egeniq/varnish repository overview

⁠Varnish Docker image

Varnish docker image with support for dynamic backends, Rancher DNS, auto-configure and reload.

This image is generic, thus you can obviously re-use it within your non-related EEA projects.

• Debian Jessie
• Varnish 4.1
• EXPOSE 6081

⁠Supported tags and respective Dockerfile links

• :latest Dockerfile⁠ (Debian Jessie, Varnish 4.1)

⁠Stable and immutable tags

• :4.1-2.0 Dockerfile⁠ - Varnish: 4.1 Release: 2.0

See older versions⁠

⁠Changes

• CHANGELOG.md⁠

⁠Base docker image

• hub.docker.com⁠

⁠Source code

• github.com⁠

⁠Installation

1. Install Docker⁠.

⁠Usage

⁠Run with Docker Compose

Here is a basic example of a docker-compose.yml file using the eeacms/varnish docker image:

version: "2"
services:
  varnish:
    image: eeacms/varnish
    ports:
    - "80:6081"
    depends_on:
    - anon
    - auth
    - download
    environment:
      BACKENDS: "anon auth download"
      BACKENDS_PORT: "8080"
      DNS_ENABLED: "true"
      BACKENDS_PROBE_INTERVAL: "3s"
      BACKENDS_PROBE_TIMEOUT: "1s"
      BACKENDS_PROBE_WINDOW: "3"
      BACKENDS_PROBE_THRESHOLD: "2"
  anon:
    image: eeacms/hello
    environment:
      PORT: "8080"
  auth:
    image: eeacms/hello
    environment:
      PORT: "8080"
  download:
    image: eeacms/hello
    environment:
      PORT: "8080"

The application can be scaled to use more server instances as backends, with docker-compose scale:

$ docker-compose up -d
$ docker-compose scale anon=4 auth=2

An example of a more complex application using the eeacms/varnish with docker-compose image is EEA WWW⁠.

⁠Extend the image with a custom varnish.vcl file

The default.vcl file provided with this image is bare and only contains the marker to specify the VCL version. If you plan on using a more elaborate base configuration in your container and you want it shipped with your image, you can extend the image in a Dockerfile, like this:

FROM eeacms/varnish
COPY varnish.vcl backends.vcl /etc/varnish/conf.d/

and then run

$ docker build -t varnish-custom /path/to/Dockerfile

⁠Change and reload configuration without restarting the container

If the configuration directory is mounted as a volume, you can modify it from outside the container. In order for the modifications to be loaded by the varnish daemon, you have to run the reload command, as following:

$ docker exec <container-name-or-id> reload

The command will load the new configuration, compile it, and if compilation succeeds replace the old one with it. If compilation of the new configuration fails, the varnish daemon will continue to use the old configuration. Keep in mind that the only way to restore a previous configuration is to restore the configuration files and then reload them.

⁠Upgrade

$ docker pull eeacms/varnish

⁠Supported environment variables

As varnish has close to no purpose by itself, this image should be used in combination with others with Docker Compose⁠. The varnish daemon can be configured by modifying the following environment variables:

• PRIVILEDGED_USER Priviledge separation user id (e.g. varnish)
• CACHE_SIZE Size of the RAM cache storage (default 2G)
• CACHE_STORAGE Override default RAM cache (e.g. file,/var/lib/varnish/varnish_storage.bin,1G)
• ADDRESS_PORT HTTP listen address and port (default :6081)
• ADMIN_PORT HTTP admin address and port (e.g. :6082)
• PARAM_VALUE A list of parameter-value pairs, each preceeded by the -p flag
• BACKENDS A list of host[:port] pairs separated by space (e.g. BACKENDS="127.0.0.1 74.125.140.103:8080")
• BACKENDS_PORT Default port to be used for backends (defalut 80)
• BACKENDS_PROBE_ENABLED Enable backend probe (default True)
• BACKENDS_PROBE_URL Backend probe URL (default /)
• BACKENDS_PROBE_TIMEOUT Backend probe timeout (defalut 1s)
• BACKENDS_PROBE_INTERVAL Backend probe interval (defalut 1s)
• BACKENDS_PROBE_WINDOW Backend probe window (defalut 3)
• BACKENDS_PROBE_THRESHOLD Backend probe threshold (defalut 2)
• DNS_ENABLED DNS lookup provided BACKENDS. Use this option when your backends are resolved by an internal/external DNS service (e.g. Rancher)
• DNS_TTL DNS lookup backends every $DNS_TTL minutes. Default 1 minute.
• BACKENDS_SAINT_MODE Register backends using saintmode module⁠

⁠Copyright and license

The Initial Owner of the Original Code is European Environment Agency (EEA). All Rights Reserved.

The Original Code is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.

⁠Funding

European Environment Agency (EU)⁠