PHP and Docker: Containerization of Applications

The book "PHP and Docker: Containerization of Applications" is a practical guide for PHP developers who want to master modern approaches to packaging, delivering, and running web applications using Docker. Whether you work with Laravel, Symfony, WordPress, or write your own framework, this book will help you streamline the process from local development to production.

What is this book about?

The book covers the full cycle of working with Docker in the context of PHP. You will start with the basics: what containers, images, and Dockerfile are. Then you will move on to creating typical environments for PHP projects:

• Setting up containers with PHP-FPM, Nginx, Apache, MySQL, PostgreSQL, Redis
• Using Docker Compose for multi-container applications
• Working with Composer, Node.js, and other utilities inside containers
• Managing environment variables and secrets

Who is this book for?

• PHP developers (from Junior to Senior) who want to speed up onboarding of new employees and eliminate the "it works on my machine" problem
• DevOps engineers implementing containerization in PHP projects
• Team leads and architects planning a transition to a microservice architecture
• Freelancers and startup owners looking to automate deployment

What will you learn?

• How to create a production-ready Dockerfile for a PHP application with security and performance in mind
• How to use multi-stage builds to reduce image size
• How to set up a CI/CD pipeline with GitLab CI, GitHub Actions, or Jenkins
• How to configure automated testing in containers
• How to work with Docker Swarm and Kubernetes for container orchestration
• How to optimize caching, logging, and monitoring of PHP applications in Docker
• How to avoid common containerization mistakes (permissions, data persistence, network latency)

Why should you read it?

Containerization has become the de facto standard for deploying web applications. This book does not just retell the Docker documentation — it provides proven recipes and templates tailored specifically for PHP. You will save weeks of experimentation and get ready-made configurations that can be immediately applied to real projects.

The book contains many practical examples, code listings, and step-by-step instructions. All examples are available in a GitHub repository and have been tested on current versions of PHP (8.x) and Docker (24+).

After reading, you will be able to confidently design infrastructure for PHP projects of any complexity — from a simple blog to a high-load API with dozens of microservices.