Docker Compose in Action: Multi-Container Apps, Nginx Load Balancing & Docker Hub
We built four containerized microservices for an bank application in the last post. Internet banking, mobile banking, insurance, and loans, each running in its own container, each exposed on a separate port. The setup worked. But the process of building and running each container individually by hand was repetitive, error-prone, and simply not practical at scale. This post introduces Docker Compose, and by the end, you will understand not just how to use it, but why it exists, what its real limitations are, how to combine it with Nginx to build a working high availability architecture, and how to push your images to Docker Hub so they are available beyond your local machine. There is also a hands-on project included here that builds a Flask-based Python application behind an Nginx load balancer, which you are expected to complete as a practical exercise.
