Use external databases

Use external databases

Why

Some people or companies might have concerns with dockerized databases and rather rely on good old host-based database setups. There could already be a database cluster in your network or you rather want to use AWS RDS or other cloud-based solutions.

There are many reasons for having an external database.

Database on host os

[!NOTE] If the local database is listening on an IP address that is reachable over your current LAN, you can directly skip to: use-external-databases-database-on-network

In order to use an already existing database that is running on the host os, you need to make sure the following is met:

1. Be able to connect to the host os from inside the container

   connect-to-host-os

2. Configure your application to use the IP/CNAME of the host os

3. When starting the Devilbox, explicitly specify the service to use and exclude the databases:

   # Explicitly specify services to start (otherwise all will start)
   # Omit the database
   host> docker-compose up -d php httpd bind redis

   start-the-devilbox

Database on network

In order to use an already existing database that is running on the network, you need to make sure the following is met:

1. Configure your application to use the IP/CNAME of the database host

2. When starting the Devilbox, explicitly specify the service to use and exclude the databases:

   # Explicitly specify services to start (otherwise all will start)
   # Omit the database
   host> docker-compose up -d php httpd bind redis

   start-the-devilbox

Database on internet

In order to use an already existing database that is running on the network, you need to make sure the following is met:

1. Configure your application to use the IP/CNAME of the database host

2. When starting the Devilbox, explicitly specify the service to use and exclude the databases:

   # Explicitly specify services to start (otherwise all will start)
   # Omit the database
   host> docker-compose up -d php httpd bind redis

   start-the-devilbox