devilbox/docs/intermediate/work-inside-the-php-container.rst

Work inside the PHP container

The Devilbox allows you to completely work inside the PHP container (no matter what version), instead of your host operating system.

This brings a lot of advantages, such as that you don't have to install any development tool on your OS or if you are on Windows, you get a full blown Linux environment.

Additionally, special port-bindings and forwards are in place that allows you to even interchangably work locally or inside the container without having to alter any php config for database and other connections.

available_tools

Table of Contents

local

Enter the container

Entering the computer is fairly simple. The Devilbox ships with two scripts to do that. One for Linux and MacOS (shell.sh) and another one for Windows (shell.bat).

Entering from Linux or MacOS: shell.sh

# Navigate to the Devilbox directory
host> cd /path/to/devilbox

# Run provided script
host> ./shell.sh

# Now you are inside the PHP Linux container
devilbox@php-7.0.19 in /shared/httpd $

Entering from Windows: shell.bat

# Navigate to the Devilbox directory
C:/> cd C:/Users/user1/devilbox

# Run provided script
C:/Users/user1/devilbox> shell.bat

# Now you are inside the PHP Linux container
devilbox@php-7.0.19 in /shared/httpd $

Inside the container

devilbox user

By using the provided scripts to enter the container you will become the user devilbox. This user will have the same uid and gid as the user from your host operating system.

So no matter what files or directories you create inside the container, they will have the same permissions and uid/gid set your host operating system. This of course also works the other way round.

The uid and gid mappings are controlled via two .env variables called env_new_uid and env_new_gid

If you want to find out more about synronized container permissions read up here: syncronize_container_permissions

root user

Sometimes however it is also necessary to do some actions that require super user privileges. You can always become root inside the container by either impersonating it or by using sudo to issue commands.

By default sudo is configured to be used without passwords, so you can simply do the following:

# As user devilbox inside the container
devilbox@php-7.0.19 in /shared/httpd $ sudo su -

# You are now the root user
root@php-7.0.19 in /shared/httpd $

You can also use sudo to run commands with root privileges without having to become root first.

# As user devilbox inside the container
devilbox@php-7.0.19 in /shared/httpd $ sudo apt update
devilbox@php-7.0.19 in /shared/httpd $ sudo apt install nmap

Leave the container

When you are inside the container and want to return to your host operating, just type exit and you are out.

# As user devilbox inside the container
devilbox@php-7.0.19 in /shared/httpd $ exit

# You are now back on your host operating system
host>

Host to Container mappings

This section will give you an idea that there is actually no difference from inside the container and on your host operating system. Directory permissions, IP addresses, ports and DNS entries are fully syncronized allowing you to switch between container and host without having to change any settings.

File and directory Permissions

The username inside the container (devilbox) might be different from your local host operating system username, however its actual uid and gid will match. This is to ensure file and directory permissions are synronized inside and outside the container and no matter from which side you create files and directories, it will always look as if they are owned by your system user.

The uid and gid mappings are controlled via two .env variables called env_new_uid and env_new_gid

Directory mappings

One thing you should understand is the relation between the directories on your host operating system and the corresponding directory inside the PHP container.

The location of the data directory (env_httpd_datadir) on your host computer is controlled via the HOST_PATH_HTTPD_DATADIR variable inside the .env file. No matter what location you set it to, inside the container it will always be mapped to /shared/httpd.

See the following table for a few examples:

	Host operating system	Inside PHP container
Data dir	./www/data	/shared/httpd
Data dir	/home/user1/www	/shared/httpd
Data dir	/var/www	/shared/httpd

IP address mappings

The following table shows a mapping of IP addresses of available service from the perspective of your host operating system and from within the PHP container.

Service	IP from host os	IP from within PHP container
PHP	127.0.0.1	127.0.0.1
Apache/Nginx	127.0.0.1	127.0.0.1
MySQL	127.0.0.1	127.0.0.1
PostgreSQL	127.0.0.1	127.0.0.1
Redis	127.0.0.1	127.0.0.1
Memcached	127.0.0.1	127.0.0.1
MongoDB	127.0.0.1	127.0.0.1

As you can see, everyhing is available under 127.0.0.1.

The PHP container is using socat to forward the services from all other available containers to its own 127.0.0.1 address.

An example to access the MySQL database from either host or within the PHP container is the same:

# Access MySQL from your host operating system
host> mysql -h 127.0.0.1

# Access MySQL from within the PHP container
devilbox@php-7.0.19 in /shared/httpd $ mysql -h 127.0.0.1

Important

Do not use localhost to access the services, it does not map to 127.0.0.1 on all cases.

So when setting up a configuration file from your PHP project you would for example use 127.0.0. as the host for your MySQL database connection:

<?php
// MySQL server connection
mysql_host = '127.0.0.1';
mysql_port = '3306';
mysql_user = 'someusername';
mysql_pass = 'somepassword';
?>

Imagine your PHP framework ships a command line tool to run database migration. You could run it from your host operating system or from within the PHP container. It would work from both sides as the connection to the database is exactly the same locally or within the container.

You could also even switch between the Devilbox and a locally installed LAMP stack and still use the same configuration.

Important

The mapping of 127.0.0.1 to your host operating system does not work with Docker Toolbox out of the box. In order to achieve the same behaviour read up on: howto_docker_toolbox_and_the_devilbox.

Port mappings

By default, ports are also synronized between host operating system (the ports that are exposed) and the ports within the PHP container. This is however also configurable inside the .env file.

Service	Port from host os	Port from within PHP container
PHP	NA	9000
Apache/Nginx	80	80
MySQL	3306	3306
PostgreSQL	5432	5432
Redis	6379	6379
Memcached	11211	11211
MongoDB	27017	27017

DNS mappings

All project DNS records are also available from inside the PHP container independent of the value of env_tld_suffix.

The PHP container is hooked up by default to the bundled DNS server and makes use setup_auto_dns.

You can achieve the same on your host operating system by explicitly enabling auto-dns. See also: setup_auto_dns.

Checklist

1. You know how to enter the PHP container
2. You know how to become root inside the PHP container
3. You know how to leave the container
4. You know that file and directory permissions are synronized
5. You know that 127.0.0.1 is available on your host and inside the PHP container
6. You know that ports are the same inside the container and on your host os
7. You know that project urls are available inside the container and on your host
8. You know about the limitations of howto_docker_toolbox_and_the_devilbox