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Traefik container router

Submitted by Erik Wegner on

My development system runs multiple containers for several web based apps. Traffic should be routed by rules through one single entry point. Here is a possible configuration with traefik as router.

Setup

Several web applications are run as docker-compose stacks. To enable sharing, one docker network connects the traefik container with all frontend app containers.

To create the common network, use this command:

docker network create --driver=bridge --attachable --internal=false traefik

Run traefik

To run traefik, use this docker-compose file:

docker-compose.yml for traefik
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services:
  reverse-proxy:
    # The official v3 Traefik docker image
    image: traefik:v3.3
    # Enables the web UI and tells Traefik to listen to docker
    command: command: --api=true --api.basePath=/routes --providers.docker --providers.docker.network=traefik
    container_name: "traefik80"
    restart: "always"
    labels:
      - "traefik.http.routers.dashboard.rule=(PathPrefix(`/routes/api`) || PathPrefix(`/routes/dashboard`))"
      - "traefik.http.routers.dashboard.service=api@internal"
    ports:
      # The HTTP port
      - "80:80"
    volumes:
      # So that Traefik can listen to the Docker events
      - /var/run/docker.sock:/var/run/docker.sock
    networks:
      - default
networks:
  default:
    name: traefik

Then start the instance: docker-compose up -d

The traefik dashboard provides information about enabled routes and is available at http://127.0.0.1/routes/dashboard/.

Simple example application

docker-compose.yml for simple frontend
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services:
  adminer:
    image: adminer:4.8.1
    networks:
      - traefik
    labels:
      - traefik.http.routers.adminer.rule=Host(`adminer.localhost`)

The adminer application is now available at http://adminer.localhost/.

Complex example

docker-compose.yml for comlex example
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services:
  adminer:
    image: adminer:4.8.1
    networks:
      - default
      - traefik
    labels:
      - traefik.http.routers.adminer.rule=Host(`adminer.localhost`)
  maildev:
    image: maildev/maildev
    labels:
      - traefik.http.routers.maildev.rule=Host(`maildev.localhost`)
      - traefik.http.services.maildev.loadbalancer.server.port=80
    networks:
      - default
      - traefik
  database:
    image: mysql:8.0
    environment:
      - MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD=admin1234
      - MYSQL_PASSWORD=app123
      - MYSQL_DATABASE=app
      - MYSQL_USER=appuser
    labels:
      - "traefik.enable=false"
    volumes:
      - db:/var/lib/mysql
    networks:
      - default
networks:
  traefik:
    external: true
volumes:
  db: null

The database container is not connected to the traefik network.