1.1 Components

We use Docker in our lab. This allows us to install various components without affecting the underlying server. A brief history of how we settled on docker and why is in this blog post on From VMs to LXC Containers to Docker Containers.

Figure 1.1 depicts what containers we have on lightfoot. You can think of each ‘container’ as an ‘application’ just like one you are running on your laptop. But the behavior of each ‘container’ is more like a separate server you connect to.

The Docker infrastructure used in SDAL. The containers on the top row are the parts of the system lab members will be connecting to and working on.

Figure 1.1: The Docker infrastructure used in SDAL. The containers on the top row are the parts of the system lab members will be connecting to and working on.

The primary containers you will be using are the RStudio, Adminer, and Django/Wagtail containers. They all exist on lightfoot and can all be reached in a browser with https://analytics.bi.vt.edu and an appropriate suffix (e.g., /rstudio, /db).