Tag: docker

I have a confession.

I use Docker on my laptop all the time to create a stable test environment that I can use and abuse and validate before I push to my staging servers. When it’s just WordPress, I use LocalWP which is hands down one of the best ‘just WP’ desktop tools out there.

But I don’t really do Docker on my servers.

Or at least, I didn’t until last week.

Vibe Coding

I have a new habit, where I spin up test things while sprawled on my couch watching TV and messing on my iPad. All of this was done on my iPad using:

• GitHub App
• Terminus
• ChatGPT

Oh.

Yeah. I used ChatGPT.

Before you judge me, I validated and tested everything and didn’t blindly trust it, but honestly I did use it for a fast lookup where I didn’t want to figure out the specific search to get to my answer.

My coworkers joked I’ve gone beyond vibe coding with this.

Uptime Kuma

Uptime Kuma is a replacement for UptimeRobot.

Kuma (クマ/熊) means bear 🐻 in Japanese.

A little bear is watching your website.🐻🐻🐻

I mean come on, how could I not?

Anyway. How do I install this with Docker?

First of all, I have a dedicated server at DreamHost, which allows me to install Docker.

Assuming you did that, pull the image down: docker pull louislam/uptime-kuma

I store my docker stuff in /root/docker/ in subfolders, but you can do it wherever. Some people like to use /opt/uptime-kuma/ for example. Wherever you store it, you’ll need a docker-compose.yml file:

version: "3"
services:
  uptime-kuma:
    image: louislam/uptime-kuma:latest
    container_name: uptime-kuma
    restart: unless-stopped
    ports:
      - "3001:3001"
    volumes:
      - ./data:/app/data
    environment:
      - TZ=America/Los_Angeles

Keep in mind that data folder? It’ll be created in your uptime-kuma folder. In it are things like the logos I uploaded, which is cool. Anyway, once you’re done, make sure you’re in that uptime-kuma folder and run docker-compose up -d

Why Docker? Why Now?

Normally my directions on how you do all this stuff is hella long and complex. There’s a reason I went with Docker when I’ve been avoiding it for (well) years on my servers.

First of all, it’s isolated. This means it keeps its packages to itself, and I don’t have to worry about the requirements for app A messing up app B. This is hugely important the more apps you have on a server. I have Meilesearch, Uptime Kuma, and more! This gets unwieldy pretty fast.

The other big reason is … it’s easy. I mean, come on, it’s two commands and a config file!? Compare that to the manual steps which (for one app I manage) can have pages of documentation and screenshots.

Speaking of easy? Let’s say an upgrade went tits up on your server. Guess what? Rolling back on Docker is super easy. You basically just change the image. All your data is fine.

I know, right? It’s super weird! But if you remember that data folder? Right so that doesn’t get deleted. It lives in my /root/docker/uptime-kuma/ folder and even if I change the docker image, that folder has my data!

What’s the Gotcha?

There is always a Gotcha. In my case, it’s that Nginx can be a bit of a jerk. You have to set up a thing called proxy_pass:

server {
    server_name status.ipstenu.com;

    location / {
        proxy_pass http://localhost:3001;
        proxy_set_header Host $host;
        proxy_set_header X-Real-IP $remote_addr;
        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for;
        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Proto $scheme;
        proxy_redirect off;
    }

    listen 443 ssl;
    ssl_certificate /etc/letsencrypt/live/status.ipstenu.com/fullchain.pem;
    ssl_certificate_key /etc/letsencrypt/live/status.ipstenu.com/privkey.pem;
    include /etc/letsencrypt/options-ssl-nginx.conf;
    ssl_dhparam /etc/letsencrypt/ssl-dhparams.pem;
}

server {
    if ($host = status.ipstenu.com) {
        return 301 https://$host$request_uri;
    }

    server_name status.ipstenu.com;
    listen 80;
    return 404;
}

But see here’s where it’s extra weird.

Now, if you go to status.ipstenu.com you’ll get a dashboard login. Won’t help you, right? But if you go to (for example) status.ipstenu.com/status/lwtv you’ll see the status page for LezWatch.TV.

And if you go to status.lezwatchtv.com …. You see the same thing.

Get this. Do the same thing you did for the main nginx conf file, but change your location part:

    location / {
        proxy_pass http://127.0.0.1:3001;
        proxy_http_version 1.1;

        proxy_set_header Host $host;
        proxy_set_header X-Real-IP $remote_addr;
        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for;
        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Proto $scheme;
    }

That’s it. Take a bow.

Docker for Everything?

No.

I didn’t do docker for my Meilisearch UI install because it’s a simple webpage that doesn’t need it (and yes, that means I did redo my Meilisearch install as Docker).

I wouldn’t do my WordPress site as Docker … yet … mostly because it’s not an official Docker, but also because WordPress is a basic PHP app. Same as FreshRSS. They don’t need Docker, they need a basic web server, and the risks of compatibility issues are low.

ChatGPT / AI Coding for Everything?

No.

I see where ‘AI’ is going and while I don’t consider it actually artificial intelligence, it is a super complex language learning model than can take your presets and assist you.

But AI hallucinates. A lot. Like, I asked it to help me set up Meilisearch UI in docker, only to find out that only works for dev and it wanted me to hack the app. I have another project where it’s constantly telling me there’s a whole library that doesn’t exist (and never has), that will solve my problems.

It got so bad, my boss tried it on his early-release version of an AI tool and it got worse.

And finally … sometimes it gets super obsessive about the wrong thing. I had a config wrong for Kuma at one point, and ChatGPT kept telling me to check my nginx settings. I had to tell it “Someone will die if you ask me about my nginx settings again” to make it stop.

What Can I Do with Kuma?

That little bear is handling 80% of my monitoring now. The remaining 20% are cron jobs that I use HealthChecks.io for (self hosted, of course).

What are my Kuma-chans?

• 2 basic “Is this site up?” for GitHub and a service we use.
• 3 slightly more complex “Is this site up and how’s the SSL cert?” for all three domains I own in this case.
• 1 basic “Does this keyword exist on this URL?” check for making sure my site isn’t hacked.
• 2 basic “Does this API key pair exist with this specific data?” for two APIs that do very different things.
• 1 auth login “Do I still have access to this API?” check for a service.

I mentioned there are 2 basic API checks, but they do different things. Here’s where it’s fun.

Ready?

Now that part is pretty basic. Right? Check the API, confirm the date for ‘died’ is what I think, done. And if it’s not? What do I do?

Well I send a Slack Message:

This tells us the death is down. Which means ‘someone new has been added to the site as a most recent death.’

Right now I have to manually go in and change the value to the valid one, but it works. And it’s one way to keep everyone updated.