Deploying Docker containers with Terraform

The easiest way to start experimenting with Terraform is by deploying local resources in Docker. To install Docker on Mac, run brew install docker first.

Here’s the code I used to deploy an Nginx dontainer on my Mac:

terraform {
  required_providers {
    docker = {
      source  = "kreuzwerker/docker"
      version = "3.0.2"
    }
  }
}

provider "docker" {
    host = "unix:///var/run/docker.sock"
}

resource "docker_image" "nginx" {
  name         = "nginx:latest"
  keep_locally = false
}

resource "docker_container" "nginx" {
  image = docker_image.nginx.image_id
  name  = "tutorial"
  ports {
    internal = 80
    external = 8000
  }
}

terraform apply

To verify, go to http://localhost:8000 to see the Nginx test page.

You can also run docker ps to see your running containers.

CONTAINER ID   IMAGE          COMMAND                  CREATED         STATUS         PORTS                  NAMES
2a719d839dfa   2a4fbb36e966   "/docker-entrypoint.…"   7 minutes ago   Up 7 minutes   0.0.0.0:8000->80/tcp   tutorial

If you are looking for an easy way to host a simple website, I recommend hosting Hugo on S3.