Put all containers in their own isolated Docker network (matrix)

Moving away from using the default bridge network to using our own.
This isolates our services from other Docker containers running
on the default network on the same host.

The benefits are that:

- isolation is a little better - we no longer share a default
bridge network with any other containers that might be running on the host

- there are no longer hard dependencies - we do service discovery
by DNS name, and not via explicit `--link` usage during container start,
so containers can start out of order and fail without bringing down others
with them
(`matrix-nginx-proxy` can continue running, even if one of the other services dies)

In the future, when other services get introduced,
the increased resilience and simplicity will help as well.

CHANGELOG.md

@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+# 2018-08-08
+
+
+## Docker container linking
+
+Changed the way the Docker containers are linked together. The ones that need to communicate with others operate in a `matrix` network now and not in the default bridge network.

roles/matrix-server/defaults/main.yml

@@ -18,7 +18,7 @@ matrix_user_gid: 991
 # The defaults below cause a postgres server to be configured (running within a container).
 # Using an external server is possible by tweaking all of the parameters below.
 matrix_postgres_use_external: false
-matrix_postgres_connection_hostname: "postgres"
+matrix_postgres_connection_hostname: "matrix-postgres"
 matrix_postgres_connection_username: "synapse"
 matrix_postgres_connection_password: "synapse-password"
 matrix_postgres_db_name: "homeserver"
@@ -70,6 +70,8 @@ docker_s3fs_image: "xueshanf/s3fs:latest"
 docker_goofys_image: "cloudproto/goofys:latest"
 docker_coturn_image: "instrumentisto/coturn:4.5.0.7"
 
+# The Docker network that all services would be put into
+matrix_docker_network: "matrix"
 
 # A shared secret (between Synapse and Coturn) used for authentication.
 # You can put any string here, but generating a strong one is preferred (e.g. `pwgen -s 64 1`).

roles/matrix-server/tasks/setup_main.yml

@@ -28,4 +28,9 @@
     group: "{{ matrix_user_username }}"
   with_items:
     - "{{ matrix_base_data_path }}"
-    - "{{ matrix_synapse_base_path }}"
+    - "{{ matrix_synapse_base_path }}"
+
+- name: Ensure Matrix network is created in Docker
+  docker_network:
+    name: "{{ matrix_docker_network }}"
+    driver: bridge

roles/matrix-server/templates/nginx-conf.d/matrix-riot-web.conf.j2

@@ -40,7 +40,16 @@ server {
 	ssl_ciphers "EECDH+AESGCM:EDH+AESGCM:AES256+EECDH:AES256+EDH";
 
     location / {
-        proxy_pass http://{{ 'riot' if matrix_nginx_proxy_enabled else 'localhost' }}:8765;
+		{% if matrix_nginx_proxy_enabled %}
+			{# Use the embedded DNS resolver in Docker containers to discover the service #}
+			resolver 127.0.0.11 valid=5s;
+			set $backend "matrix-riot-web:8765";
+			proxy_pass http://$backend;
+		{% else %}
+			{# Generic configuration for people to use outside of our container setup #}
+			proxy_pass http://localhost:8765;
+		{% endif %}
+
         proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $remote_addr;
     }
 }

roles/matrix-server/templates/nginx-conf.d/matrix-synapse.conf.j2

@@ -40,7 +40,16 @@ server {
 	ssl_ciphers "EECDH+AESGCM:EDH+AESGCM:AES256+EECDH:AES256+EDH";
 
 	location /_matrix {
-		proxy_pass http://{{ 'synapse' if matrix_nginx_proxy_enabled else 'localhost' }}:8008;
+		{% if matrix_nginx_proxy_enabled %}
+			{# Use the embedded DNS resolver in Docker containers to discover the service #}
+			resolver 127.0.0.11 valid=5s;
+			set $backend "matrix-synapse:8008";
+			proxy_pass http://$backend;
+		{% else %}
+			{# Generic configuration for people to use outside of our container setup #}
+			proxy_pass http://localhost:8008;
+		{% endif %}
+
 		proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $remote_addr;
 
 		client_body_buffer_size 25M;

roles/matrix-server/templates/systemd/matrix-nginx-proxy.service.j2

@@ -2,11 +2,9 @@
 Description=Matrix nginx proxy server
 After=docker.service
 Requires=docker.service
-Requires=matrix-synapse.service
+Wants=matrix-synapse.service
-After=matrix-synapse.service
 {% if matrix_riot_web_enabled %}
-Requires=matrix-riot-web.service
+Wants=matrix-riot-web.service
-After=matrix-riot-web.service
 {% endif %}
 
 [Service]
@@ -14,12 +12,9 @@ Type=simple
 ExecStartPre=-/usr/bin/docker kill matrix-nginx-proxy
 ExecStartPre=-/usr/bin/docker rm matrix-nginx-proxy
 ExecStart=/usr/bin/docker run --rm --name matrix-nginx-proxy \
+			--network {{ matrix_docker_network }} \
 			-p 80:80 \
 			-p 443:443 \
-			--link matrix-synapse:synapse \
-			{% if matrix_riot_web_enabled %}
-			--link matrix-riot-web:riot \
-			{% endif %}
 			-v {{ matrix_nginx_proxy_confd_path }}:/etc/nginx/conf.d:ro \
 			-v {{ matrix_ssl_certs_path }}:{{ matrix_ssl_certs_path }}:ro \
 			{{ docker_nginx_image }}

roles/matrix-server/templates/systemd/matrix-postgres.service.j2

@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@ ExecStartPre=-/usr/bin/mkdir {{ matrix_postgres_data_path }}
 ExecStartPre=-/usr/bin/chown {{ matrix_user_uid }}:{{ matrix_user_gid }} {{ matrix_postgres_data_path }}
 ExecStart=/usr/bin/docker run --rm --name matrix-postgres \
 			--user={{ matrix_user_uid }}:{{ matrix_user_gid }} \
+			--network {{ matrix_docker_network }} \
 			--env-file={{ matrix_environment_variables_data_path }}/env-postgres-server-docker \
 			-v {{ matrix_postgres_data_path }}:/var/lib/postgresql/data \
 			-v /etc/passwd:/etc/passwd:ro \

roles/matrix-server/templates/systemd/matrix-riot-web.service.j2

@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@ ExecStart=/usr/bin/docker run --rm --name matrix-riot-web \
 			--user={{ matrix_user_uid }}:{{ matrix_user_gid }} \
 			-v {{ matrix_nginx_riot_web_data_path }}/config.json:/riot-web/webapp/config.json:ro \
 			-v {{ matrix_nginx_riot_web_data_path }}/riot.im.conf:/data/riot.im.conf:ro \
+			--network {{ matrix_docker_network }} \
 			{% if not matrix_nginx_proxy_enabled %}
 			-p 127.0.0.1:8765:8765 \
 			{% endif %}

roles/matrix-server/templates/systemd/matrix-synapse.service.j2

@@ -23,9 +23,7 @@ ExecStartPre=-/usr/bin/docker rm matrix-synapse
 ExecStartPre=/bin/sleep 5
 {% endif %}
 ExecStart=/usr/bin/docker run --rm --name matrix-synapse \
-			{% if not matrix_postgres_use_external %}
+			--network {{ matrix_docker_network }} \
-			--link matrix-postgres:{{ matrix_postgres_connection_hostname }} \
-			{% endif %}
 			-p 8448:8448 \
 			{% if not matrix_nginx_proxy_enabled %}
 			-p 127.0.0.1:8008:8008 \

roles/matrix-server/templates/usr-local-bin/matrix-postgres-cli.j2

@@ -4,8 +4,6 @@ docker run \
 	-it \
 	--rm \
 	--env-file={{ matrix_environment_variables_data_path }}/env-postgres-pgsql-docker \
-	{% if not matrix_postgres_use_external %}
+	--network {{ matrix_docker_network }} \
-	--link=matrix-postgres:{{ matrix_postgres_connection_hostname }} \
-	{% endif %}
 	{{ docker_postgres_image_to_use }} \
 	psql -h {{ matrix_postgres_connection_hostname }}