Should I use separate Docker containers for my web app?

Question

Do I need use separate Docker container for my complex web application or I can put all required services in one container? Could anyone explain me why I should divide my app t

Answer 1

Some will tell you that you should run only 1 process per container. Others will say 1 application per container. Those advices are based on principles of microservices.

I don't believe microservices is the right solution for all cases, so I would not follow those advices blindly just for that reason. If it makes sense to have multiples processes in one container for your case, then do so. (See Supervisor and Phusion baseimage for that matter)

But there is also another reason to separate containers: In most cases, it is less work for you to do.

On the Docker Hub, there are plenty of ready to use Docker images. Just pull the ones you need.

What's remaining for you to do is then:

• read the doc for those docker images (what environnement variable to set, etc)
• create a docker-compose.yml file to ease operating those containers