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Example apps

Nginx

This example uses Nginx, one of the most popular web servers. Nginx can be used with Unikraft / Unikraft Cloud to serve static web content.

To run this example, follow these steps:

1. Install the unikraft CLI. You need a BuildKit builder. The easiest way to get one is via Docker. Alternatively, you can also directly set up and use BuildKit, see the quick start.

2. Clone the examples repository and cd into the examples/nginx/ directory:

   Code
   git clone https://github.com/unikraft-cloud/examples
   cd examples/nginx/

Make sure to log into Unikraft Cloud and pick a metro close to you. This guide uses fra (Frankfurt, 🇩🇪):

Code
unikraft login

When done, invoke the following command to deploy this app on Unikraft Cloud:

Code
unikraft build . --output <my-org>/nginx:latest
unikraft run --metro fra \
  -m 256M \
  -p 443:8080/tls+http \
  --scale-to-zero policy=on,cooldown-time=1000 \
  --image <my-org>/nginx:latest

The output shows the instance address and other details:

Code
metro:           fra
name:            nginx-67zbu
uuid:            8a8bc1b9-0af6-420e-a426-190dc2da9eaa
state:           starting
image:           <my-org>/nginx
resources:
  memory:        256MiB
  vcpus:         1
service:
  uuid:          a942b9b5-ad17-3ffe-dcd2-ef4331f9087a
  name:          nameless-fog-0tvh1uov
  domains:
  - fqdn:        nameless-fog-0tvh1uov.fra.unikraft.app
networks:
- uuid:          62d9bbf0-aec8-61f6-7bdb-86edf63dd068
  private-ip:    10.0.3.3
  mac:           12:b0:c6:23:ed:15
timestamps:
  created:       just now
scale-to-zero:
  enabled:       true
  policy:        on
  cooldown-time: 1s

In this case, the instance name is nginx-67zbu and the address is https://nameless-fog-0tvh1uov.fra.unikraft.app. They're different for each run.

Use curl to query the Unikraft Cloud instance of Nginx.

Code
curl https://nameless-fog-0tvh1uov.fra.unikraft.app

Code
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<title>Welcome to nginx!</title>
[...]

You can list information about the instance by running:

Code
unikraft instances list

Code
METRO  NAME         STATE    IMAGE           ARGS  MEMORY  VCPUS  FQDN                                    CREATED
fra    nginx-67zbu  running  <my-org>/nginx        256MiB  1      nameless-fog-0tvh1uov.fra.unikraft.app  2 minutes ago

When done, you can remove the instance:

Code
unikraft instances delete nginx-67zbu

Customize your app

To customize the Nginx app, update the files in the repository, listed below:

• Kraftfile: the Unikraft Cloud specification
• rootfs/wwwroot/index.html: the index page of the content served
• rootfs/conf/nginx.conf: the Nginx configuration file

Update the contents of the rootfs/wwwroot/ directory to serve different static web content. For example, you could change the contents of rootfs/wwwroot/index.html to:

Code
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<title>Hello</title>
</head>
<body>
<h2>Hello, World!</h2>
</body>
</html>

After re-deploying the Nginx image on Unikraft Cloud, using curl or a browser to query it will present the new page contents.

Tools like Jekyll or Hugo can generate the static web content located in the rootfs/wwwroot/ offline.

If required, you can also customize the configuration of Nginx in rootfs/conf/nginx.conf. You can set a new webroot (different than wwwroot), or a different internal port, or a different index page, etc.

Learn more

Use the --help option for detailed information on using Unikraft Cloud:

Code
unikraft --help

Or visit the CLI Reference.