Multi-service Dockerized Infrastructure

Built this multi-container setup to see how far I could push Docker Compose before needing Kubernetes.

The Stack:

• Nginx handling the front door with SSL
• WordPress for content
• MariaDB keeping the data somewhere safe
• Redis making things fast when they get slow
• Custom API for the business logic I actually care about
• Frontend app pulling it all together

Each service lives in its own container with proper networking between them. The real headache was getting everything to start in the right order - databases don’t quite appreciate being hammered with connections while they’re still waking up.

Solved it with wait-for scripts and health checks, which was more complex than the Docker 101 tutorials suggest.

Had to learn the hard way that “depends_on” doesn’t actually wait for services to be ready.

Security-wise, I’m running everything as non-root, using slim images, keeping secrets in environment variables, and maintaining proper network isolation. Still need to set up automated image scanning when I find the time.

The whole thing taught me more about modern infrastructure patterns than any course could. Sometimes the best way to learn is to build something unnecessarily complex and then figure out why it keeps crashing.RetryClaude can make mistakes. Please double-check responses.