appendix_docker_basics.asciidoc

Appendix A: Docker Basic Installation and Use

This book contains a number of examples that run inside Docker containers for standardization across different operating systems.

This section will help you install Docker and familiarize yourself with some of the most commonly used Docker commands, so that you can run the book’s example containers.

Installing Docker

Before we begin, you should install the Docker container system on your computer. Docker is an open system that is distributed for free as a Community Edition for many different operating systems including Windows, macOS, and Linux. The Windows and Macintosh versions are called Docker Desktop and consist of a GUI desktop application and command-line tools. The Linux version is called Docker Engine and is comprised of a server daemon and command-line tools. We will be using the command-line tools, which are identical across all platforms.

Go ahead and install Docker for your operating system by following the instructions to "Get Docker" from the Docker website.

Select your operating system from the list and follow the installation instructions.

Tip	If you install on Linux, follow the post-installation instructions to ensure you can run Docker as a regular user instead of user root. Otherwise, you will need to prefix all docker commands with sudo, running them as root like: sudo docker.

Once you have Docker installed, you can test your installation by running the demo container hello-world like this:

$ docker run hello-world

Hello from Docker!
This message shows that your installation appears to be working correctly.

[...]

Basic Docker Commands

In this appendix, we use Docker quite extensively. We will be using the following Docker commands and arguments.

Building a Container

docker build [-t tag] [directory]

__tag__ is how we identify the container we are building, and __directory__ is where the container’s context (folders and files) and definition file (Dockerfile) are found.

Running a Container

docker run -it [--network netname] [--name cname] tag

__netname__ is the name of a Docker network, __cname__ is the name we choose for this container instance, and __tag__ is the name tag we gave the container when we built it.

Executing a Command in a Container

docker exec cname command

__cname__ is the name we gave the container in the run command, and __command__ is an executable or script that we want to run inside the container.

Stopping and Starting a Container

In most cases, if we are running a container in an interactive as well as terminal mode, i.e., with the i and t flags (combined as -it) set, the container can be stopped by simply pressing Ctrl-C or by exiting the shell with exit or Ctrl-D. If a container does not terminate, you can stop it from another terminal like this:

docker stop cname

To resume an already existing container, use the start command like so:

docker start cname

Deleting a Container by Name

If you name a container instead of letting Docker name it randomly, you cannot reuse that name until the container is deleted. Docker will return an error like this:

docker: Error response from daemon: Conflict. The container name "/bitcoind" is already in use...

To fix this, delete the existing instance of the container:

docker rm cname

__cname__ is the name assigned to the container (bitcoind in the example error message).

Listing Running Containers

docker ps

This command shows the current running containers and their names.

Listing Docker Images

docker image ls

This command shows the Docker images that have been built or downloaded on your computer.

Conclusion

These basic Docker commands will be enough to get you started and will allow you to run all the examples in this book.