This is a simple tutorial to learn basic Docker commands. To install Docker on Linux, please refer to this post: Docker – Install on Linux.
Getting Help
docker --help docker image --help docker image ls --help
Docker Management Commands
Management command were introduced in Docker engine v1.13
docker builder docker config docker container docker engine docker image docker network docker node docker plugin docker secret docker service docker stack docker swarm docker system docker trust docker volume
Docker Image Management Commands
docker image build # Build an image from a dockerfile docker image history # Show the history docker image import # Import the contents from a tarball docker image inspect # Display detailed information docker image load # Load an image from a tar file or STDIN docker image ls # List images docker image prune # Remove unused images docker image pull # Pull an image from a registry docker image push # Push an image to a registry docker image rm # Remove one or more images docker image save # Save one or more images to a tar file docker image tag # Create a tag TARGET_IMAGE
Docker Container Management Commands
docker container attach # Attach local standard input, output, and error streams to a running container docker container commit # Create a new image from a container's changes docker container cp # Copy files/folders between a container and the local file system docker container create # Create a new container docker container diff # Inspect changes to files or directories on a container's filesystem docker container exec # Run a command in a running container docker container export # Export a container's filesystem as a tar archive docker container inspect # Display detailed information on one or more containers docker container kill # Kill one or more running containers docker container logs # Fetch the logs of a container docker container ls # List containers docker container pause # Pause all processes within one or more containers docker container port # List port mappings or a specific mapping for the container docker container prune # Remove all stopped containers docker container rename # Rename a container docker container restart # Restart one or more containers docker container rm # Remove one or more containers docker container run # Run a command in a new container docker container start # Start one or more stopped containers docker container stats # Display a live stream of container(s) resource usage statistics docker container stop # Stop one or more running containers docker container top # Display the running processes of a container docker container unpause # Unpause all processes within one or more containers docker container update # Update configuration of one or more containers docker container wait # Block until one or more containers stop, then print their exit codes
Check all Docker System Information
docker system info
Pulling an Image from a Registry
docker image pull <image> // docker image pull nginx
Checking Images
docker image ls # list images docker image ls --digests # with a hash value docker image inspect <image> # return low-level information
Creating/Running Containers
# publish to random ports & detach (run it in a background) docker container run -p -d nginx # -p <host>:<container> docker container run -p 8080:80 -d nginx
Options of docker container run command
- –detach, -d: run container in background and print the container ID
- –interactive, -i: keep STDIN open even if not attached
- -p: publish a container’s port(s) to the host
- –tty, -t: allocate a pseudo-TTY
- –name: assign a name to the container
Checking Containers
docker container ls # list running containers docker container ls -a # list all containers
Checking the container is working – 1
docker container inspect <container> # detailed info
At the end of the detailed info, you can see the IP Address.
curl 172.17.0.2
It will return the default ngix home page.
Checking the container is working – 2
docker container port <container> # port mappings
Open the browser with the public IP of the machine and the mapped port
You can see the nginx welcome page.
Displaying the running processes of a container
docker container top <container>
Stopping/Starting the container
docker container stop <container> docker container ls -a docker container start <container>
Checking container logs and live resource stats
docker container logs <container> docker container stats <container> # Ctrl + C to exit
Checking networking
ifconfig # check the "docker0" entry docker network ls # list networks - bridge, host, and none docker network inspect <network> # detailed info - check subnet and gateway
Creating a network
docker network create <name> # default bridge driver docker network create --subnet 10.1.0.0/24 --gateway 10.1.0.1 --ip-range=10.1.4.0/24 --driver=bridge <name> # with other options docker network ls docker network inspect <name>
Connecting/Disconnecting a container to a network
docker network connect <network> <container> docker container inspect <continer> # check the Networks section docker network disconnect <network> <container>
Deleting a network
docker network rm <network> docker network ls
Creating a volume
docker volume create html-volume # volume for nginx files docker volume ls
Running a container with a volume – using the mount flag
docker container stop <container> docker container ls docker container run -d --name nginx-volume1 --mount type=volume,source=html-volume,target=/usr/share/nginx/html/ nginx docker container inspect nginx-volume1 # check the Mounts section docker volume inspect html-volume sudo ls /var/lib/docker/volumes/html-volume/_data # list the contents of html-volume
Running a container with a volume – using the volume flag
docker container run -d --name nginx-volume2 --volume html-volume:/usr/share/nginx/html/ nginx docker container inspect nginx-volume2 # check the Mounts section
Now the volume is shared by 2 containers
Editing the file in the shared volume
sudo vim /var/lib/docker/volumes/html-volume/_data/index.html # Edit index.html docker container inspect nginx-volume1 # Get the private IP of the container 1 curl <private-ip> # Check the edited html is shown docker container inspect nginx-volume2 # Get the private IP of the container 2 curl <private-ip> # Check the edited html is shown
Deleting containers
docker container stop <container> docker container rm <container> # use -f for running container docker container ls -a
Deleting volumes
docker volume ls docker volume rm <volume>
Deleting images
docker image ls docker image rm nginx docker image ls
