CODEWITHSUNDEEP
google-cloud-platformgoogle-cloud-run
limjix
limjix

Reputation: 563

Cloud Run needs NGINX or not?

I am using cloud run for my blog and a work site and I really love it. I have deployed python APIs and Vue/Nuxt Apps by containerising it according to the google tutorials. One thing I don't understand is why there is no need to have NGINX on the front.

# Use the official lightweight Node.js 12 image.
# https://hub.docker.com/_/node
FROM node:12-slim

# Create and change to the app directory.
WORKDIR /usr/src/app

# Copy application dependency manifests to the container image.
# A wildcard is used to ensure both package.json AND package-lock.json are copied.
# Copying this separately prevents re-running npm install on every code change.
COPY package*.json ./

# Install production dependencies.
RUN npm install --only=production

# Copy local code to the container image.
COPY . ./

# Run the web service on container startup.
RUN npm run build
CMD [ "npm", "start" ]

# Use the official lightweight Python image.
# https://hub.docker.com/_/python
FROM python:3.7-slim

# Copy local code to the container image.
ENV APP_HOME /app
WORKDIR $APP_HOME
COPY . ./

# Install production dependencies.
RUN apt-get update && apt-get install -y \
libpq-dev \
gcc
RUN pip install -r requirements.txt

# Run the web service on container startup. Here we use the gunicorn
# webserver, with one worker process and 8 threads.
# For environments with multiple CPU cores, increase the number of workers
# to be equal to the cores available.
CMD exec gunicorn -b :$PORT --workers=4 main:server

All this works without me calling Nginx ever. But I read alot of articles whereby people bundle NGINX in their container. So I would like some clarity. Are there any downsides to what I am doing?

Upvotes: 9

Views: 5977

Answers (1)

petomalina
petomalina

Reputation: 2140

One considerable advantage of using NGINX or a static file server is the size of the container image. When serving SPAs (without SSR), all you need is to get the bundled files to the client. There's no need to bundle build dependencies or runtime that's needed to compile the application.

Your first image is copying whole source code with dependencies into the image, while all you need (if not running SSR) are the compiled files. NGINX can give you the "static site server" that will only serve your build and is a lightweight solution.

Regarding python, unless you can bundle it somehow, it looks ok to use without the NGINX.

Upvotes: 2

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