aaPanel Docker Integration

What is aaPanel?

aaPanel is a free, open-source server management panel with built-in Docker management, allowing you to manage traditional web hosting and Docker containers from a single dashboard.

Installing aaPanel

wget -O install.sh https://www.aapanel.com/script/install_7.0_en.sh
sudo bash install.sh aapanel
# Access: http://YOUR_IP:7800/RANDOM_PATH
# Install from App Store: Nginx, MySQL, PHP, Docker Manager

Managing Containers

# Docker > Containers > Create
# Image, name, port mapping, volumes, env vars, restart policy
# Features: start/stop, live logs, shell access, resource monitoring

Docker Compose Projects

# Docker > Compose > Create Project
# Paste docker-compose.yml
# aaPanel manages the full stack lifecycle

# Example WordPress + MySQL stack:
version: "3.8"
services:
  app:
    image: wordpress:latest
    ports: ["8080:80"]
    environment:
      WORDPRESS_DB_HOST: db
      WORDPRESS_DB_NAME: wordpress
    volumes: [wp_data:/var/www/html]
  db:
    image: mysql:8
    environment:
      MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD: root_pass
      MYSQL_DATABASE: wordpress
    volumes: [db_data:/var/lib/mysql]
volumes:
  wp_data:
  db_data:

Nginx Reverse Proxy

# Website > Add Site > example.com
# Site Settings > Reverse Proxy > Target: http://127.0.0.1:8080
# Enable SSL with Let us Encrypt
# Adds proper proxy headers automatically

Mixing Traditional and Docker

# Traditional PHP sites: managed by Nginx + PHP-FPM
# Docker apps: reverse proxied through aaPanel Nginx
# Shared MySQL: Docker apps connect to host.docker.internal:3306

Container Monitoring

# Per-container: CPU, memory, network I/O, block I/O
# Set resource limits: memory cap, CPU weight
# Prevents container resource exhaustion

Security and Backup

• Keep Docker images updated for security patches
• Use aaPanel firewall to restrict container port exposure
• Limit container resources to prevent exhaustion
• Include /var/lib/docker/volumes/ in backups
• Use mysqldump for database containers, not volume snapshots
• Prune unused images, containers, and volumes regularly