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https://github.com/openfun/openedx-docker

:whale: A best practice Docker image of Open edX
https://github.com/openfun/openedx-docker

django docker docker-image edx edx-platform lms openeducation openedx

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:whale: A best practice Docker image of Open edX

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README 

        
# Open edX Docker



France Université Numérique introduces an alternative `Docker` approach to

install a complete and customized version of [Open edX](https://open.edx.org).



The idea is to handcraft a `Dockerfile`, in order to make the project simpler,

more flexible and fully operable by developers.



## Quick preview



If you're looking for a quick preview of OpenEdX Docker, you can take a look

at our dedicated [demo site](https://demo.richie.education).



It is connected back-to-back with a demo of Richie,

[a CMS for Open Education](https://richie.education) based on Django.



Two users are available for testing:



- admin: `[email protected]`/`admin`

- student: `[email protected]`/`edx`



Richie's admin is available at https://demo.richie.education/admin/ and can be

accessed via the following user account: `admin`/`admin`.



The demonstration databases are regularly flushed.



## Approach



This project builds a docker image that is ready for production.



At France Université Numérique, we are deploying Open edX Docker to OpenShift,

for many customers and in multiple environments using

[Arnold](https://github.com/openfun/arnold):



- The Open edX settings were polished to unlock powerful configuration

  management features: sensible defaults, flexible overrides using YAML files

  and/or environment variables, secure credentials using Ansible Vault and PGP

  keys,

- We focused on a best practice installation of `edxapp`, the core Open edX

  application. You can build you own image by adding specific Xblocks or Django

  apps in a `Dockerfile` inheriting from this one (see

  https://github.com/openfun/fonzie for an example).



Docker compose is only used for development purposes so that we can code locally

and see our changes immediately:



- sources and configuration files are mounted from the host,

- the Docker CMD launches Django's development server instead of `gunicorn`,

- ports are opened on the application containers to allow bypassing `nginx`.



Docker compose also allows us to run a complete project in development,

including database services which in production are not run on Docker. See the

[docker-compose file](./docker-compose.yml) for details on each service:



- **mysql:** the SQL database used to structure and persist the application

  data,

- **mongodb:** the no-SQL database used to store course content,

- **memcached:** the cache engine,

- **lms:** the Django web application used by learners,

- **cms:** the Django web application used by teachers,

- **nginx:** the front end web server configured to serve static/media files and

  proxy other requests to Django.

- **mailcatcher** the email backend



Concerning Redis, it is possible to run a single redis instance (the default choice)

or to run redis with sentinel to simulate a HA instance.

To use Redis sentinel you have to set the `REDIS_SERVICE` environment variable

to `redis-sentinel`:



```bash

$ export REDIS_SERVICE=redis-sentinel

```



To switch back to the single redis instance, unset this environment variable:



```bash

$ unset REDIS_SERVICE

```



## Prerequisite



Make sure you have a recent version of [Docker](https://docs.docker.com/install)

and [Docker Compose](https://docs.docker.com/compose/install) installed on your

laptop:



```bash

$ docker -v

  Docker version 26.0.0, build 2ae903e



$ docker compose version

  docker compose version v2.24.5

```



## Getting started



First, you need to choose a release/flavor of OpenEdx versions we support. You

can list them and get instructions about how to select/activate a target release

using the `bin/activate` script. An example output follows:



```bash

$ bin/activate

Select an available release to activate:

[1] master/0/bare (default)

[2] hawthorn/1/bare

[3] hawthorn/1/oee

Your choice: 3



# Copy/paste hawthorn/1/oee environment:

export EDX_RELEASE="hawthorn.1"

export FLAVOR="oee"

export EDX_RELEASE_REF="open-release/hawthorn.1"

export EDX_DEMO_RELEASE_REF="open-release/hawthorn.1"



# Or run the following command:

. ${HOME}/Work/openedx-docker/releases/hawthorn/1/oee/activate



# Check your environment with:

make info

```



Once your environment is set, start the full project by running:



```bash

$ make bootstrap

```



You should now be able to view the web applications:



- LMS served by `nginx` at: [http://localhost:8073](http://localhost:8073)

- CMS served by `nginx` at: [http://localhost:8083](http://localhost:8083)



See other available commands by running:



```bash

$ make --help

```



## Developer guide



If you intend to work on edx-platform or its configuration, you'll need to

compile static files in local directories that are mounted as docker volumes in

the target container:



```bash

$ make dev-assets

```



Now you can start services development server _via_:



```bash

$ make dev

```



You should be able to view the web applications:



- LMS served by Django's development server at:

  [http://localhost:8072](http://localhost:8072)

- CMS served by Django's development server at:

  [http://localhost:8082](http://localhost:8082)



### Hacking with themes



To work on a particular theme, we invite you to use the `paver watch_assets`

command; _e.g._:



```bash

$ make dev-watch

```



**Troubleshooting**: if the command above raises the following error:



```

OSError: inotify watch limit reached

```



Then you will need to increase the **host**'s `fs.inotify.max_user_watches`

kernel setting (for reference, see https://unix.stackexchange.com/a/13757):



```ini

# /etc/sysctl.conf (debian based)

fs.inotify.max_user_watches=524288

```



## Available Docker images



The aim of this project is to prepare several flavors of images, the docker

files and settings of which are living in their own directory (see

[`releases/`](./releases/))



Release paths on the current repository are of the form:



```

{release name}/{release number}/{flavor}

```



With:



- **release name**: OpenEdx release name (_e.g._ `hawthorn`)

- **release number**: OpenEdx release number (_e.g._ `1`)

- **flavor**: the release flavor (_e.g._ `bare` for standard OpenEdx release and

  `oee` for OpenEdx Extended release).



We are pushing to `DockerHub` only images that are the result of a tag

respecting the following pattern:



```

{release}(-{flavor})-x.y.z

```



The `release` (_e.g._ `hawthorn.1`) typically includes the `release name`

(_e.g._ `hawthorn`) and the `release number` (_e.g._ `1`). The flavor is

optional.



Here are some valid examples:



- `dogwood.3-1.0.3`

- `hawthorn.1-oee-2.0.1`



## Nginx



This project also provides an nginx companion image that can be used

alongside the `edxapp` image for faster deployments and better performance.



The classical way to handle and serve static files in a Django application is

to collect them (using the `collectstatic` management command) and post-process

them using an appropriate storage back-end that uses cache-busting techniques

to avoid old _versus_ new static files collisions (_e.g._

`ManifestStaticFilesStorage`).



Depending on the `edx-platform` release, some files may not benefit from a

cache busting md5 hash, leading to unexpected side effects during deployment.



To prevent such behavior, for each new `openedx-docker` release, we will also

release an

[`edxapp-nginx`](https://hub.docker.com/repository/docker/fundocker/edxapp-nginx/)

image with the same Docker tag. This image is an [OpenShift-ready `nginx`

image](https://github.com/openfun/openshift-docker#nginx) with embedded

`edxapp`'s static files. You are supposed to use this image to serve your

static files, media and reverse proxy to the version-matching `edxapp` instance.



## Alternative projects



If what you're looking for is a quick 1-click installation of the complete Open

edX stack, you may take a look at [Tutor](https://github.com/overhangio/tutor).



## License



The code in this repository is licensed under the GNU AGPL-3.0 terms unless

otherwise noted.



Please see [`LICENSE`](./LICENSE) for details.