Master Docker Compose: Install, Write YAML, and Deploy WordPress & Nginx

Docker Compose Installation

If you have already set up Harbor, you can skip this step.

Docker Compose File Format

Docker Compose uses YAML, which relies on indentation; tabs are not allowed and the file is case‑sensitive.

services:
  blog:
    image: wordpress
    links:
      - db:db
    ports:
      - "80:80"
    environment:
      - WORDPRESS_DB_HOST=db
      - WORDPRESS_DB_USER=root
      - "WORDPRESS_DB_PASSWORD=123"
      - WORDPRESS_DB_NAME=wordpress
  db:
    image: mysql
    environment:
      - "MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD=123"
      - MYSQL_DATABASE=wordpress

Strings such as ports must be quoted; numeric values also need quotes to be interpreted correctly.

Running Docker Compose

Save the file as wordpress.yml and start the containers:

# docker compose -f wordpress.yml up -d
[+] Running 3/3
✔ Network compose_default   Created
✔ Container compose-db-1   Started
✔ Container compose-blog-1 Started

To stop and remove the containers use:

# docker compose -f wordpress.yml down
[+] Running 3/3
✔ Container compose-blog-1  Removed
✔ Container compose-db-1     Removed
✔ Network compose_default   Removed

Docker Compose for Nginx with Persistent Storage

services:
  web01:
    image: nginx
    ports:
      - "80:80"
    volumes:
      - "/html:/usr/share/nginx/html"

Start it with:

# docker compose -f nginx.yml up -d
[+] Running 2/2
✔ Network compose_default Created
✔ Container compose-web01-1 Started

Verify with curl localhost which returns hello.