At Ars, we have one master task called arx-production-web-apps (or just “Arx,” in Ars dev lingo) that contains everything we need to run the site. The Arx task runs four containers:
arx_nginx
arx_acta_php
arx_civis_php
arx_taberna_php
The first container, arx_nginx, runs an Nginx reverse proxy. Incoming HTTP traffic hits Nginx first, and Nginx then routes the traffic appropriately to one of the three PHP containers. The three PHP containers run php-fpm and actually do the dynamic processing and page rendering for Ars and its components.
Those PHP containers are arx_acta, which runs the whole WordPress PHP application; arx_civis, which runs the Xenforo-powered OpenForum; and arx_taberna, which runs the Ars web store (where you can purchase fine merchandise like a Moonshark t-shirt or an Ars mug!)
Depending on the time of day, more tasks will be invoked to handle load as it ramps up. I’m writing this at about 7:00 am US Eastern Time early in the morning of July 12, and right now, the AWS console says we’re running 24 instances of the “Arx” task. That usually scales up to 30-ish instances by 9:00 am Eastern as more people turn on their computers and hit up the Ars homepage for news. (As more tasks are added, the Application Load Balancer seamlessly distributes traffic between them to prevent any one task’s processes from becoming saturated.)
arstechnica.com
