Creating block diagrams from docker-compose files

#devops #docker #webdev #architecture

A docker-compose file contains the definition of all the services that needs to run in harmony to successfully deploy an app stack.

When services and their interactions are defined clearly in a compose file manually charting a block diagram to list those services and their interaction is redundant, isn't it ? that was the thought I had when I needed to chart a block diagram for documenting my architecture.

A quick search using "tool to convert a docker compose file to a block diagram" yielded this awesome repo https://github.com/pmsipilot/docker-compose-viz

The code in this repo will help us to chart a block diagram from a docker compose file.

Lets create one!

Sample docker-compose of a simple SaaS stack

	version: '3.4'

	services:
	rabbitmq:
	image: rabbitmq:3-management
	ports:
	- "15672:15672"
	- "5672:5672"
	deploy:
	replicas: 1
	placement:
	constraints: [node.role == manager]

	microservice:
	image: nameko-microservice
	restart: always
	deploy:
	replicas: 1
	depends_on:
	- rabbitmq
	- logstash

	db:
	image: mariadb:10.3
	volumes:
	- ./mysqldb_data:/var/lib/mysql
	ports:
	- "3306:3306"
	deploy:
	replicas: 1
	placement:
	constraints: [node.role == manager]
	resources:
	reservations:
	memory: 128M
	limits:
	memory: 256M
	restapi:
	image: restapi
	restart: always
	ports:
	- "8000:8000"
	deploy:
	mode: global

	depends_on:
	- db
	- microservice
	- logstash

	nginx:
	image: ui
	restart: always
	ports:
	- "80:80"
	deploy:
	replicas: 1

	depends_on:
	- restapi

	elasticsearch:
	image: elasticsearch:2
	command: elasticsearch -Des.network.host=0.0.0.0
	ports:
	- "9200:9200"
	- "9300:9300"

	kibana:
	image: kibana:latest
	build: kibana/
	volumes:
	- ./kibana/config/:/opt/kibana/config/
	ports:
	- "5601:5601"
	depends_on:
	- elasticsearch

	logstash:
	build: logstash/
	command: logstash -f /etc/logstash/conf.d/logstash.conf
	image: logstash:latest
	volumes:
	- ./logstash/config:/etc/logstash/conf.d
	ports:
	- "5000:5000"
	depends_on:
	- elasticsearch

view raw docker-compose.yml hosted with ❤ by GitHub

Command to execute

docker run 
--rm -it \
--name dcv \ 
-v /home/user/blog:/input pmsipilot/docker-compose-viz \
render -m image \
--force docker-compose.yml \
--output-file=topology.png \
--no-volumes \
--no-ports \
--no-networks

Ouptput

Command - With port numbers

docker run 
--rm -it \
--name dcv \ 
-v /home/user/blog:/input pmsipilot/docker-compose-viz \
render -m image \
--force docker-compose.yml \
--output-file=topology.png \
--no-volumes \
--no-networks

Ouptput - with ports
Command - With volumes

docker run 
--rm -it \
--name dcv \ 
-v /home/user/blog:/input pmsipilot/docker-compose-viz \
render -m image \
--force docker-compose.yml \
--output-file=topology.png \
--no-ports \
--no-networks