Docker is a collection of platform as a service (PaaS) products that use operating-system-level virtualization to deliver software in packages called containers. Containers are fully isolated from each other and are a standard unit of software that packages up code and all of its dependencies so the application runs quickly and reliably from one computing environment to another. This makes containers a great tool for reproducing development environments, as well as serving reproducible applications in production. In this quick tutorial, we’ll get started with Docker.
Install Docker for your OS.
We’ll be using Docker for Windows and the Docker docs show you how to Install Docker Desktop on Windows here.
Launch Docker and Begin The Tutorial
After the install completes you will be given the option to complete a tutorial, and that is what you should do straight away.
Clone A Repository
In order to launch a container we first need to clone a repository from Github. If you’re new to Git you can check out the Git For Beginners tutorial to become familiar. The Getting Started project is a simple GitHub repository which contains everything you need to build an image and run it as a container.
git clone https://github.com/docker/getting-started
Build The Image
A Docker image is a private file system just for your container. It provides all the files and software your container needs.
cd getting-started docker build -t docker101tutorial
Run A Container
Start a container based on the image you built in the previous step. Running a container launches your application with private resources, securely isolated from the rest of your machine.
docker run -d -p 80:80 --name docker-tutorial docker101tutorial
(Optional) Sign Up With Docker Hub
Docker hub is a wonderful resource for you to find literally any software in the world to run in your containers.
Access the world’s largest library of container images!
View Container In Dashboard
In the Docker Dashboard, you will see the container up and running with a few options. We can click the View in Browser option to see the fruits of our labor.
Your Web Browser should launch automatically and navigate to http://localhost/tutorial, which is the running application that you just launched on your local machine using Docker!
The tutorial included in the newly launched app is superb. It covers everything you need to know, and will likely answer a lot of questions you may have, especially if you are coming from a virtual machine workflow background. The following topics are covered:
- Running your first container
- Building containers
- Learning what containers are running and removing them
- Using volumes to persist data
- Using bind mounts to support development
- Using container networking to support multi-container applications
- Using Docker Compose to simplify the definition and sharing of applications
- Using image layer caching to speed up builds and reduce push/pull size
- Using multi-stage builds to separate build-time and runtime dependencies
- Docker With Visual Studio Code
Docker Quick Reference
Congratulations, you got your first container up and running. The following is a nice reference for quickly using available Docker commands.
Build an image from the Dockerfile in the current directory and tag the image
docker build -t myimage:1.0 .
List all images that are locally stored with the Docker Engine
docker image ls
Delete an image from the local image store
docker image rm alpine:3.4
Run a container from the Alpine version 3.9 image, name the running container “web” and expose port 5000 externally, mapped to port 80 inside the container.
docker container run –name web -p 5000:80 alpine:3.9
Stop a running container through SIGTERM
docker container stop web
Stop a running container through SIGKILL
docker container kill web
List the networks
docker network ls
List the running containers (add –all to include stopped containers)
docker container ls –all
Delete all running and stopped containers
docker container rm -f $(docker ps -aq)
Print the last 100 lines of a container’s logs
docker container logs –tail 100 web
Pull an image from a registry
docker pull myimage:1.0
Retag a local image with a new image name and tag
docker tag myimage:1.0 myrepo/myimage:2.0
Push an image to a registry
docker push myrepo/myimage:2.0
Docker Management
docker
builder Manage builds
build Build an image from a Dockerfile
prune Remove build cache
config Manage Docker configs
create Create a config from a file or STDIN
inspect Display detailed information on one or more configs
ls List configs
rm Remove one or more configs
container Manage containers
attach Attach local standard input, output, and error streams to a running container
commit Create a new image from a container's changes
cp Copy files/folders between a container and the local filesystem
create Create a new container
diff Inspect changes to files or directories on a container's filesystem
exec Run a command in a running container
export Export a container's filesystem as a tar archive
inspect Display detailed information on one or more containers
kill Kill one or more running containers
logs Fetch the logs of a container
ls List containers
pause Pause all processes within one or more containers
port List port mappings or a specific mapping for the container
prune Remove all stopped containers
rename Rename a container
restart Restart one or more containers
rm Remove one or more containers
run Run a command in a new container
start Start one or more stopped containers
stats Display a live stream of container(s) resource usage statistics
stop Stop one or more running containers
top Display the running processes of a container
unpause Unpause all processes within one or more containers
update Update configuration of one or more containers
wait Block until one or more containers stop, then print their exit codes
context Manage contexts
create Create new context
inspect Display detailed information on one or more contexts
list List available contexts
rm Remove one or more contexts
show Print the current context
use Set the default context
image Manage images
build Build an image from a Dockerfile
history Show the history of an image
import Import the contents from a tarball to create a filesystem image
inspect Display detailed information on one or more images
load Load an image from a tar archive or STDIN
ls List images
prune Remove unused images
pull Pull an image or a repository from a registry
push Push an image or a repository to a registry
rm Remove one or more images
save Save one or more images to a tar archive (streamed to STDOUT by default)
tag Create a tag TARGET_IMAGE that refers to SOURCE_IMAGE
network Manage networks
connect Connect a container to a network
create Create a network
disconnect Disconnect a container from a network
inspect Display detailed information on one or more networks
ls List networks
prune Remove all unused networks
rm Remove one or more networks
node Manage Swarm nodes
demote Demote one or more nodes from manager in the swarm
inspect Display detailed information on one or more nodes
ls List nodes in the swarm
promote Promote one or more nodes to manager in the swarm
ps List tasks running on one or more nodes, defaults to current node
rm Remove one or more nodes from the swarm
update Update a node
plugin Manage plugins
create Create a plugin from a rootfs and configuration. Plugin data directory
must contain config.json and rootfs directory.
disable Disable a plugin
enable Enable a plugin
inspect Display detailed information on one or more plugins
install Install a plugin
ls List plugins
push Push a plugin to a registry
rm Remove one or more plugins
set Change settings for a plugin
upgrade Upgrade an existing plugin
secret Manage Docker secrets
create Create a secret from a file or STDIN as content
inspect Display detailed information on one or more secrets
ls List secrets
rm Remove one or more secrets
service Manage services
create Create a new service
inspect Display detailed information on one or more services
logs Fetch the logs of a service or task
ls List services
ps List the tasks of one or more services
rm Remove one or more services
rollback Revert changes to a service's configuration
scale Scale one or multiple replicated services
update Update a service
stack Manage Docker stacks
deploy Deploy a new stack or update an existing stack
ls List stacks
ps List the tasks in the stack
rm Remove one or more stacks
services List the services in the stack
swarm Manage Swarm
ca Display and rotate the root CA
init Initialize a swarm
join Join a swarm as a node and/or manager
join-token Manage join tokens
leave Leave the swarm
unlock Unlock swarm
unlock-key Manage the unlock key
update Update the swarm
system Manage Docker
df Show docker disk usage
events Get real time events from the server
info Display system-wide information
prune Remove unused data
trust Manage trust on Docker images
key Manage keys for signing Docker images
generate Generate and load a signing key-pair
load Load a private key file for signing
signer Manage entities who can sign Docker images
add Add a signer
remove Remove a signer
volume Manage volumes
create Create a volume
inspect Display detailed information on one or more volumes
ls List volumes
prune Remove all unused local volumes
rm Remove one or more volumes
Commands:
attach Attach local standard input, output, and error streams to a running container
build Build an image from a Dockerfile
commit Create a new image from a container's changes
cp Copy files/folders between a container and the local filesystem
create Create a new container
diff Inspect changes to files or directories on a container's filesystem
events Get real time events from the server
exec Run a command in a running container
export Export a container's filesystem as a tar archive
history Show the history of an image
images List images
import Import the contents from a tarball to create a filesystem image
info Display system-wide information
inspect Return low-level information on Docker objects
kill Kill one or more running containers
load Load an image from a tar archive or STDIN
login Log in to a Docker registry
logout Log out from a Docker registry
logs Fetch the logs of a container
pause Pause all processes within one or more containers
port List port mappings or a specific mapping for the container
ps List containers
pull Pull an image or a repository from a registry
push Push an image or a repository to a registry
rename Rename a container
restart Restart one or more containers
rm Remove one or more containers
rmi Remove one or more images
run Run a command in a new container
save Save one or more images to a tar archive (streamed to STDOUT by default)
search Search the Docker Hub for images
start Start one or more stopped containers
stats Display a live stream of container(s) resource usage statistics
stop Stop one or more running containers
tag Create a tag TARGET_IMAGE that refers to SOURCE_IMAGE
top Display the running processes of a container
unpause Unpause all processes within one or more containers
update Update configuration of one or more containers
version Show the Docker version information
wait Block until one or more containers stop, then print their exit codes
Learn More About Docker
- Get Started With Docker (docs.docker.com)
- Docker For Beginners (docker-curriculum.com)
- Get Going From Scratch In Docker (stackify.com)
- Learn To Use Docker Containers (infoworld.com)
- Simplilearn Docker Tutorial (simplilearn.com)
- Jenkov Docker Tutorial (tutorials.jenkov.com)
Docker Quick Tutorial Summary
This should give you a basic understanding of how Docker operates with a grasp of the key Docker concepts. At its most basic level, Docker is simply images and containers. Learning how to leverage these technologies is a huge benefit to software developers, small businesses, and fortune 500 companies alike.
