DEPLOY — Deploy Docker Stack to Swarm

What DEPLOY Does

Unlike docker-compose up (which runs on a single node), docker stack deploy:

Distributes container replicas across all Swarm worker nodes
Creates the overlay network so containers on different nodes can communicate
Respects the deploy: section of your compose file (replicas, placement constraints, update policies)
Enables built-in load balancing via the Swarm ingress router

Deploy the Stack

Run this command on the MASTER node from the directory containing your docker-compose.yml:

Run on MASTER

$ docker stack deploy --compose-file docker-compose.yml jlar

Creating network jlar_overlay
Creating service jlar_db
Creating service jlar_wordpress
Creating service jlar_phpmyadmin

jlar is the stack name — you can use anything. All service and network names will be prefixed with it.

Check Service Status

List all services in the stack

$ docker service ls

ID            NAME             MODE        REPLICAS   IMAGE
abc123def456  jlar_db          replicated  1/1        jorgenlarsen/mariadb10.3:rpi
ghi789jkl012  jlar_wordpress   replicated  4/4        arm32v7/wordpress:latest
mno345pqr678  jlar_phpmyadmin  replicated  4/4        arm32v7/phpmyadmin:latest

Wait until all services show X/X (desired/running) replicas. Image pulls on slow SD card connections can take a few minutes.

Access Your Services

Service	URL	Notes
WordPress	`http://<MASTER-IP>:8000`	Any node IP works — Swarm ingress routes the request
phpMyAdmin	`http://<MASTER-IP>:8080`	Database GUI
Portainer	`http://<MASTER-IP>:9000`	Docker management GUI

Update the Stack

Edit your docker-compose.yml and redeploy — Docker Swarm will perform a rolling update:

Redeploy after changes

$ docker stack deploy --compose-file docker-compose.yml jlar

Remove the Stack

Tear down all services

$ docker stack rm jlar

📘

Official reference: docs.docker.com — docker stack deploy