Run Apache in Docker
Apache is a popular web server application.
An Apache docker image is published on Docker Hub.
The following command will start apache.
The container will run in the foreground and log files will be visible in the terminal.
docker run --rm --name apache httpd
Press Cntl-C to stop the container.
Add -d to run the container in the background.
docker run --rm --name apache -d httpd
Run docker ps to confirm that the container is running.
docker ps -a
Note the container is running.
CONTAINER ID IMAGE COMMAND CREATED STATUS PORTS NAMES
b2df9372ee88 httpd "httpd-foreground" 53 seconds ago Up 52 seconds 80/tcp apache
You can view the logs for the container.
docker logs apache
The command above will cat the log file.
AH00558: httpd: Could not reliably determine the server's fully qualified domain name, using 172.17.0.2. Set the 'ServerName' directive globally to suppress this message
AH00558: httpd: Could not reliably determine the server's fully qualified domain name, using 172.17.0.2. Set the 'ServerName' directive globally to suppress this message
[Wed Dec 16 17:17:24.867258 2020] [mpm_event:notice] [pid 1:tid 140030725198976] AH00489: Apache/2.4.46 (Unix) configured -- resuming normal operations
[Wed Dec 16 17:17:24.868151 2020] [core:notice] [pid 1:tid 140030725198976] AH00094: Command line: 'httpd -D FOREGROUND'
Add -f to tail the log file
docker logs -f apache
Press Cntl-C to exit the log.
Attempt to connect to apache.
From a browser: http://localhost:80
If you already have a web server running on your machine, you will need to stop that web server or skip the next couple steps.
With curl:
curl -v "http://localhost:80"
Note that the connection fails
* Trying 127.0.0.1...
* TCP_NODELAY set
* Connection failed
* connect to 127.0.0.1 port 80 failed: Connection refused
* Trying ::1...
* TCP_NODELAY set
* Connection failed
* connect to ::1 port 80 failed: Connection refused
* Failed to connect to localhost port 80: Connection refused
* Closing connection 0
curl: (7) Failed to connect to localhost port 80: Connection refused
Expose a container port
In order to access Apache, we need to expose a port from the container to your desktop.
Stop the existing container
docker stop apache
Restart the container with port 80 from the container mapped to port 80 on your desktop.
Add -p 80:80 to expose port 80 to your desktop
docker run --rm --name apache -d -p 80:80 httpd
Attempt to connect to apache.
From a browser: http://localhost:80
If you already have a web server running on your machine, you will need to stop that web server or skip the next couple steps.
With curl:
curl "http://localhost:80"
Note the success:
<html><body><h1>It works!</h1></body></html>
Run docker ps. Note the port mapping on the container.
docker ps -a
CONTAINER ID IMAGE COMMAND CREATED STATUS PORTS NAMES
eba7c4d0b827 httpd "httpd-foreground" About a minute ago Up About a minute 0.0.0.0:80->80/tcp apache
Stop the container.
docker stop apache
Map container to a different port
Restart the container with port 80 from the container mapped to port 9999 on your desktop.
Add -p 9999:80 to expose port 80 to port 9999 your desktop
docker run --rm --name apache -d -p 9999:80 httpd
Attempt to connect to apache.
From a browser: http://localhost:9999
With curl:
curl "http://localhost:9999"
Note the success:
<html><body><h1>It works!</h1></body></html>
Run docker ps. Note the port mapping on the container.
docker ps -a
CONTAINER ID IMAGE COMMAND CREATED STATUS PORTS NAMES
f63163c0e425 httpd "httpd-foreground" 39 seconds ago Up 37 seconds 0.0.0.0:9999->80/tcp apache
Copy content into the container
The httpd container documentation indicates that files will be served from /usr/local/apache2/htdocs/.
Copy a sample file into the apache container.
docker cp examples/session1/copied.txt apache:/usr/local/apache2/htdocs/
View the file in a browser: http://localhost:9999/copied.txt
View the file with curl
curl "http://localhost:9999/copied.txt"
File copied into container.
Stop the container.
docker stop apache
Mount a data volume into the container
In the next example, we will mount a folder of test files into our apache container.
ls examples/session1
README.md example1.txt java ruby
copied.txt example2.txt mysql
MacOS/Linux
docker run --rm --name apache -d -p 9999:80 -v "$(pwd)/examples/session1:/usr/local/apache2/htdocs/" httpd
Windows - you must reference the root directory of the container with //
winpty is not needed since a terminal is not being used.
docker run --rm --name apache -d -p 9999:80 -v "$(pwd)/examples/session1://usr/local/apache2/htdocs/" httpd
Use docker exec to verify the directory mount
MacOS/Linux
docker exec -it apache ls /usr/local/apache2/htdocs
Windows
winpty docker exec -it apache ls //usr/local/apache2/htdocs
README.md copied.txt example1.txt example2.txt java mysql ruby
View the following files in a browser or with curl
- http://localhost:9999/example1.txt
- http://localhost:9999/example2.txt
- http://localhost:9999/copied.txt
curl "http://localhost:9999/copied.txt"
File copied into container.
curl "http://localhost:9999/example1.txt"
Example 1
curl "http://localhost:9999/example2.txt"
Example 2
Stop the container.
docker stop apache