Problem

If you restart the host system, such as for patching, the dependencies within the Docker Compose files may not be recognized. As a consequence, MySQL is up after Simplifier, causing Simplifier to have no database connection and become stuck.

Solution

Overview

1. disable autostart of all container in docker compose file
2. create service to start Simplifier
3. configure service to be automatically executed during starting up the system

Implementation Details

Change docker-compose.yml

For all services, you need to change the value of the restart property. The default is:

restart: always

For all services, change this to

restart: no

Create a startup script

On your Linux host create a new bash script, e.g. with

nano /var/lib/simplifier/bin/startup.sh

Enter this content for this script:

#!/bin/sh
docker compose -f /var/lib/simplifier/bin/docker-compose.yml up -d 
echo "this startupscript has been executed via ron at reboot" + $(date) >> /var/lib/simplifier/startup.log

Make it executable:

chown u+x /var/lib/simplifier/bin/startup.sh

Create a new system service

On your Linux host create a new service, e.g. with

nano /etc/systemd/system/start-simplifier-docker.service

Enter this content for this service:

[Unit]
Description=Start Simplifier Docker Container
After=docker.service
Requires=docker.service

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

[Service]
Type=oneshot
ExecStart=/bin/sh /var/lib/simplifier/bin/startup.sh
RemainAfterExit=yes
User=root
Group=root
WorkingDirectory=/var/lib/simplifier/bin/
Restart=on-failure

Enable the new service

Update Service Daemon

systemctl daemon-reload

Test the Service Script

systemctl start start-simplifier-docker.service

Check the Logs

journalctl -u start-simplifier-docker.service

If that works as expected, you can use the following command to make sure it starts at boot.

systemctl enable start-simplifier-docker.service