How to run your first Docker container
By Deepnote team
•Updated on November 23, 2023
A beginner's guide to Docker, detailing the steps to set up and run your first container.
Today, we'll learn how to get started with Docker by running our very first container.
How to run a Docker container
To kick things off, let's run a simple Docker container:
docker run --rm hello-world
Great work! You've just run your first Docker container. Here's what happened with the docker run
command:
- The
run
command creates a new container and starts it. - The
--rm
flag is optional and ensures the container gets removed automatically after it stops. - The
hello-world
is the image Docker uses as the foundation for the container. - The container runs, outputs a greeting, and then exits.
How to run a website in a Docker container
Starting with hello-world
was easy. Now let's run a container that serves a simple website:
docker run --detach --name whoa --publish 80:8080 rackerlabs/whoa
We introduced a few new flags this time:
--name whoa
assigns a name to our container, expanding the standard auto-generated ID.--detach
keeps the container running in the background.--publish 80:8080
maps port 8080 inside the container to port 80 on your host machine.
Now, to get details on your running container:
docker ps --filter="name=whoa"
The docker ps
command, akin to the traditional ps
, displays information about running containers:
--filter="name=whoa"
narrows down the output to our specific container.
Take note of the information provided:
- Container Id - Unique identifier for the container.
- Image - Image name the container is based on.
- Command - The command that the container runs on startup.
- Created - Time since the container's creation.
- Status - Running state of the container.
- Ports - Exposed ports, in this case, port 80.
- Names - Name(s) of the container.
With the container up, use this shortcut command to build a URL to your hosted website:
echo http://$(docker port whoa 8080)
Click the printed link to check out your new website!
Cleaning up
Once you're done with the whoa
container, remove it to release the used ports:
docker rm --force whoa
The docker rm
command deletes containers by name or ID. The --force
flag is used to terminate running containers.
By following these steps, you've effectively run and managed your first Docker containers. Keep experimenting by deploying different types of applications and services in containers. It's a useful skill for any data scientist or analyst to provision an environment quickly.
Remember to check out the content source for this guide here and explore similar tutorials to expand your Docker knowledge.
In conclusion, Docker is an invaluable tool for data scientists and engineers, enabling consistent, efficient, and portable workflows. Whether you are building machine learning models, hosting web applications, or running data analyses, Docker can streamline the process and help you focus on the core of your work. Happy containerizing!