How to Deploy a Full-Stack MERN Application Using Docker, Nginx & GitHub Actions

First, you need to set up your project architecture. This includes creating a new React app, setting up a Node.js server with Express, and creating a MongoDB database. You will also need to create a Dockerfile for your React app and your Node.js server.

docker build -t my-react-app .
docker build -t my-node-server .

Next, you need to configure Docker Compose to manage your containers. This includes creating a docker-compose.yml file that defines your services and their dependencies.

version: '3'
services:
  react-app:
    build: ./react-app
    ports:
      - '3000:3000'
  node-server:
    build: ./node-server
    ports:
      - '3001:3001'

To set up Nginx as a reverse proxy, you need to create an Nginx configuration file that defines your proxy settings. You will also need to install Nginx on your Ubuntu server.

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install nginx

To automate your deployment, you need to configure GitHub Actions. This includes creating a new workflow file that defines your deployment steps.

name: Deploy MERN App
on:
  push:
    branches:
      - main
jobs:
  deploy:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - name: Checkout code
        uses: actions/checkout@v2
      - name: Login to DockerHub
        uses: docker/login-action@v1
      - name: Build and push images
        run: |
          docker build -t my-react-app .
          docker build -t my-node-server .
          docker tag my-react-app:latest ${{ secrets.DOCKER_USERNAME }}/my-react-app:latest
          docker tag my-node-server:latest ${{ secrets.DOCKER_USERNAME }}/my-node-server:latest
          docker push ${{ secrets.DOCKER_USERNAME }}/my-react-app:latest
          docker push ${{ secrets.DOCKER_USERNAME }}/my-node-server:latest

To set up SSL encryption, you need to obtain an SSL certificate and update your Nginx configuration file to use the certificate.

sudo certbot certonly --nginx -d example.com

To configure your domain and monitoring, you need to update your Nginx configuration file to use your domain name and set up monitoring tools such as Prometheus and Grafana.

server {
    listen 80;
    server_name example.com;
    location / {
        proxy_pass http://localhost:3000;
        proxy_http_version 1.1;
        proxy_set_header Upgrade $http_upgrade;
        proxy_set_header Connection 'upgrade';
        proxy_set_header Host $host;
        proxy_cache_bypass $http_upgrade;
    }
}

To set up logging and security hardening, you need to configure logging tools such as ELK Stack and implement security hardening measures such as firewall rules and access controls.

sudo ufw allow http
sudo ufw allow https

To implement a backup and rollback strategy, you need to configure backup tools such as MongoDB backup and implement rollback measures such as Docker container rollback.

sudo mongodump --uri mongodb://localhost:27017/

To optimize performance, you need to configure performance optimization tools such as PM2 and implement performance optimization measures such as caching and load balancing.

sudo pm2 start app.js

To troubleshoot common issues, you need to identify common issues such as container crashes and network connectivity issues, and implement troubleshooting measures such as logging and monitoring.

sudo docker logs -f my-react-app