Setting Up a PHP Development Environment with Docker: MySQL, Nginx, and PHP‑FPM

Docker has become a popular technology for developers, and this guide shows how to build a complete PHP development environment using Docker Desktop for Mac, with a fast Alibaba Cloud mirror for image pulls.

Check Docker installation

docker -v

Install MySQL

Pull the latest or a specific version of MySQL:

# Pull the latest MySQL image
docker pull mysql
# Pull MySQL 5.7
docker pull mysql:5.7

Run the container with appropriate options:

# Run the latest MySQL
docker run --name mysql -p 3306:3306 -e MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD=12345678 -d mysql
# Run MySQL 5.7
docker run --name mysql_57 -p 3306:3306 -e MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD=12345678 -d mysql:5.7

Key parameters:

run: create a new container

--name: container name

-p: port mapping (host:container)

-e: environment variable

-d: run in background

Enter the container:

docker exec -it mysql bash

Mount persistent data, configuration, and logs on the host to keep state after container removal:

mkdir -p docker/mysql && cd docker/mysql
mkdir data log conf

Stop and remove the previous container:

docker stop mysql && docker rm mysql

Create a custom my.cnf in docker/mysql/conf :

vim my.cnf
[mysqld]
datadir=/var/lib/mysql
default-time_zone='+8:00'
log-error=/var/log/mysql/error.log

Re‑create the MySQL container with volume mounts and restart policy:

docker run --name mysql \
  --restart=always \
  --privileged=true \
  -p 3306:3306 \
  -v $(pwd)/conf:/etc/mysql/conf.d \
  -v $(pwd)/data:/var/lib/mysql \
  -v $(pwd)/log:/var/log/mysql \
  -e MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD=12345678 \
  -d mysql

Access the MySQL shell inside the container and set the root password method:

$ docker exec -it mysql bash
$ mysql -u root -p
mysql> ALTER USER 'root'@'%' IDENTIFIED WITH mysql_native_password BY '12345678';
mysql> FLUSH PRIVILEGES;

Install Nginx

docker pull nginx

docker run --name nginx -p 80:80 -d nginx

Prepare host directories for configuration and logs:

mkdir -p docker/nginx && cd docker/nginx
mkdir conf log

Copy the default Nginx config to the host and mount it:

docker cp nginx:/etc/nginx/conf.d/default.conf docker/nginx/conf/default.conf

Re‑create the Nginx container with volume mounts:

docker stop nginx && docker rm nginx
docker run --name nginx -p 80:80 \
  -v $(pwd)/conf:/etc/nginx/conf.d \
  -v $(pwd)/../www:/usr/share/nginx/html \
  -v $(pwd)/log:/var/log/nginx \
  -d nginx

Install PHP‑FPM

docker pull php:fpm

docker run --name php-fpm -p 9000:9000 -d php:fpm

Create host directories for PHP configuration and logs:

mkdir -p docker/php && cd docker/php
mkdir conf log

Copy configuration files from the container:

docker cp php-fpm:/usr/local/etc/php-fpm.d/www.conf docker/php/conf/www.conf
docker cp php-fpm:/usr/local/etc/php/php.ini-production docker/php/conf/php.ini

Run PHP‑FPM linked to MySQL and with the necessary volume mounts:

docker run --name php-fpm \
  --link mysql:mysql \
  -v $(pwd)/../www:/var/www/html \
  -v $(pwd)/conf/www.conf:/usr/local/etc/php-fpm.d/www.conf \
  -v $(pwd)/conf/php.ini:/usr/local/etc/php/php.ini \
  -d php:fpm

Note: --link allows the PHP container to resolve the MySQL host as mysql .

Configure Nginx to work with PHP‑FPM

server {
    listen 80;
    server_name localhost;
    root /usr/share/nginx/html;
    charset utf-8;
    access_log /var/log/nginx/access.log main;
    error_log /var/log/nginx/error.log;
    location / {
        index index.html index.htm index.php;
        try_files $uri $uri/ /index.php?$query_string;
    }
    location ~ \.php$ {
        fastcgi_index index.php;
        fastcgi_pass php-fpm:9000;
        fastcgi_param SCRIPT_FILENAME $document_root$fastcgi_script_name;
        include fastcgi_params;
    }
    location ~ /\.ht { deny all; }
    error_page 500 502 503 504 /50x.html;
    location = /50x.html { root html; }
}

Re‑create the Nginx container with the updated configuration:

docker stop nginx && docker rm nginx
docker run --name nginx -p 80:80 \
  --link php-fpm \
  -v $(pwd)/conf:/etc/nginx/conf.d \
  -v $(pwd)/../www:/usr/share/nginx/html \
  -v $(pwd)/log:/var/log/nginx \
  -d nginx

Create a simple index.php under docker/www :

phpinfo();

Visiting http://localhost displays the PHP information page.

Install PHP extensions

docker-php-ext-install mysqli

pecl install redis && docker-php-ext-install redis

apt-get update && apt-get install -y libpng-dev libjpeg-dev libfreetype6-dev
docker-php-ext-install gd

After installing extensions, simply restart the PHP container.

Container start order: MySQL → PHP‑FPM → Nginx.