Lab 2: Run workshop components with Docker

Introduction

In this lab, you’ll run a demo backend application and several NGINX Open Source and NGINX Plus containers with Docker. The backend application runs in three nginxinc/ingress-demo containers, each serving a simple web page. You’ll also connect each NGINX container to the NGINX One Console for management and monitoring.

What you’ll learn

By the end of this tutorial, you can:

• Set environment variables for your data plane key and license
• Log in to the NGINX private registry
• Generate self-signed certificates
• Run Docker Compose to start nine containers
• Verify your containers in Docker and in NGINX One Console

Before you begin

Make sure you have:

• All labs require an F5 Distributed Cloud (XC) account with NGINX One enabled. If you don’t have an account or need to verify access, follow the steps in Lab 1: Before you begin.

• Docker and Docker Compose installed and running
• An active data plane key from Lab 1: Get started with NGINX One Console
• A trial or paid NGINX One JWT license (saved as nginx-repo.jwt) from MyF5
• Basic Linux and NGINX knowledge
• Git installed and an SSH key set up for GitHub access

Clone the NGINX documentation repo

1. Clone the repo via SSH

   Copy

   git clone git@github.com:nginx/documentation.git

2. Change to the Lab 2 directory

   Copy

   cd static/workshops/nginx-one/lab2

   This folder contains compose.yaml and generate_certs.sh.

   Download compose.yaml

   Download generate_certs.sh

Set environment variables

1. Set your data plane key

   shell

   Copy

   export TOKEN="paste-your-data-plane-key-here"
   echo "$TOKEN"

2. Set your NGINX Plus JWT

   shell

   Copy

   export JWT=$(cat path/to/nginx-repo.jwt)
   echo "$JWT"

3. Give your setup a unique name

   Replace your.initials with something that identifies you (for example, s.jobs).

   shell

   Copy

   export NAME="your.initials"
   echo "$NAME"

Log in to the private registry

Pipe your JWT into Docker login:

echo "$JWT" | docker login private-registry.nginx.com \
--username "$JWT" --password-stdin

You should see Login Succeeded.

Generate certificates

Run the script to create self-signed certificates:

chmod +x generate_certs.sh
./generate_certs.sh

This creates 1-day.key, 1-day.crt, 30-day.key, and 30-day.crt in the nginx-oss/etc/ssl/nginx subfolder.

Run Docker Compose

Start all nine containers in detached mode:

docker compose up --force-recreate -d

Wait until you see Started for each container.

Verify containers

1. Check Docker

   Copy

   docker ps | grep "$NAME"

   You should see nine containers listed.

2. Check NGINX One Console

   • Go to the Instances page in NGINX One Console
   • Refresh and search by your $NAME (for example, s.jobs)
   • Confirm each instance shows a green Online icon

   If you don’t see them, check your $TOKEN or generate a new data plane key.

Next steps

Your containers are now up and registered with NGINX One Console.

Go to Lab 3: Explore NGINX One Console features.

References

• NGINX One Console docs
• NGINX Agent overview