gleenferdinand/nginx-arm-web repository overview

⁠Nginx Web Server - ARM Docker Images

A collection of lightweight Nginx + PHP-FPM Docker images built for ARM architectures (e.g. Raspberry Pi, Apple Silicon, ARM-based NAS / servers). Each directory represents a single PHP version, plus a nginxarmall variant that bundles most PHP versions into one image.

These images are the ARM counterpart of the x86_64 images in webserver/nginx/. They share the same host ports as the x86 variant, so run only one variant at a time on the same machine.

⁠Table of Contents

• Features⁠
• Directory Structure⁠
• Technologies Used⁠
• Image List⁠
• Usage⁠
  • 1. Prerequisites⁠
  • 2. Running a Specific Version (e.g. PHP 8.3)⁠
  • 3. Running Other Versions⁠
  • 4. Running nginxarmall (all PHP versions)⁠
  • 5. Setting Port & PHP via .env⁠
• How the Image Works⁠
• Configuration⁠
• Verification⁠
• Troubleshooting⁠

⁠Features

• Nginx web server that is lightweight, fast, and highly concurrent, built for ARM.
• PHP-FPM runs separately and is connected to Nginx through a FastCGI socket.
• Available for PHP 5.6, 7.0, 7.2, 7.4, 8.0, 8.1, 8.2, 8.3, 8.4.
• The nginxarmall variant bundles multiple PHP versions at once; the active version is selected via the PHP_VERSION environment variable.
• Built with --platform=linux/arm64, so it runs natively on 64-bit ARM (arm64 / aarch64 / Apple Silicon).
• Based on Debian bookworm; "EOL" PHP releases (5.6, 7.0, etc.) are provided through the Sury repository (packages.sury.org), which publishes ARM64 packages.
• The web directory is mounted from the host (./www) so no rebuild is needed when content changes.
• Access and error logs are sent to stdout / stderr to simplify docker logs.

⁠Directory Structure

webserver/nginx_arm/
├── nginxarm5.6/      # PHP 5.6 ARM64 image
├── nginxarm7.0/      # PHP 7.0 ARM64 image
├── nginxarm7.2/      # PHP 7.2 ARM64 image
├── nginxarm7.4/      # PHP 7.4 ARM64 image
├── nginxarm8.0/      # PHP 8.0 ARM64 image
├── nginxarm8.1/      # PHP 8.1 ARM64 image
├── nginxarm8.2/      # PHP 8.2 ARM64 image
├── nginxarm8.3/      # PHP 8.3 ARM64 image
├── nginxarm8.4/      # PHP 8.4 ARM64 image
└── nginxarmall/      # Multi-PHP-version ARM64 image

Each version directory shares the same structure:

nginxarm8.3/
├── Dockerfile              # Image build definition (linux/arm64)
├── docker-compose.yml      # Run orchestration (port, volume, container name)
├── docker/
│   ├── entrypoint.sh       # Startup: start PHP-FPM + Nginx
│   └── nginx.conf          # Nginx server config (root, index, PHP via FastCGI)
└── www/
    └── index.php           # Sample page (phpinfo)

⁠Technologies Used

⁠Image List

⁠Usage

⁠1. Prerequisites

Make sure Docker and Docker Compose v2 are installed, and that you are on an ARM64 machine (runs natively on arm64 / aarch64 / Apple Silicon):

docker --version
docker compose version
uname -m        # should report arm64 or aarch64

Place your web files inside the www/ folder of the relevant directory, or use the bundled sample index.php.

⁠2. Running a Specific Version (e.g. PHP 8.3)

cd webserver/nginx_arm/nginxarm8.3

# Build the image
docker compose build

# Start the container
docker compose up -d

# Check status
docker compose ps

Access it in your browser:

http://localhost:9088

If the bundled www/index.php (phpinfo) is still present, the PHP configuration page will be displayed.

⁠3. Running Other Versions

Repeat the same steps for the version directory you want. Adjust the port according to the table above:

cd webserver/nginx_arm/nginxarm8.4
docker compose build
docker compose up -d
# Access http://localhost:9089

⁠4. Running nginxarmall (all PHP versions)

This image bundles several PHP-FPM versions at once. The default PHP version is determined by the PHP_VERSION environment variable (default 8.4).

cd webserver/nginx_arm/nginxarmall
docker compose build
docker compose up -d

Switching the active PHP version:

# Set PHP_VERSION directly at run time
PHP_VERSION=7.4 docker compose up -d --force-recreate

# Or use .env
docker compose --env-file .env up -d

⁠5. Setting Port & PHP via .env (for nginxarmall)

The nginxarmall/.env file is already available and can be edited:

# Choose PHP version (5.6, 7.0, 7.2, 7.4, 8.0, 8.1, 8.2, 8.4)
PHP_VERSION=7.4

# Port for accessing the web (default 9080)
WORDPRESS_PORT=9080

After editing .env, rerun:

docker compose up -d --force-recreate

⁠How the Image Works

When the container starts, entrypoint.sh performs several steps:

1. Creates the /run/php directory for PHP-FPM sockets.
2. Starts PHP-FPM:
   • Specific version: php-fpm<v> matching the version in that directory.
   • nginxarmall: starts all php-fpm5.6 … php-fpm8.4, then rewrites nginx.conf to point the .php handler to the $PHP_VERSION socket.
3. Runs Nginx in the foreground: nginx -g 'daemon off;'.

Web request flow:

Browser ──HTTP──▶ Nginx ──FastCGI socket──▶ php-fpm<v> ──▶ /var/www/html

⁠Configuration

⁠docker/nginx.conf

A single server block that:

• Listens on port 80 and serves the document root /var/www/html.
• Uses index.php as the default index file.
• Sends access/error logs to /dev/stdout and /dev/stderr.
• Routes requests with the try_files rewriting to index.php for pretty URLs / SPA-style routing.
• Passes .php files to PHP-FPM via fastcgi_pass unix:/run/php/php8.3-fpm.sock (version-specific in each image).
• Denies access to .ht files for security.

⁠Volume

• ./www:/var/www/html — your web content. Changes on the host are visible in the container immediately.

⁠Verification

Check container status & logs:

docker ps | grep nginx
docker logs <container_name>          # e.g. docker logs nginx-php83

Test the page response:

curl -i http://localhost:9088

Check the active PHP version (if www/index.php contains phpinfo()):

curl -s http://localhost:9088 | grep -i "PHP Version"

⁠Troubleshooting