How to Host Multiple WordPress Sites on a Single Docker Container
WordPress is the most popular blogging platform in the world, used by millions of people to create and share blogs with their audiences. Its wide range of supported features and themes make it ideal for any blog or website, and it has become incredibly popular on GitHub as well, with 16.8 million repositories containing over 250 million lines of code as of March 2020.
Although WordPress is easy to use and install, it is built on a weak foundation that can cause serious security issues if not handled correctly. For this reason, we will not be covering installing and configuring WordPress directly in this guide, but instead, we will be focusing on how to host multiple WordPress sites on a single Docker container. When properly implemented, this can provide an extremely secure and robust solution for any website or blog.
Choose A Hosting Service
Docker containers give us the amazing ability to package multiple sites into a single virtual machine, sharing the resources of a powerful server with multiple, independent sites. For this reason, we recommend using a hosting service that provides Docker support, such as Hepsia, as it makes the process of creating and deploying these containers incredibly simple.
Secure The Entire Container With A Firewall
Even though Docker is a hugely popular and useful technology for web hosting, it is not a panacea. Like any other program, if it is not configured correctly it can be a source of major problems. One of the most important things you can do to secure your websites against external threats is to properly set up the Docker firewall, limiting the access to only those ports that are necessary and blocking dangerous protocols and connections. For example, we recommend using port 443 for HTTPS traffic and port 22 for SSH connections, as those are the most commonly attacked ports on the web.
Use Only The Necessary Commands
We all love shortcuts, and while using shortcuts can make our lives easier, they can also cause more problems than they are worth. The same goes for powerful tools like Docker, which provides us with incredible flexibility but also comes with a laundry list of features that make it much more complicated than necessary. We highly recommend using only the tools that you need, and when possible, avoiding software that provides features that you do not need. Using these tools and turning them off where it is not necessary creates a more stable and secure environment, preventing countless potential issues later on.
Know Your Vulnerabilities And How To Fix Them
Even though we have already talked about how to secure our Docker containers, it is always good practice to learn more about our weaknesses and how to prevent them. Sometimes, we are not aware of the fact that our security settings are not exactly what they should be, and it takes a little bit of detective work to figure it out. Knowing our security vulnerabilities and being aware of how to fix them is a big step forward in keeping our websites and data secure. Regular security audits can help us keep an eye on any potential security issues and update our settings appropriately. These kinds of audits might be conducted by a third party, specializing in penetration testing or security scanning.
After going through this guide, we hope that you will have the necessary knowledge to successfully deploy multiple WordPress sites on a single Docker container. If you followed all the instructions and set up your containers securely, you will have a fully-functioning web server that provides all the features you need for a website or blog. If you are looking for a simple solution and don’t want to go the extra mile, you can always head over to WordPress itself and use their basic hosted web server to create and manage your blogs.