Docker Swarm (mode) cluster

This section explains how to create a multi-host docker cluster with swarm mode using docker-machine and how to deploy Træfɪk on it.

The cluster consists of:

3 servers
1 manager
2 workers
1 overlay network (multi-host networking)

Prerequisites

You will need to install docker-machine
You will need the latest VirtualBox

Cluster provisioning

First, let's create all the required nodes. It's a shorter version of the swarm tutorial.

docker-machine create -d virtualbox manager
docker-machine create -d virtualbox worker1
docker-machine create -d virtualbox worker2

Then, let's setup the cluster, in order :

initialize the cluster
get the token for other host to join
on both workers, join the cluster with the token

docker-machine ssh manager "docker swarm init \
    --listen-addr $(docker-machine ip manager) \
    --advertise-addr $(docker-machine ip manager)"

export worker_token=$(docker-machine ssh manager "docker swarm \
join-token worker -q")

docker-machine ssh worker1 "docker swarm join \
    --token=${worker_token} \
    --listen-addr $(docker-machine ip worker1) \
    --advertise-addr $(docker-machine ip worker1) \
    $(docker-machine ip manager)"

docker-machine ssh worker2 "docker swarm join \
    --token=${worker_token} \
    --listen-addr $(docker-machine ip worker2) \
    --advertise-addr $(docker-machine ip worker2) \
    $(docker-machine ip manager)"

Let's validate the cluster is up and running.

docker-machine ssh manager docker node ls
ID                           HOSTNAME  STATUS  AVAILABILITY  MANAGER STATUS
2a770ov9vixeadep674265u1n    worker1   Ready   Active
dbi3or4q8ii8elbws70g4hkdh *  manager   Ready   Active        Leader
esbhhy6vnqv90xomjaomdgy46    worker2   Ready   Active

Finally, let's create a network for Træfik to use.

docker-machine ssh manager "docker network create --driver=overlay traefik-net"

Deploy Træfik

Let's deploy Træfik as a docker service in our cluster. The only requirement for Træfik to work with swarm mode is that it needs to run on a manager node — we are going to use a constraint for that.

docker-machine ssh manager "docker service create \
    --name traefik \
    --constraint=node.role==manager \
    --publish 80:80 --publish 8080:8080 \
    --mount type=bind,source=/var/run/docker.sock,target=/var/run/docker.sock \
    --network traefik-net \
    traefik \
    --docker \
    --docker.swarmmode \
    --docker.domain=traefik \
    --docker.watch \
    --web"

Let's explain this command:

--publish 80:80 --publish 8080:8080: we publish port 80 and 8080 on the cluster.
--constraint=node.role==manager: we ask docker to schedule Træfik on a manager node.
--mount type=bind,source=/var/run/docker.sock,target=/var/run/docker.sock: we bind mount the docker socket where Træfik is scheduled to be able to speak to the daemon.
--network traefik-net: we attach the Træfik service (and thus the underlying container) to the traefik-net network.
--docker: enable docker backend, and --docker.swarmmode to enable the swarm mode on Træfik.
--web: activate the webUI on port 8080

Deploy your apps

We can now deploy our app on the cluster, here whoami, a simple web server in Go. We start 2 services, on the traefik-net network.

docker-machine ssh manager "docker service create \
    --name whoami0 \
    --label traefik.port=80 \
    --network traefik-net \
    emilevauge/whoami"

docker-machine ssh manager "docker service create \
    --name whoami1 \
    --label traefik.port=80 \
    --network traefik-net \
    --label traefik.backend.loadbalancer.sticky=true \
    emilevauge/whoami"

Note that we set whoami1 to use sticky sessions (--label traefik.backend.loadbalancer.sticky=true). We'll demonstrate that later. If using docker stack deploy, there is a specific way that the labels must be defined in the docker-compose file.

Check that everything is scheduled and started:

docker-machine ssh manager "docker service ls"
ID            NAME     REPLICAS  IMAGE              COMMAND
ab046gpaqtln  whoami0  1/1       emilevauge/whoami
cgfg5ifzrpgm  whoami1  1/1       emilevauge/whoami
dtpl249tfghc  traefik  1/1       traefik            --docker --docker.swarmmode --docker.domain=traefik --docker.watch --web

Access to your apps through Træfɪk

curl -H Host:whoami0.traefik http://$(docker-machine ip manager)
Hostname: 8147a7746e7a
IP: 127.0.0.1
IP: ::1
IP: 10.0.9.3
IP: fe80::42:aff:fe00:903
IP: 172.18.0.3
IP: fe80::42:acff:fe12:3
GET / HTTP/1.1
Host: 10.0.9.3:80
User-Agent: curl/7.35.0
Accept: */*
Accept-Encoding: gzip
X-Forwarded-For: 192.168.99.1
X-Forwarded-Host: 10.0.9.3:80
X-Forwarded-Proto: http
X-Forwarded-Server: 8fbc39271b4c

curl -H Host:whoami1.traefik http://$(docker-machine ip manager)
Hostname: ba2c21488299
IP: 127.0.0.1
IP: ::1
IP: 10.0.9.4
IP: fe80::42:aff:fe00:904
IP: 172.18.0.2
IP: fe80::42:acff:fe12:2
GET / HTTP/1.1
Host: 10.0.9.4:80
User-Agent: curl/7.35.0
Accept: */*
Accept-Encoding: gzip
X-Forwarded-For: 192.168.99.1
X-Forwarded-Host: 10.0.9.4:80
X-Forwarded-Proto: http
X-Forwarded-Server: 8fbc39271b4c

Note that as Træfik is published, you can access it from any machine and not only the manager.

curl -H Host:whoami0.traefik http://$(docker-machine ip worker1)
Hostname: 8147a7746e7a
IP: 127.0.0.1
IP: ::1
IP: 10.0.9.3
IP: fe80::42:aff:fe00:903
IP: 172.18.0.3
IP: fe80::42:acff:fe12:3
GET / HTTP/1.1
Host: 10.0.9.3:80
User-Agent: curl/7.35.0
Accept: */*
Accept-Encoding: gzip
X-Forwarded-For: 192.168.99.1
X-Forwarded-Host: 10.0.9.3:80
X-Forwarded-Proto: http
X-Forwarded-Server: 8fbc39271b4c

curl -H Host:whoami1.traefik http://$(docker-machine ip worker2)
Hostname: ba2c21488299
IP: 127.0.0.1
IP: ::1
IP: 10.0.9.4
IP: fe80::42:aff:fe00:904
IP: 172.18.0.2
IP: fe80::42:acff:fe12:2
GET / HTTP/1.1
Host: 10.0.9.4:80
User-Agent: curl/7.35.0
Accept: */*
Accept-Encoding: gzip
X-Forwarded-For: 192.168.99.1
X-Forwarded-Host: 10.0.9.4:80
X-Forwarded-Proto: http
X-Forwarded-Server: 8fbc39271b4c

Scale both services

docker-machine ssh manager "docker service scale whoami0=5"

docker-machine ssh manager "docker service scale whoami1=5"

Check that we now have 5 replicas of each whoami service:

docker-machine ssh manager "docker service ls"
ID            NAME     REPLICAS  IMAGE              COMMAND
ab046gpaqtln  whoami0  5/5       emilevauge/whoami
cgfg5ifzrpgm  whoami1  5/5       emilevauge/whoami
dtpl249tfghc  traefik  1/1       traefik            --docker --docker.swarmmode --docker.domain=traefik --docker.watch --web

Access to your whoami0 through Træfɪk multiple times.

Repeat the following command multiple times and note that the Hostname changes each time as Traefik load balances each request against the 5 tasks.

curl -H Host:whoami0.traefik http://$(docker-machine ip manager)
Hostname: 8147a7746e7a
IP: 127.0.0.1
IP: ::1
IP: 10.0.9.3
IP: fe80::42:aff:fe00:903
IP: 172.18.0.3
IP: fe80::42:acff:fe12:3
GET / HTTP/1.1
Host: 10.0.9.3:80
User-Agent: curl/7.35.0
Accept: */*
Accept-Encoding: gzip
X-Forwarded-For: 192.168.99.1
X-Forwarded-Host: 10.0.9.3:80
X-Forwarded-Proto: http
X-Forwarded-Server: 8fbc39271b4c

Do the same against whoami1.

curl -H Host:whoami1.traefik http://$(docker-machine ip manager)
Hostname: ba2c21488299
IP: 127.0.0.1
IP: ::1
IP: 10.0.9.4
IP: fe80::42:aff:fe00:904
IP: 172.18.0.2
IP: fe80::42:acff:fe12:2
GET / HTTP/1.1
Host: 10.0.9.4:80
User-Agent: curl/7.35.0
Accept: */*
Accept-Encoding: gzip
X-Forwarded-For: 192.168.99.1
X-Forwarded-Host: 10.0.9.4:80
X-Forwarded-Proto: http
X-Forwarded-Server: 8fbc39271b4c

Wait, I thought we added the sticky flag to whoami1? Traefik relies on a cookie to maintain stickyness so you'll need to test this with a browser.

First you need to add whoami1.traefik to your hosts file:

if [ -n "$(grep whoami1.traefik /etc/hosts)" ];
then
echo "whoami1.traefik already exists (make sure the ip is current)";
else
sudo -- sh -c -e "echo '$(docker-machine ip manager)\twhoami1.traefik'
>> /etc/hosts";
fi

Now open your browser and go to http://whoami1.traefik/

You will now see that stickyness is maintained.