Automatically make web apps use HTTPS with Let's Encrypt, Nginx, and Docker

1. Make sure you have docker already installed.
2. Install the Nginx proxy with docker-gen
   

   
   sudo docker run --name=Nginx -d \
   --restart=always \
   -p 80:80 -p 443:443 \
   -v /data/certs:/etc/nginx/certs:ro \
   -v /var/run/docker.sock:/tmp/docker.sock:ro \
   -v /data/Nginx/vhost.d:/etc/nginx/vhost.d \
   -v /data/Nginx/html:/usr/share/nginx/html \
   --label com.github.jrcs.letsencrypt_nginx_proxy_companion.nginx_proxy \
   jwilder/nginx-proxy
   

   
   
3. Since I run portainer, start it up with the VIRTUAL_HOST and VIRTUAL_PORT environment variables so that docker-gen can pick it up. You can do this with any app you desire.
   

   
   sudo docker run --name Portainer -d \
   --restart=always \
   -p 9000:9000 \
   -v /var/run/docker.sock:/var/run/docker.sock \
   -v portainer_data:/data \
   -e VIRTUAL_HOST=portainer.local.network \
   -e VIRTUAL_PORT=9000 \
   portainer/portainer
   

   
   
4. Now to use the Let's encrypt container to make certificates for our docker containers:
   

   
   sudo docker run --name=Letsencrypt -d \
   --restart=always \
   -v /data/certs:/etc/nginx/certs:rw \
   -v /var/run/docker.sock:/var/run/docker.sock:ro \
   --volumes-from Nginx \
   jrcs/letsencrypt-nginx-proxy-companion
   

   
   
5. To enable SSL for your site, set the environment variables VIRTUAL_PROTO=https, VIRTUAL_PORT=433 environment as well as the LETSENCRYPT_HOST and LETSENCRYPT_EMAIL variables so that docker-gen can pick it up. You can do this with any app you desire. You will also need to mount the certificates and keys within the SSL folder of the container for the container to use the LetsEncrypt keys.