Getting started

Installing Docker and Docker Compose on Debian

Install the docker and docker-compose packages and add yourself to the docker group (so you can control docker without sudo):

sudo apt install -y docker docker-compose
sudo usermod -aG docker $USER

Simple demos

Demo with docker aliased to podman on Fedora

sudo dnf install podman-docker

# Ensure you're not running a zsh terminal because it'll b0rk
bash

docker pull hello-world
docker run hello-world

Show that a container is just a process

Start 3 x mongodb containers, see the processes on the host, but each container can only see itself:

docker run -d mongo
docker run -d mongo
docker run -d mongo

# See all 3 containers
docker ps

# I can see all 3 containers on my host
ps -ef | grep mongo

# But the container can only see itself
docker exec $CONTAINER_ID ps -ef
# should just show 1 x mongodb instance....

Operations

Where does Docker store its logs?

Find out your current Docker daemon’s log configuration:

$ docker info --format ''
json-file

Find the log file for a specific container:

$ docker inspect <container_name> | grep LogPath
        "LogPath": "/var/lib/docker/containers/ddd968988...7643e96/ddd968988...7643e96-json.log",

Cookbook

Start a container with a bash prompt

$ docker run --entrypoint /bin/bash -i -t <image_name>

Start a shell inside a running container

$ docker exec -it <container name> /bin/bash

Mount a volume in a container with SELinux

$ docker run -d -p 49001:8080 -v $JENKINS_VOLUME:/var/jenkins_home:z -t jenkins

Maintenance: Pruning old images and volumes

Remove a specific Docker image:

$ docker rmi ...

Use docker info | grep "Docker Root Dir" to find the images location and du to check the size. Then use docker prune to remove images and unused volumes:

$ df -h /
Filesystem               Size  Used Avail Use% Mounted on
/dev/mapper/fedora-root   49G   46G  834M  99% /
# Yikes I have hardly any space left! Damn those Docker images.

$ docker info | grep 'Root Dir'
 Docker Root Dir: /var/lib/docker
$ sudo du -sh /var/lib/docker
11G      /var/lib/docker

$ docker system prune
$ docker image prune -a
$ docker volume prune

$ df -h /
Filesystem               Size  Used Avail Use% Mounted on
/dev/mapper/fedora-root   49G   37G   11G  79% /

Find all the JSON container log files

Assuming a default install with the log file path in /var/lib/docker/containers, find all of the log files and their sizes with:

sudo find /var/lib/docker/containers -name '*.log' | xargs ls -al

Troubleshooting

Why did a container exit unexpectedly?

  • docker ps -a to show exited containers
  • docker logs <container-id> to see whether anything obvious was thrown in the logs
  • docker inspect <container-id> - check the ‘State’ object, which should show the container’s exit code
  • Check /var/log/messages to see whether Docker was updated by a package manager (e.g. yum)

“docker: Error response from daemon: cgroups: cgroup mountpoint does not exist: unknown.”

  • Docker requires cgroups v1, but Fedora 31+ uses cgroups v2.

Why is my disk filling up but my container appears small?

  • Your container log files might be enormous.
  • Check the size of your log files and truncate the ones you’re not bothered about.
  • Also set up log file max sizes in your Docker Compose file.