Multi-Node Deployment

Deploy your application across multiple servers using Docker Swarm with managers and workers.

Swarm Architecture

Managers: Receive deployments and orchestrate the cluster
Workers: Run containers distributed by managers
Multi-manager: For high availability (tolerates manager failures)

Basic Configuration


# .dockflow/servers.yml
 
servers:
  manager:
    role: manager
    tags: [production]
 
  worker1:
    role: worker
    tags: [production]
 
  worker2:
    role: worker
    tags: [production]
 
defaults:
  user: dockflow
  port: 22

Each server needs a connection string in your secrets:


PRODUCTION_MANAGER_CONNECTION=eyJob3N0Ijoi...
PRODUCTION_WORKER1_CONNECTION=eyJob3N0Ijoi...
PRODUCTION_WORKER2_CONNECTION=eyJob3N0Ijoi...

Workers automatically join the Swarm cluster. You only deploy to the manager — Swarm distributes workloads automatically.

Multi-Manager for High Availability

For production environments, configure multiple managers for failover:


servers:
  manager1:
    role: manager
    tags: [production]
 
  manager2:
    role: manager
    tags: [production]
 
  manager3:
    role: manager
    tags: [production]
 
  worker1:
    role: worker
    tags: [production]
 
  worker2:
    role: worker
    tags: [production]

For Raft consensus, use an odd number of managers:

3 managers = tolerates 1 failure
5 managers = tolerates 2 failures

Automatic Failover

When deploying with multiple managers, Dockflow automatically:

Checks each manager’s status via SSH
Finds the Swarm leader (or any reachable manager)
Falls back to the next available manager if one is down


# Dockflow finds the active leader automatically
dockflow deploy production
 
# Disable failover (use first manager only)
dockflow deploy production --no-failover

Example output with failover:


⠋ Checking 3 managers for active leader...
  Checking manager1... ✗ unreachable
  Checking manager2... ✓ LEADER
⚠ Using manager2 (leader). Unreachable: manager1 (unreachable)

How Deployment Works

Deploy targets the manager — Dockflow connects only to the active manager
Swarm distributes workloads — Containers are scheduled across all nodes
Images are transferred to workers — Via SSH streaming or registry


dockflow deploy production
# ✓ Deployment completed! Swarm cluster: 3 managers + 2 worker(s)

Server-Specific Environment Variables

Override variables for specific servers:


servers:
  manager1:
    role: manager
    tags: [production]
    env:
      NODE_ID: "manager-1"
      PROMETHEUS_ENABLED: "true"
 
  worker1:
    role: worker
    tags: [production]
    env:
      NODE_ID: "worker-1"
      GPU_ENABLED: "true"