Docker Compose Tutorial: Installing, Configuring, and Running a WordPress Application

Docker Compose allows managing multi‑container Docker applications via a single configuration file, eliminating the need for shell scripts.

System environment: Ubuntu 17.04 x64, Docker CE 17.12.0‑ce, Docker Compose 1.18.0.

Installation: download the latest binary with curl and apply executable permission:

curl -L https://github.com/docker/compose/releases/download/1.18.0/docker-compose-$(uname -s)-$(uname -m) -o /usr/local/bin/docker-compose
chmod +x /usr/local/bin/docker-compose
docker-compose --version

Uninstall by removing the binary: rm /usr/local/bin/docker-compose Example: a WordPress site with a MySQL database. Create project directory and docker‑compose.yml:

mkdir my_wordpress
cd my_wordpress
cat > docker-compose.yml <<EOF
version: '3'
services:
  db:
    image: mysql:5.7
    volumes:
      - db_data:/var/lib/mysql
    restart: always
    environment:
      MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD: somewordpress
      MYSQL_DATABASE: wordpress
      MYSQL_USER: wordpress
      MYSQL_PASSWORD: wordpress
  wordpress:
    depends_on:
      - db
    image: wordpress:latest
    ports:
      - "8000:80"
    restart: always
    environment:
      WORDPRESS_DB_HOST: db:3306
      WORDPRESS_DB_USER: wordpress
      WORDPRESS_DB_PASSWORD: wordpress
volumes:
  db_data:
EOF

Start the services in detached mode: docker-compose up -d Verify that the containers are pulling images and running, then access the site at http://localhost:8000.

Additional commands to inspect containers, images, and to enter the MySQL container for data verification are provided, demonstrating volume mounting and persistence.