Simple Docker image to provide basic authentication for a single other container.

docker run -d --name web dockercloud/hello-world docker run -d -p 80:80 --link web:web --name auth beevelop/nginx-basic-auth

Try accessing and logging in with username foo and password bar.

docker run -d \ -e HTPASSWD='foo:$apr1$odHl5EJN$KbxMfo86Qdve2FH4owePn.' \ -e FORWARD_PORT=1337 \ --link web:web -p 8080:80 \ --name auth \ beevelop/nginx-basic-auth

Use single quotes to prevent unwanted interpretation of $ signs!

• HTPASSWD (default: foo:$apr1$odHl5EJN$KbxMfo86Qdve2FH4owePn.): Will be written to the .htpasswd file on launch (non-persistent)
• FORWARD_PORT (default: 80): Port of the source container that should be forwarded
• FORWARD_HOST (default: web): Hostname of the source container that should be forwarded

The container does not need any volumes to be mounted! Nonetheless you will find all interesting files at /etc/nginx/*.

Multiple Users are possible by separating the users by newline. To pass the newlines properly you need to use Shell Quoting (like $'foo\nbar'):

docker run -d --link web:web --name auth \ -e HTPASSWD=$'foo:$apr1$odHl5EJN$KbxMfo86Qdve2FH4owePn.\ntest:$apr1$LKkW8P4Y$P1X/r2YyaexhVL1LzZAQm.' \ beevelop/nginx-basic-auth 

results in 2 users (foo:bar and test:test).

nginx: [emerg] host not found in upstream "web" in /etc/nginx/conf.d/auth.conf:80 

• You need to link the container as web (--link foobar:web)

• SSL is unsupported ATM, but might be available in the near future. For now it might be a suitable solution to use another reverse proxy (e.g. jwilder/nginx-proxy) that acts as a central gateway. You just need to configure the VIRTUAL_HOST env and disable port forwarding.