexibility. Docker is an open-source platform that automates the deployment of applications in lightweight, portable containers. These containers package a site and its dependencies, ensuring consistency.

In this blog, we will cover the key features and the benefits it brings to WordPress development. We’ll also help you learn how WordPress developers install and use Docker on various operating systems. But before that, let’s begin with understanding Docker and how it works.

What is Docker?

Docker is an open-source platform that automates the deployment of applications inside lightweight, portable containers. Containers package up an application and all its dependencies, ensuring that it runs consistently across different environments. That is achieved through containerization, which isolates sites from and other environments.

How Docker Works?

Docker operates through a streamlined process that ensures site run consistently across various environments. Understanding its workflow involves three main components:

• Docker image: A Docker image is a read-only template with instructions for creating a Docker container. It’s like a blueprint for a container.   
• Container Creation: The Docker container runs an instance of a Docker image. It shares the host operating system kernel but runs in isolation, providing security and efficiency.   
• Docker registry: Docker images can be stored and shared in a registry, like Docker Hub, for easy distribution and reuse.

Overall, Docker provides a streamlined and efficient way to set up a consistent, isolated, and portable development environment for WordPress. So the developers can work on their WordPress projects locally before implementing the changes to the live website.

Key Features of Docker Application

Docker can be an excellent application for setting up local WordPress development. It lets the developers test the design and functionalities, as well as updates, before they are deployed on the live site. Here are key features that make it an excellent choice for local WordPress development:

• Isolation and Consistency: Docker ensures that the WordPress environment is consistent across different setups, minimizing the “it works on my machine” problem. The reason behind that is it isolates WordPress and its dependencies in containers.
• Portability: The Docker containers can be easily moved between environments like development, staging, and production. That ensures a consistent setup and simplifies the deployment process, making it more reliable and efficient​ 
• Docker Compose: It allows you to define and manage multi-container Docker applications. With Docker Compose, you can define a YAML file to set up all your services (WordPress, MySQL, etc.) and manage them with a single command​ 
• Scalability: It makes scaling WordPress sites easily by allowing you to deploy multiple containers of the same application. This is particularly useful for high-traffic WordPress sites.
• Version Control and Rollbacks: Docker images can be versioned, allowing you to roll back to previous WordPress site versions if something goes. That ensures greater control over the deployment process.
• Security: Containers run in isolation, enhancing WordPress security by minimizing the attack surface. Features like image signing and vulnerability scanning further ensure the security of your WordPress site, protecting it from potential threats​
• Automation: It integrates seamlessly with CI/CD pipelines, allowing for the automation of building, testing, and deploying WordPress sites. This integration ensures a streamlined and efficient workflow, improving overall development and deployment processes​

These features make Docker a powerful tool for managing WordPress applications, providing consistency, scalability, and security. If you want the same implemented on your site contact our WordPress development company.

But how might Docker be advantageous for WordPress development? Let’s find out in the next section.

Benefits of Using Docker for WordPress Development

Almost every major WordPress development company advises on using Docker for workflow optimization. But why? Well, Dockerizing your WordPress website can be quite advantageous for the development process in the following ways:

• Consistency: Docker ensures identical development environments across different machines. By isolating WordPress from the host system, Docker avoids conflicts with other applications and system libraries.
• Efficiency and Speed: It streamlines web development by providing pre-configured images for rapid setup. This accelerates development cycles as changes can be tested and deployed quickly.
• Easy Scaling: Docker enables easy scaling of WordPress sites by adding or removing containers to accommodate varying workloads. WordPress applications packaged as Docker images can be seamlessly deployed to different environments, ensuring consistency and flexibility.
• Cost-Effectiveness: It optimizes resource utilization, enabling multiple WordPress instances to run on a single machine. That reduces infrastructure costs by minimizing hardware requirements.
• Enhanced Security: Docker isolates WordPress from the host system, reducing the potential attack surface. By encouraging containerization, Docker promotes security best practices, safeguarding applications from vulnerabilities.

Being an open-source application, Docker for web development through WordPress starts at $5 per month. While a free version exists, it lacks professional developer tools. The advantages of Docker for local WordPress development justify the cost. Next, we’ll discuss how professional WordPress developers set up WordPress using Docker.

How to Set Up a Local WordPress Development Environment Using Dockers?

Local WordPress development will help create the websites in a much-streamlined manner. You and your team can also collaborate on the local environment quite easily. But don’t think this process is just about installing WordPress, integrating it with Docker, and you will be done. 

It can be a little complex for beginners. But we’ll try to simplify it as much as possible. 

1. Install Docker

Three of the most common operating systems currently in the market are Windows, macOS, and Ubuntu. No matter which one you use, Docker can be installed on the machine quite easily. 

Let’s start with Windows.

For Windows

Before starting the process, ensure you comply with the system requirements for the Docker application. 

• RAM: 4GB
• Processor: 64-bit (2010 and beyond)
• BIOS: Virtualization enabled

Additionally, for using the WSL 2 Docker back-end, ensure you have installed the Linux kernel update package. Most people nowadays use Windows 10 (64-bit). So we’ll assume this system and start the process.

Step 1: First, enable Hyper-V on your PC. 

Step 2: Then, download the Docker Desktop for Windows and open the Docker for Windows Installer file. 

Step 3: Check the boxes in the “Configuration” window based on your preferences. Afterward, click Ok. 

Step 4: After the installation process is complete, click on the button Close and restart, and let your PC restart. 

Step 5: After the PC has rebooted, you’ll see a pop-up window showing the Service Agreement. At the bottom of the screen, select the checkbox for “I accept the terms” and then click on Accept. (You can also see the full terms of service by clicking on View Full Terms.)

For macOS

Similar to Windows, macOS users also have to pay heed to the system requirements before starting the Docker installation. 

• RAM: 4GB
• Version: macOS Version 10.15 and beyond. 
• VirtualBox: You can’t install the previous versions of VirtualBox 4.3.30.

Let’s start the Docker installation process:

Step 1: First, download Docker for Mac (for Mac with Apple Processor and Intel Processor). Then, double-click on the saved .dmg file and drag and drop the Docker icon into the Applications folder. 

Step 2: After that, open the docker.app in the Applications folder. For configuration, you’ll need to enter the password.

Step 3: After entering the password and clicking Ok, you’ll see a pop-up window showing the Service Agreement. At the bottom of the screen, select the checkbox for “I accept the terms” and then click on Accept. (You can also see the full terms of service by clicking on View Full Terms.)

Finally, after completing this installation process, the Docker menu will be visible on the status bar. 

For Ubuntu

Installing Docker on a PC running on Ubuntu can be a little trickier than Windows and macOS. Here are the system requirements for Ubuntu users.:

• Require VPS (Virtual Private Server)
• One of these Ubuntu OSs: Ubuntu Jammy 22.04 (LTS), Ubuntu Impish 21.10, Ubuntu Focal 20.04 (LTS), or Ubuntu Bionic 18.04 (LTS)

Let’s start the Docker installation process:

Step 1: Update the package list with the following code.

sudo apt-get update

Step 2: Install the prerequisite packages.

sudo apt-get install ca-certificates curl gnupg lsb-release

Step 3: Make a separate directory for the Docker GPG key. 

sudo mkdir -p /etc/apt/keyrings

Step 4: Then, add the Docker GPG key in the new directory.

curl -fsSL https://download.docker.com/linux/ubuntu/gpg | sudo gpg --dearmor -o /etc/apt/keyrings/docker.gpg

Step 5: Construct the Docker repository.

echo \ "deb [arch=$(dpkg --print-architecture) signed-by=/etc/apt/keyrings/docker.gpg] https://download.docker.com/linux/ubuntu \ $(lsb_release -cs) stable" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/docker.list > /dev/null

Step 6: Update this repository.

sudo apt-get update

Step 7: Last but not least, install the latest versions of Docker Engine, Docker Compose, and Containerd.

sudo apt-get install docker-ce docker-ce-cli containerd.io docker-compose-plugin

Step 8: Now, you will need to confirm the success of the installation process with the following command.

sudo docker run hello-world

That will show you the following message.

That concludes the process of installing Docker on the PC. Now, we’ll move on to setting up the WordPress container on the Docker application.

2. Setting Up WordPress Container on Docker Application

There are two ways to set up WordPress Containers on Docker: WordPress Command Line Interface (WP-CLI) and Docker Compose. Here, we’ll focus on the latter since it’s more simple and systematic.

Following are the necessary images that you will need to take from the Docker Hub.

• WordPress: WordPress’s official Docker image includes all WordPress files, along with the Apache server and PHP.
• MySQL – This image is necessary for the MySQL root user, password, and database connection variables.
• phpMyAdmin – This image is a web application for managing databases.

After procuring these images, we can start the setup process. 

Step 1: Open the CLI on your PC and check for the Installation version of Docker Compose. 

docker compose version

That will show if the Compose module is working as intended. 

Step 2: then, use the following command to create a new project directory for your WordPress application. 

mkdir wordpress

Step 3: Locate and open the new directory.

cd wordpress

Step 4: Now, create a new docker-compose.yml file using a text editor, and follow this code mentioned below. 

version: "3" 
# Defines which compose version to use
services:
  # Services line define which Docker images to run. In this case, it will be MySQL server and WordPress image.
  db:
    image: mysql:5.7
    # image: mysql:5.7 indicates the MySQL database container image from Docker Hub used in this installation.
    restart: always
    environment:
      MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD: MyR00tMySQLPa$$5w0rD
      MYSQL_DATABASE: MyWordPressDatabaseName
      MYSQL_USER: MyWordPressUser
      MYSQL_PASSWORD: Pa$$5w0rD
      # Previous four lines define the main variables needed for the MySQL container to work: database, database username, database user password, and the MySQL root password.
  wordpress:
    depends_on:
      - db
    image: wordpress:latest
    restart: always
    # Restart line controls the restart mode, meaning if the container stops running for any reason, it will restart the process immediately.
    ports:
      - "8000:80"
      # The previous line defines the port that the WordPress container will use. After successful installation, the full path will look like this: http://localhost:8000
    environment:
      WORDPRESS_DB_HOST: db:3306
      WORDPRESS_DB_USER: MyWordPressUser
      WORDPRESS_DB_PASSWORD: Pa$$5w0rD
      WORDPRESS_DB_NAME: MyWordPressDatabaseName
# Similar to MySQL image variables, the last four lines define the main variables needed for the WordPress container to work properly with the MySQL container.
    volumes:
      ["./:/var/www/html"]
volumes:
  mysql: {}

Step 5: Now that the Docker Compose file is ready, run this next command in the same WordPress directory. It will help create and start the containers. 

docker compose up -d

By completing these steps, you establish a reliable, scalable WordPress environment on Docker. That will simplify development, deployment, and management of your WordPress site.

3. WordPress Installation On a Web Browser

This part of the process is much different compared to the normal WordPress installation. 

Let’s start.

Step 1: First, open your browser and enter the link http://localhost:8000/. That will display the WordPress setup screen. Click on your preferred language from the list and press Continue. 

Step 2: On the next screen, there will be a Welcome message. Below will be some fields where you will need to fill in info like Site Title, Username, Password, and Email. You can also click on the checkbox at the end to “Discourage search engines from indexing this site.”

Step 3: After entering the correct details, click on the button Install WordPress. 

Step 4: Then you’ll see the screen with the message “Success!” with your username and password. Click on Log In. 

Finally, you will see the main dashboard screen.

Step 5: Now, you need to set up phpMyAdmin. For that, you will need to add the following code snippet to an existing .yml file. Add it right after the Services line. 

version: "3"

services:

  db:

    image: mysql:5.7

    restart: always

    environment:

      MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD: MyR00tMySQLPa$$5w0rD

      MYSQL_DATABASE: MyWordPressDatabaseName

      MYSQL_USER: MyWordPressUser

      MYSQL_PASSWORD: Pa$$5w0rD

  phpmyadmin:

    image: phpmyadmin/phpmyadmin:latest

    restart: always

    environment:

      PMA_HOST: db

      PMA_USER: MyWordPressUser

      PMA_PASSWORD: Pa$$5w0rD

    ports:

      - "8080:80"

Step 6: Now, save the file and run the following docker-compose command. 

docker compose up -d

Step 7: Once again, open http://localhost:8080/, and now, you will see the phpMyAdmin interface with the WordPress database. 

Now, you are ready to go forward with local WordPress development using the Docker application.

As we mentioned earlier, this process can be a little tricky for beginners in the web development space. So we recommend you get in touch with a WordPress development company. They have the skilled personnel and a wealth of knowledge to help you create the best local WordPress environment.

FAQs Related to Local WordPress Development Using Docker

Conclusion

Using Docker for local WordPress development offers numerous advantages that streamline the workflow and enhance productivity. Docker ensures consistent environments across various stages of development, eliminating configuration issues. Its simplified setup saves time, allowing developers to focus on coding.

Docker’s containerization isolates dependencies, preventing conflicts and enabling multiple projects to coexist efficiently. That leads to better resource utilization and performance compared to traditional virtual machines.

But this subject matter can be a little confusing for beginners. So we have created a stepwise installation process of Docker and how to use it for local WordPress development. Seeking a well-organized, optimized WordPress site? Hire the best WordPress development company for top-notch solutions that deliver results.