Drupal

intermediate

Enterprise-grade CMS for complex websites and applications.

Overview

Drupal is an enterprise-grade content management system (CMS) built on PHP that has powered millions of websites since 2001. Known for its flexibility, security, and scalability, Drupal excels at managing complex content structures with advanced user permissions, multilingual capabilities, and extensive customization options. Unlike simpler CMS platforms, Drupal is designed for organizations that need sophisticated content workflows, enterprise integrations, and the ability to handle high-traffic applications with complex data relationships. This stack combines Drupal 10 with PostgreSQL 16 to create a robust content management platform optimized for enterprise requirements. PostgreSQL's ACID compliance and advanced querying capabilities complement Drupal's complex content modeling needs, providing superior data integrity compared to MySQL setups. The combination excels at handling structured content with relationships, supporting Drupal's entity system and field API while delivering the performance needed for high-traffic sites with complex queries. This configuration is ideal for organizations building sophisticated web applications, corporate intranets, educational platforms, or government websites that require enterprise-level security, scalability, and content management features. The PostgreSQL backend provides the reliability and performance needed for Drupal's advanced features like Views, Entity API, and custom content types, making it perfect for developers who need to build complex, data-driven websites with professional-grade infrastructure.

Key Features

Drupal 10 with modern Symfony-based architecture and Twig templating engine
PostgreSQL 16 with JSON/JSONB support for Drupal's configuration and field storage
Apache web server with mod_rewrite enabled for clean URLs and .htaccess support
Persistent volumes for modules, themes, profiles, and sites directories to survive container updates
Entity-relationship modeling with PostgreSQL's advanced constraint and indexing capabilities
Full-text search integration using PostgreSQL's built-in search features with Drupal's Search API
Composer-ready environment for installing Drupal modules and themes via Packagist
Database connection pooling and transaction support optimized for Drupal's entity system

Common Use Cases

1Corporate websites with complex content hierarchies and multiple content types
2Educational institutions requiring multilingual content and user role management
3Government portals with strict accessibility and security compliance requirements
4Publishing platforms with editorial workflows and content scheduling
5E-commerce sites using Drupal Commerce with complex product catalogs
6Community portals with user-generated content and social features
7Intranet applications with document management and employee directories

Prerequisites

Minimum 2GB RAM recommended for Drupal and PostgreSQL combined workload
Basic understanding of PHP, Drupal architecture, and content management concepts
Familiarity with Drupal's admin interface and module/theme management
Port 8080 available for web access to the Drupal installation
Environment variable POSTGRES_PASSWORD configured in .env file
Understanding of PostgreSQL connection parameters for Drupal database configuration

For development & testing. Review security settings, change default credentials, and test thoroughly before production use. See Terms

docker-compose.yml

1services: 
2  drupal: 
3    image: drupal:10-apache
4    container_name: drupal
5    restart: unless-stopped
6    volumes: 
7      - drupal_modules:/var/www/html/modules
8      - drupal_profiles:/var/www/html/profiles
9      - drupal_themes:/var/www/html/themes
10      - drupal_sites:/var/www/html/sites
11    ports: 
12      - "8080:80"
13    depends_on: 
14      - postgres
15    networks: 
16      - drupal-network
17
18  postgres: 
19    image: postgres:16-alpine
20    container_name: drupal-postgres
21    environment: 
22      POSTGRES_DB: drupal
23      POSTGRES_USER: drupal
24      POSTGRES_PASSWORD: ${POSTGRES_PASSWORD}
25    volumes: 
26      - postgres_data:/var/lib/postgresql/data
27    networks: 
28      - drupal-network
29
30volumes: 
31  drupal_modules: 
32  drupal_profiles: 
33  drupal_themes: 
34  drupal_sites: 
35  postgres_data: 
36
37networks: 
38  drupal-network: 
39    driver: bridge

.env Template

.env

1POSTGRES_PASSWORD=changeme

Usage Notes

1Docs: https://www.drupal.org/docs
2Access at http://localhost:8080 - complete installation wizard
3Database host: postgres, database: drupal, user: drupal
4Install Drush CLI: composer require drush/drush
5Modules/themes persist in mounted volumes across updates
6Strong ecosystem for enterprise sites, multilingual, accessibility

Individual Services(2 services)

Copy individual services to mix and match with your existing compose files.

drupal

drupal:
  image: drupal:10-apache
  container_name: drupal
  restart: unless-stopped
  volumes:
    - drupal_modules:/var/www/html/modules
    - drupal_profiles:/var/www/html/profiles
    - drupal_themes:/var/www/html/themes
    - drupal_sites:/var/www/html/sites
  ports:
    - "8080:80"
  depends_on:
    - postgres
  networks:
    - drupal-network

postgres

postgres:
  image: postgres:16-alpine
  container_name: drupal-postgres
  environment:
    POSTGRES_DB: drupal
    POSTGRES_USER: drupal
    POSTGRES_PASSWORD: ${POSTGRES_PASSWORD}
  volumes:
    - postgres_data:/var/lib/postgresql/data
  networks:
    - drupal-network

Quick Start

terminal

1# 1. Create the compose file
2cat > docker-compose.yml << 'EOF'
3services:
4  drupal:
5    image: drupal:10-apache
6    container_name: drupal
7    restart: unless-stopped
8    volumes:
9      - drupal_modules:/var/www/html/modules
10      - drupal_profiles:/var/www/html/profiles
11      - drupal_themes:/var/www/html/themes
12      - drupal_sites:/var/www/html/sites
13    ports:
14      - "8080:80"
15    depends_on:
16      - postgres
17    networks:
18      - drupal-network
19
20  postgres:
21    image: postgres:16-alpine
22    container_name: drupal-postgres
23    environment:
24      POSTGRES_DB: drupal
25      POSTGRES_USER: drupal
26      POSTGRES_PASSWORD: ${POSTGRES_PASSWORD}
27    volumes:
28      - postgres_data:/var/lib/postgresql/data
29    networks:
30      - drupal-network
31
32volumes:
33  drupal_modules:
34  drupal_profiles:
35  drupal_themes:
36  drupal_sites:
37  postgres_data:
38
39networks:
40  drupal-network:
41    driver: bridge
42EOF
43
44# 2. Create the .env file
45cat > .env << 'EOF'
46POSTGRES_PASSWORD=changeme
47EOF
48
49# 3. Start the services
50docker compose up -d
51
52# 4. View logs
53docker compose logs -f

One-Liner

Run this command to download and set up the recipe in one step:

terminal

1curl -fsSL https://docker.recipes/api/recipes/drupal/run | bash

Troubleshooting

Database connection failed during installation: Verify postgres container is running and use 'postgres' as database host, not 'localhost'
Permission denied errors on file uploads: Check that www-data user has write permissions to sites/default/files directory
Memory limit exceeded errors: Increase PHP memory_limit in custom php.ini or switch to drupal:10-fpm-alpine for better memory management
Clean URLs not working: Ensure Apache mod_rewrite is enabled and .htaccess files are being processed
Drupal installation stalls at database setup: Increase PHP max_execution_time and ensure PostgreSQL has sufficient shared_buffers allocated
Module installation fails: Mount a custom sites/default/settings.php with proper database credentials and trusted host patterns configured

Community Notes

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