Docker Compose

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Pro Tip: If you’re already familiar with Docker Compose and need a quick start, you can use the production-ready compose.yaml file in the examples directory of the IronERP repository.

This guide will walk you through creating a custom Docker Compose file for IronERP, giving you a deeper understanding of how to set up a production-ready deployment.

Preparing

To complete this guide, make sure you have:

• A recent version of Docker with Compose included (tested with version 20.0.3)
• A text editor
• Access to a terminal

In this guide, we’ll be using prebuilt IronERP images rather than building from source. Start by creating an empty working directory, and within it, an empty compose.yaml file.

Infrastructure

To set up IronERP, we’ll need to create a few volumes and a network. Volumes provide semi-persistent or fully persistent storage for Docker containers, ensuring data remains accessible even if the containers are restarted or recreated. Networks allow containers to communicate with each other over isolated virtual networks, avoiding the need to open additional ports on the host machine.

Volumes

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This guide uses Docker Volumes for data persistence. If you prefer using local filesystem mounts, you can skip this section for now.

First, let's define our volumes. We'll need three in total - one for Mongo, one for Meilisearch and one for the Backend.

volumes:
    mongo:
    meilisearch:
    backend:

This tells Docker Compose to create three volumes named mongo, meilisearch, and backend with the default configuration.

Networks

Now let’s create a network. Putting all of our containers in the same network will ensure that they can communicate with each other without cluttering the host system’s network with unnecessary open ports.

networks:
    ironerp:
        driver: bridge

This will create a network named ironerp in bridge mode. In this mode, all containers within the network can communicate with each other, but they can’t directly access the host. For security reasons, it’s recommended to use bridge networking unless there’s a specific need for processes in the containers to communicate directly with the host.

Configuration

It's important to always store your secrets securely. There are many ways to do this, but for the purposes of this guide, we'll be using an .env file.

The .env file is a special file that contains variable declarations, which can later be referenced in the compose file. Docker Compose will load this file automatically for us.

If you plan to store your compose file in Git, make sure to add the .env file to your .gitignore to avoid accidentally leaking any secrets.

Create a new file called .env and put some secrets in it.

MEILISEARCH_MASTER_KEY="ironerp"

IRONERP_DEFAULT_USER="Admin"
IRONERP_DEFAULT_PASS="Admin123!"

Services

MongoDB

Now that we have all the necessary infrastructure in place, we can start creating containers! Let’s begin with MongoDB. Add a new services section to your Compose file and configure it like this:

services:
    mongo:
        image: mongodb/mongodb-community-server:latest
        networks:
            - ironerp
        volumes:
            - "mongo:/data/db"

In this configuration, we specify that we want to run a container named mongo, using the mongodb/mongodb-community-server:latest image. This container will be connected to the ironerp network, and we’re mapping the mongo volume to the path /data/db inside the container.

Meilisearch

The section for Meilisearch will be very similar with one addition, we'll be defining an environment variable and assigning its value from the .env file!

services:
    #mongo:...

    meiliearch:
        image: getmeili/meilisearch:v1.10
        networks:
            - ironerp
        volumes:
            - "meilisearch:/meili_data"
        environment:
            MEILI_MASTER_KEY: ${MEILISEARCH_MASTER_KEY}

The Backend

Now onto the most "complicated" part of our Compose file (but don’t worry, it’s still quite simple) — the IronERP Backend. In this section, we will not only assign networks, volumes, and environment variables, but we’ll also be exposing some ports!

services:
    #mongo:
    #meilisearch:

    backend:
        image: ghcr.io/ironerp/backend:latest
        networks:
            - ironerp
        volumes:
            - "backend:/opt/ironerp/storage"
        environment:
            MongoDB__Host: "mongodb://mongo:27017"
            Search__Backend__MeilisearchHost: "http://meilisearch:7700"
            Search__Backend__SearchKey: "${MEILISEARCH_MASTER_KEY}"
            Search__Backend__WriteKey: "${MEILISEARCH_MASTER_KEY}"
            Auth__Defaults__Username: "${IRONERP_DEFAULT_USER}"
            Auth__Defaults__Password: "${IRONERP_DEFAULT_PASS}"
        ports:
            - "5057:5057"

This configuration will run the Backend container, connect it to both MongoDB and Meilisearch, and expose port 5057 to the host. This setup allows you to access the backend API at localhost:5057 rather than using the container’s IP address.

The Frontend

Now we just need to run the Frontend container, expose its port, and configure it to connect to the backend.

services:
    #mongo:
    #meilisearch:
    #backend:
    frontend:
        image: ghcr.io/ironerp/frontend:latest
        environment:
            IRONERP_BACKEND_HOST: localhost:5057
        ports:
            - "3000:3000"

You might have noticed we’re not connecting the frontend to the network, unlike the other containers. This is because the frontend container simply serves a static single-page application that communicates directly with the backend. This is also why we needed to expose the backend port.

If you did everything right, you should now have a fully functional IronERP instance. Try opening http://localhost:3000 in your browser!

If something went wrong, check the complete example below to ensure nothing was missed, and review the documentation. If you still can’t figure it out, come say "Hi" in the help Slack channel. The community will be more than happy to assist.

Complete Example

services:
    mongo:
        image: mongodb/mongodb-community-server:latest
        networks:
            - ironerp
        volumes:
            - "mongo:/data/db"

    meiliearch:
        image: getmeili/meilisearch:v1.10
        networks:
            - ironerp
        volumes:
            - "meilisearch:/meili_data"
        environment:
            MEILI_MASTER_KEY: ${MEILISEARCH_MASTER_KEY}
    
    backend:
        image: ghcr.io/ironerp/backend:latest
        networks:
            - ironerp
        volumes:
            - "backend:/opt/ironerp/storage"
        environment:
            MongoDB__Host: "mongodb://mongo:27017"
            Search__Backend__MeilisearchHost: "http://meilisearch:7700"
            Search__Backend__SearchKey: "${MEILISEARCH_MASTER_KEY}"
            Search__Backend__WriteKey: "${MEILISEARCH_MASTER_KEY}"
            Auth__Defaults__Username: "${IRONERP_DEFAULT_USER}"
            Auth__Defaults__Password: "${IRONERP_DEFAULT_PASS}"
        ports:
            - "5057:5057"

    frontend:
        image: ghcr.io/ironerp/frontend:latest
        environment:
            IRONERP_BACKEND_HOST: localhost:5057
        ports:
            - "3000:3000"

volumes:
    mongo:
    meilisearch:
    backend:

networks:
    ironerp:
        driver: bridge