/Docker

Docker

Images

Commands

  • docker image pull: is the command to download images. We pull images from repositories inside of remote registries. By default, images will be pulled from repositories on Docker Hub. This command will pull the image tagged as latest from the alpine repository on Docker Hub: docker image pull alpine:latest.
  • docker image ls: lists all of the images stored in your Docker host’s local image cache. To see the SHA256 digests of images add the --digests flag.
  • docker image inspect: is a thing of beauty! It gives you all of the glorious details of an image — layer data and metadata.
  • docker manifest inspect: allows you to inspect the manifest list of any image stored on Docker Hub. This will show the manifest list for the redis image: docker manifest inspect redis.
  • docker buildx: is a Docker CLI plugin that extends the Docker CLI to support multi-arch builds.
  • docker image rm: is the command to delete images. This command shows how to delete the alpine:latest image — docker image rm alpine:latest. You cannot delete an image that is associated with a container in the running (Up) or stopped (Exited) states.

Containers

Commands

  • docker container run: is the command used to start new containers. In its simplest form, it accepts an image and a command as arguments. The image is used to create the container and the command is the application the container will run when it starts. This example will start an Ubuntu container in the foreground, and tell it to run the Bash shell: docker container run -it ubuntu /bin/bash.
  • Ctrl-PQ will detach your shell from the terminal of a container and leave the container running (UP) in the background.
  • docker container ls: lists all containers in the running (UP) state. If you add the -a flag you will also see containers in the stopped (Exited) state.
  • docker container exec: runs a new process inside of a running container. It’s useful for attaching the shell of your Docker host to a terminal inside of a running container. This command will start a new Bash shell inside of a running container and connect to it: docker container exec -it <container-name or container-id> bash. For this to work, the image used to create the container must include the Bash shell.
  • docker container stop: will stop a running container and put it in the Exited (0) state. It does this by issuing a SIGTERM to the process with PID 1 inside of the container. If the process has not cleaned up and stopped within 10 seconds, a SIGKILL will be issued to forcibly stop the container. docker container stop accepts container IDs and container names as arguments.
  • docker container start: will restart a stopped (Exited) container. You can give docker container start the name or ID of a container.
  • docker container rm: will delete a stopped container. You can specify containers by name or ID. It is recommended that you stop a container with the docker container stop command before deleting it with docker container rm.
  • docker container inspect: will show you detailed configuration and runtime information about a container. It accepts container names and container IDs as its main argument.

Notes

  • Killing the main process in the container will kill the container.
  • Press Ctrl-PQ to exit the container without terminating its main process.
  • Containers are designed to be immutable objects and it’s not a good practice to write data to them.
  • Stopping containers gracefully. docker container stop sends a SIGTERM signal to the main application process inside the container (PID 1). As we said, this gives the process a chance to clean things up and gracefully shut itself down. If it doesn’t exit within 10 seconds, it will receive a SIGKILL. This is effectively the bullet to the head. But hey, it got 10 seconds to sort itself out first.

Dockerfile

Big means slow. Big means hard to work with. And big means more potential vulnerabilities and possibly a bigger attack surface!

Commands

  • docker image build is the command that reads a Dockerfile and containerizes an application. The -t flag tags the image, and the -f flag lets you specify the name and location of the Dockerfile. With the -f flag, it is possible to use a Dockerfile with an arbitrary name and in an arbitrary location. The build context is where your application files exist, and this can be a directory on your local Docker host or a remote Git repo.
  • The FROM instruction in a Dockerfile specifies the base image for the new image you will build. It is usually the first instruction in a Dockerfile and a best-practice is to use images from official repos on this line. The RUN instruction in a Dockerfile allows you to run commands inside the image. Each RUN instruction creates a single new layer.
  • The COPY instruction in a Dockerfile adds files into the image as a new layer. It is common to use the COPY instruction to copy your application code into an image.
  • The EXPOSE instruction in a Dockerfile documents the network port that the application uses.
  • The ENTRYPOINT instruction in a Dockerfile sets the default application to run when the image is started as a container.
  • Other Dockerfile instructions include LABEL , ENV , ONBUILD , HEALTHCHECK , CMD and more…

Notes

  • The process of taking an application and configuring it to run as a container is called containerizing
  • Containers are all about making apps simple to build, ship, and run.
  • The process of containerizing an app looks like this:
  1. Start with your application code and dependencies
  2. Create a Dockerfile that describes your app, its dependencies, and how to run it
  3. Feed the Dockerfile into the docker image build command
  4. Run container from the image
  • A Dockerfile is the starting point for creating a container image — it describes an application and tells Docker how to build it into an image.
  • All Dockerfiles start with the FROM instruction. This will be the base layer of the image, and the rest of the app will be added on top as additional layers.
  • The docker image build command parses the Dockerfile one-line-at-a-time starting from the top.
  • All non-comment lines are Instructions and take the format INSTRUCTION argument. Instruction names are not case sensitive, but it’s normal practice to write them in UPPERCASE. Some instructions create new layers, whereas others just add metadata to the image config file.
  • Examples of instructions that create new layers are FROM , RUN , and COPY.
  • Examples that create metadata include EXPOSE , WORKDIR , ENV , and ENTRYPOINT.
  • The basic premise is this — if an instruction is adding content such as files and programs to the image, it will create a new layer. If it is adding instructions on how to build the image and run the application, it will create metadata.

Docker Compose

Commands

Notes

  • Docker Compose deploys and manages multi-container applications on Docker nodes running in single-engine mode.
  • Docker Compose lets you describe an entire app in a single declarative configuration file, and deploy it with a single command.
  • Compose uses YAML files to define multi-service applications. YAML is a subset of JSON, so you can also use JSON.
  • The default name for a Compose YAML file is docker-compose.yml . However, you can use the -fflag to specify custom filenames.
  • The first thing to note is that the file has 4 top-level keys:
  • version
  • services
  • networks
  • volumes
  • The version key is mandatory, and it’s always the first line at the root of the file. This defines the version of the Compose file format (basically the API). You should normally use the latest version. (It’s important to note that the versions key does not define the version of Docker Compose or the Docker Engine.)
  • The top-level services key is where you define the different application microservices.
  • The top-level networks key tells Docker to create new networks. By default, Compose will create bridge networks. These are single-host networks that can only connect containers on the same Docker host. However, you can use the driver property to specify different network types.
  • The top-level volumes key is where you tell Docker to create new volumes.