Docker Compose CMS

This project is designed to be deployed to a bare VPS and replace the need for a shared hosting provider. In this project we include a WordPress instance available at the root domain, Strapi CMS for a headless architecture and alternative to WordPress, a mail server and finally tools to obtain and automatically renew SSL certificates. This project was created to give you similar functionality to a shared hosting provider with CPanle but with the ability to be easily self hosted, deployed and managed. Seeing as the project was created with docker-compose, the server or VPS you are deploying too only requires Docker to be installed for everything else to work. Minimal configuration after install is required, mainly for domain routing and SSL configuration, making this project able to be deployed in minutes.

We are continuing to add features and further automation and administration panels. All docker containers used are versioned and guaranteed to work with one another, however when using the project, you should make sure you are on a commit that is tagged with a version. The latest commit to the main branch should always be tagged with the latest version.

Base Configuration

Before we can start the project it requires some very basic configuration. Mainly to allow our domain to be routed to the server.

1. Open docker-compose.prod.yml and change the "mailserver" container "domainname" setting from example.com to your actual domain.

2. Open docker/config/nginx/conf.d/default.conf and docker/config/nginx/conf.d/cms.conf.conf and replace every example.com to your actual domain.

3. Add the following DNS records to make everything work:

   Type	Name	Content
   A	@	<ServerIP>
   A	cms	<ServerIP>
   A	mail	<ServerIP>
   MX	@	mail.<domain>
   TXT	@	v=spf1 mx ~all

4. Start the docker environment! This will make the base site and the CMS available on port 80 (HTTP, NOT HTTPS). It should be noted that several containers after being created will automatically run install scripts n first run, and will take some time to actually be configured.

   # Start and Stop docker compose
   docker-compose -f docker-compose.prod.yml up -d --build
   docker-compose -f docker-compose.prod.yml down
   
   # View status of docker containers
   docker ps -a
   docker logs <container name>
   
   # Reload Nginx configuration wth zero downtime (Useful for SSL config)
   docker exec docker-compose-cms_nginx_1 nginx -s reload
   
   # Reset environment
   rm -rf ./docker/volumes
   docker system prune -a

SSL Configuration

This project uses certbot to easily install and configure SSL certificates. You can obtain ssl certificates using the "maintenance" container, and will automatically manage certificate renewal. You will want to obtain a certificate for the root domain and each subdomain used. Run the certbot commands replacing example.com with your actual domain for each of the following.

• example.com
• cms.example.com
• mail.example.com

# Test certbot obtaining SSL certificate
docker exec -i docker-compose-cms_maintenance_1 certbot certonly --webroot --webroot-path /var/certbot/ -d example.com --dry-run -v

## Actually obtain certificate
docker exec -i docker-compose-cms_maintenance_1 certbot certonly --webroot --webroot-path /var/certbot/ -d example.com

After SSL certificates have been obtained you will need to change the Nginx configuration files to take advantage of HTTPS. Follow the instuctions in the configuration files located at docker/config/nginx/conf.d. Then reload Nginx.

docker exec docker-compose-cms_nginx_1 nginx -s reload

MailServer Configuration

For our mail server to actually run, we will need to do further configuration, and add a postmaster account.

1. Create a postmaster account. Replacing "example.com" with your actual domain.

   docker exec -ti docker-compose-cms_mailserver_1 setup email add postmaster@example.com <password>

2. Generate DKIM record.

   docker exec -ti docker-compose-cms_mailserver_1 setup config dkim

3. View the generated DKIM record and add it to the DNS records. Replacing "example.com" with your actual domain.

   cat ./docker/volumes/mailserver/config/opendkim/keys/example.com/mail.txt

   Type	Name	Content
   TXT	mail._domainkey	v=<value>; h=<value>; k=<value>; p=<value>;
   TXT	_dmarc	v=DMARC1; p=none; rua=mailto:postmaster@example.com; ruf=mailto:postmaster@example.com; sp=none; ri=86400

4. Connect your mail client using the following configuration

   Incomming IMAP:

   Key	Value
   Hostname	mail.example.com
   Port	143
   Security	STARTTLS

   Outgoing SMTP:

   Key	Value
   Hostname	mail.example.com
   Port	587
   Security	STARTTLS