Quick start: Docker Compose

This quick start guide explains how to use Tensor9 BYOC to deploy your existing Docker Compose app as a private appliance. As you follow this guide, you will:

Create your Tensor9 account and set up a Tensor9 BYOC control plane in your AWS account.
Create an app and bind a Docker Compose file as its origin stack.
Onboard a customer and release your app to their appliance.
Release infrastructure changes.

Prerequisites

A Google account to sign up for Tensor9.
Create an AWS account for Tensor9 BYOC. We will refer to this as the Tensor9 BYOC AWS account. Important:
- Your Tensor9 BYOC AWS account should be a dedicated AWS account used only for Tensor9 BYOC. This reduces the risk of conflicts between your app deployed in a Tensor9 BYOC appliance and any other software, infrastructure, or resources you might have in a general-purpose AWS account.
- Tensor9 BYOC sets up your control plane in the AWS us-west-2 (US West, Oregon) region. Other regions are not available yet.
Install AWS CLI in your environment, and set up an AWS CLI profile that has admin permissions to your new AWS account. This guide calls it my-vendor-aws.
A second AWS account to act as your first customer. You will open the customer setup link while signed in to this account.
Have a docker-compose.yml file ready with your multi-container application.
Ensure all container images referenced in your compose file are pushed to container registries (ECR, Docker Hub, GitHub Container Registry, etc.).

Create your account and control plane

Follow Get a Tensor9 API key to sign up and install the tensor9 CLI.
Export your API key and set up your control plane in your new AWS account (about 10 minutes):

export T9_API_KEY=<your API key>
tensor9 vendor setup -awsProfile my-vendor-aws

Add -region us-west-2 if your AWS configuration defaults to another region. Setup makes its controller profile your CLI default, so the commands below need no API key or profile options.

Create a new Tensor9 BYOC app.

tensor9 app create -name compose-quickstart -displayName "Compose example app"

Note: The length of the displayName field must be 32 characters or fewer.

Publish your Docker Compose file and bind it to your app

Tensor9 BYOC works by compiling your docker-compose.yml file for each appliance you want to deploy to. Your next step is to publish your compose file to your Tensor9 BYOC control plane:

tensor9 stack publish-direct \
  -appName compose-quickstart \
  -stackType DockerCompose \
  -stackName my-app-compose \
  -file docker-compose.yml

This command publishes the Compose definition directly to your control plane and binds it to compose-quickstart. Publishing again with the same stack name updates that origin stack and retains the existing binding.

Onboard a customer

Customers install your app in their own cloud accounts through a setup link. In this guide, your second AWS account acts as the customer.

Create a form factor that lets customers install your app in AWS:

tensor9 form-factor create \
  -appName compose-quickstart \
  -formFactorName aws-connected \
  -env Aws \
  -connectivity Connected

Create a setup link for your customer:

tensor9 app setup -appName compose-quickstart -customerName acme-corp

The command creates the customer acme-corp if it does not exist yet and prints the customer’s setup link.

Sign in to the AWS console of your customer AWS account, then open the setup link in the same browser. Follow the setup wizard to choose the environment, then download and apply the infrastructure templates in the customer account. The customer installation guide describes each step.
Check the report and confirm that the customer’s appliance is ready before releasing:

tensor9 report

Release to your customer

Create a release for your customer:

tensor9 stack release create \
  -appName compose-quickstart \
  -customerName acme-corp \
  -vendorVersion "1.0.0" \
  -description "First release of my Docker Compose app via Tensor9" \
  -notes "By [email protected]"

Compose releases deploy automatically to the customer’s appliance. The CLI follows deployment progress; it does not download a Terraform workspace or require a separate apply command.

View the deployed services using a Kubernetes context already configured for that appliance:

kubectl get deployments
kubectl get services
kubectl get pods

Access your application through the load balancer. Get the load balancer endpoint for services with exposed ports:

kubectl get service <service-name> -o jsonpath='{.status.loadBalancer.ingress[0].hostname}'

Release an infrastructure change

You can release infrastructure changes to your Docker Compose stack at any time.

Update your docker-compose.yml file

Make any desired changes to your compose file. For example, you could:

Add a new service
Change resource limits
Add environment variables
Update container image versions

Important: The next step will overwrite the previous origin stack. All new releases will come from the most recently published version of your origin stack.

Re-publish your origin stack

tensor9 stack publish-direct \
  -appName compose-quickstart \
  -stackType DockerCompose \
  -stackName my-app-compose \
  -file docker-compose.yml

The command reports the published stack and confirms that it remains bound to the app. Keep the same -stackName my-app-compose when updating this origin stack.

Create a new release

tensor9 stack release create \
  -appName compose-quickstart \
  -customerName acme-corp \
  -vendorVersion "1.0.1" \
  -description "Added caching layer and updated API resources" \
  -notes "By [email protected]"

The release deploys automatically to the customer’s appliance. Follow the CLI deployment progress before verifying the changes.

Verify the changes

kubectl get deployments
kubectl get services
kubectl get pods

You should see your new services, updated resource limits, or other changes reflected in the Kubernetes resources.

Clean up

When you finish with this guide, remove what you created. You can do the following yourself today:

tensor9 stack unbind -appName compose-quickstart -stackName my-app-compose

Unbinding stops new releases of the stack. It does not remove anything already deployed. Some steps currently need Tensor9 support. Tensor9 deploys Docker Compose releases into the customer’s appliance for you, and removing that deployment, the customer’s appliance or your control plane in your AWS account is not yet available to you directly. To remove them, email [email protected] with your vendor ID, which tensor9 whoami reports, and the app and customer names. Do not delete control plane resources from your AWS account by hand.

Next steps

Now that you’ve deployed a Docker Compose app with Tensor9 BYOC:

Review the Docker Compose origin stack documentation for advanced features
Learn about stack tuning documents to customize deployments per customer
Explore form factors to deploy to different cloud providers
Set up observability to monitor your appliances

Tensor9 BYOC

Getting Started

Self-Service Onboarding

How It Works

Deploying

Your Customer's Environment

Service Adapters

Costs

Auto-Customizations

Security

Connectivity & Networking

Observability & Operations

Support

tensor9 CLI

Quick start: Docker Compose

Prerequisites

Create your account and control plane

Publish your Docker Compose file and bind it to your app

Onboard a customer

Release to your customer

Release an infrastructure change

Clean up

Next steps

​Prerequisites

​Create your account and control plane

​Publish your Docker Compose file and bind it to your app

​Onboard a customer

​Release to your customer

​Release an infrastructure change

​Clean up

​Next steps

Prerequisites

Create your account and control plane

Publish your Docker Compose file and bind it to your app

Onboard a customer

Release to your customer

Release an infrastructure change

Clean up

Next steps