How do I host an ASP.NET Core in a Docker container with Nginx as a reverse proxy?

I'm a bit lost. DigitalOcean requires me to host my Docker container with Nginx as a reverse proxy. all the tutorials I've seen are unclear. I've created a docker-compose.yml file with the following services:

projectweb:
  image: ${DOCKER_REGISTRY-}projectweb
  build:
    context: .
    dockerfile: projectweb/Dockerfile

reverseproxy:
  image: reverseproxy
  container_name: reverseproxy
  ports:
    - 80:80
    - 443:443
  restart: always

I've created a reverse proxy container by creating a reverseproxy folder outside my website project folder. I added a Dockerfile with the following content:

FROM nginx:alpine
COPY nginx.conf /etc/nginx/nginx.conf

Then, I added an nginx.conf file to the folder and built the Docker image using:

docker build -t reverseproxy .

Next, in my website project folder, I ran:

docker-compose up -d

The output showed:

✔ Container projectweb Started 0.6s
✔ Container reverseproxy Started

Everything is working fine so far. In Docker Desktop, under the Containers tab, I can see a 'Compose stack.' How do I push this Compose stack to DigitalOcean's Container Registry or Docker Hub? I've tried:

docker tag projectweb registry.digitalocean.com/mycontainerregistry/projectweb
docker-compose push registry.digitalocean.com/mycontainerregistry/projectweb

But I get a 'no such service' error. A regular docker push works, but docker-compose push does not. Ultimately, I want to deploy my website container to DigitalOcean's App Platform with Nginx installed. How can I achieve this?

Here’s my complete setup for hosting an ASP.NET Core application in Docker with Nginx as a reverse proxy, including SSL certificate implementation:

1. In your project's Dockerfile, ensure the following lines are included to expose the necessary ports:

dockerfile

EXPOSE 80  # Expose the web port
EXPOSE 443 # Expose the SSL port
# Comment out USER directive if present
# USER $APP_UID

2. Create a folder anywhere (e.g., reverseproxy).

3. Inside the reverseproxy folder, create a Dockerfile:

dockerfile

FROM nginx:alpine # or FROM nginx:latest
COPY nginx.conf /etc/nginx/nginx.conf
COPY certificate.crt /etc/ssl/certs/certificate.crt
COPY certificate.key /etc/ssl/private/certificate.key

4. Create an nginx.conf file in the reverseproxy folder:

nginx.conf

worker_processes 1;

events {
    worker_connections 1024;
}

http {
    sendfile on;

    upstream yourdomain {
        server yourwebapp:80; # Replace with your Docker container name
    }

    server {
        listen 80;
        server_name yourdomain.com;

        location / {
            proxy_pass http://yourdomain;
            proxy_redirect off;
            proxy_set_header Host $host;
            proxy_set_header X-Real-IP $remote_addr;
            proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for;
            proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Host $server_name;
        }
    }

    server {
        listen 443 ssl;
        server_name yourdomain.com;

        ssl_certificate /etc/ssl/certs/certificate.crt;
        ssl_certificate_key /etc/ssl/private/certificate.key;

        location / {
            proxy_pass http://yourdomain;
            proxy_redirect off;
            proxy_http_version 1.1;
            proxy_cache_bypass $http_upgrade;
            proxy_set_header Upgrade $http_upgrade;
            proxy_set_header Connection "keep-alive";
            proxy_set_header Host $host;
            proxy_set_header X-Real-IP $remote_addr;
            proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for;
            proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Proto $scheme;
            proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Host $server_name;
        }
    }
}

5. Build the Docker image:

docker build -t reverseproxy .

6. Push both your web app and the reverseproxy image to Docker Hub:

docker push youraccount/yourwebapp
docker push youraccount/reverseproxy

7. On your Linux host machine, create a folder anywhere with any name and add the following files:

docker-compose.yml:

yaml

services:
  yourwebapp:
    image: youraccount/yourwebapp
    build:
      context: .
      dockerfile: yourwebapp/Dockerfile

  reverseproxy:
    image: youraccount/reverseproxy
    container_name: reverseproxy
    ports:
      - "80:80"
      - "443:443"
    restart: always

docker-compose.override.yml:

yaml

services:
  yourwebapp:
    environment:
      - ASPNETCORE_ENVIRONMENT=Development
      - ASPNETCORE_HTTP_PORTS=80
    ports:
      - "80:80"

8. 7. On your Linux host machine, navigate to the folder containing the docker-compose.yml and docker-compose.override.yml files and run:

docker compose up -d

9. Verify that both your web app and Nginx are running:

docker compose ps

You should see your web app and Nginx containers up and running.