Managing databases on sloppy.io

At the core of successful web projects lies a database, be it SQL or NoSQL, relational or object-relational. There, your articles, products, posts, and user-data are being stored and held ready for request.

sloppy.io offers a wide variety of database solutions, based on the whole catalogue of images on Docker Hub. In this article, I will give you an overview of the most popular db solutions and how to set them up.

Guidelines and step-by-step instructions

Here's what you basically need:

• the Docker image of your preferred database-management system

• a web-based administration tool to go with it

Keep in mind that due to security reasons, we're not exposing any TCP ports, so you'll need a web-based solution for administration purposes.

That said, here are some beginner-friendly tutorials for the most popular database systems out there. If you're in need of advice for a different one, just contact us.

• MySQL and phpMyAdmin

• MongoDB and Mongo-Express

• PostgreSQL and Adminer

List of database systems and administration tools

If you already know how to set your database up, here's a list of Docker images and Environment Variables for different database-management systems. This list is ongoing, so keep coming back for updates. As mentioned above, please contact us for suggestions.

MySQL and MariaDB

• MySQL: https://hub.docker.com/_/mysql/

• MariaDB: https://hub.docker.com/_/mariadb/

• MySQL and MariaDB Environment Variables: MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD

• phpMyAdmin: https://hub.docker.com/r/phpmyadmin/phpmyadmin/

• phpMyAdmin Environment Variables: MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD, PMA_HOST

MongoDB

• MongoDB: https://hub.docker.com/_/mongo/

• MongoDB Environment Variables: MONGO_INITDB_ROOT_USERNAME [opt.], MONGO_INITDB_ROOT_PASSWORD [opt.] 

• Mongo-Express: https://hub.docker.com/_/mongo-express/

• Mongo-Express Environment Variables: ME_CONFIG_MONGODB_SERVER, ME_CONFIG_MONGODB_ADMINUSERNAME [opt.], ME_CONFIG_MONGODB_ADMINPASSWORD [opt.], ME_CONFIG_BASICAUTH_USERNAME [opt.], ME_CONFIG_BASICAUTH_PASSWORD [opt.] 

• If you're using MongoDB 3.6 or newer and you're setting the command (cmd) property to pass command-line flags, you also have to set the bind_ip parameter to allow connections from other hosts. For example, when you're using a command to set --smallfiles:

mongod --smallfiles --bind_ip=0.0.0.0

PostgreSQL

• PostgreSQL: https://hub.docker.com/_/postgres/

• PostgreSQL Environment Variables: POSTGRES_USER, POSTGRES_PASSWORD

• Adminer:  https://hub.docker.com/_/adminer/

• Adminer Environment Variables: none, connection to database via Adminer UI