Docker Essentials: A

Comprehensive Guide
By Ravi Kiran Maroju

RK by Ravi Kiran
What is Docker?
By Ravi Kiran Maroju

Magic Box for Software Pack an App

Docker is like a magic box for It lets us pack an app with
software. everything it needs (like
tools, files, settings) so it can
run anywhere 3 on your
computer or on someone
else's.

Lunchbox Analogy
Think of it like a lunchbox: you put food (the app) and utensils (tools it
needs) in it, so you're ready to eat (run it) anywhere!
Docker vs Virtual Machines (VMs)
Feature Docker (Containers) Virtual Machines (VMs)

Speed Very fast Slower

Size Small (~MBs) Big (~GBs)

Uses OS Shares host OS Has its own OS

Resource Usage Low High

Containers are light and quick, like bicycles.

VMs are heavy and slow, like trucks.

By Ravi Kiran Maroju

Docker Architecture
Easy analogy: Running a puppet show

By Ravi Kiran Maroju

Docker Client
You (puppet master) tell Docker what to do.

Docker Daemon (dockerd)

The backstage crew 3 listens and does the real work.

Images
Like puppet blueprints (how to create a container).

Containers
Actual puppet shows (running apps).

Registry
Like an app store (Docker Hub) to download puppet blueprints (images).
Installing Docker on Windows
or Mac
By Ravi Kiran Maroju

Visit the Docker Website

Go to [Link]

Download Docker Desktop

Click the download button for your operating system

Install the Software

Run the installer just like any other software

Launch Docker
Open Docker and you're ready!
Installing Docker on Linux
(Ubuntu)
By Ravi Kiran Maroju

sudo apt update

sudo apt install [Link] -y
sudo systemctl enable docker
sudo systemctl start docker

Check it works:

docker --version
Docker Desktop vs Docker
Engine
By Ravi Kiran Maroju

Docker Desktop
GUI + Docker Engine (for Windows/Mac)

Docker Engine
The core part, runs in terminal (Linux)
Docker CLI vs Docker GUI
By Ravi Kiran Maroju

Interface What it is Example

CLI Command line tool docker ps

GUI Web interface with Portainer, Docker

buttons Desktop
Basic Docker Commands: Getting Started
By Ravi Kiran Maroju

Let's open a terminal or command prompt and try these!

Check Docker is working Run a container (example: hello-world)

docker version docker run hello-world

docker info
Basic Docker Commands:
Container Management
By Ravi Kiran Maroju

See running containers Stop a container

docker ps docker stop

Remove a stopped container

docker rm
Basic Docker Commands:
Container Interaction
By Ravi Kiran Maroju

Run a command inside container

docker exec -it bash

View logs from container

docker logs

Force kill a container

docker kill

Get full container details

docker inspect
Docker Container Tip
Use docker ps -a to see all containers (running and stopped)

By Ravi Kiran Maroju

Docker Images: Downloading
By Ravi Kiran Maroju

Remove an image
See your downloaded images docker rmi ubuntu
Pull an image from Docker Hub docker images
docker pull ubuntu
Creating a Custom Image from a Container
By Ravi Kiran Maroju

Create an image
Exit container, then get docker commit my-ubuntu-
Install something inside its container ID figlet
Start a container Example: apt install figlet docker ps -a
docker run -it ubuntu
Building from a Dockerfile:
Step 1
By Ravi Kiran Maroju

Create a file named Dockerfile:

FROM ubuntu
RUN apt update && apt install -y figlet
CMD ["figlet", "Hello Docker!"]
Building from a Dockerfile:
Steps 2-3
By Ravi Kiran Maroju

Build the image

docker build -t hello-docker .

Run it
docker run hello-docker
Lifecycle of a Docker Container
By Ravi Kiran Maroju

Create/Start Running
docker run docker ps

Removed Stopped
docker rm docker stop
Interacting with a Container
By Ravi Kiran Maroju

Start a shell inside

docker exec -it bash

Try something fun inside, like:

figlet Hello!
Foreground vs Detached
Mode
By Ravi Kiran Maroju

Mode Command Example What Happens

Foreground docker run ubuntu Stays open in

terminal

Detached (-d) docker run -d Runs in background

ubuntu sleep 1000 (silent mode)

Use docker ps to see detached containers.

Docker Volumes: Introduction
By Ravi Kiran Maroju

What are Volumes? Why Use Volumes?

Persistent data storage for Data persists even when
containers containers are removed

Data Sharing
Share data between containers
Creating and Managing
Docker Volumes
By Ravi Kiran Maroju

Create a volume
docker volume create my-vol

List volumes
docker volume ls

Inspect a volume
docker volume inspect my-vol

Remove a volume
docker volume rm my-vol
Using Volumes with
Containers
By Ravi Kiran Maroju

Mount a volume when Mount a host directory

running a container
docker run -v
docker run -v my-vol:/app /host/path:/container/path
nginx nginx

Read-only mount

docker run -v my-vol:/app:ro nginx

Docker Networks: Introduction
By Ravi Kiran Maroju

What are Docker Why Use Networks? Network Types

Networks? Isolation, security, and Bridge, host, overlay, macvlan,
Virtual networks that connect communication between and none
containers containers
Creating and Managing Docker Networks
By Ravi Kiran Maroju

Create a network
docker network create my-net

List networks
docker network ls

Inspect a network
docker network inspect my-net

Remove a network
docker network rm my-net
Using Networks with
Containers
By Ravi Kiran Maroju

Connect a container to a Connect a running

network container to a network

docker run --network=my- docker network connect my-

net nginx net container_id

Disconnect a container from a network

docker network disconnect my-net container_id

Docker Compose: Introduction
By Ravi Kiran Maroju

What is Docker Compose? Configuration Single Command

Tool for defining and running Uses YAML files to configure Create and start all services with
multi-container Docker application services one command
applications
Docker Compose: Basic
Commands
By Ravi Kiran Maroju

Start services
docker-compose up

Start in detached mode

docker-compose up -d

Stop services
docker-compose down

Rebuild services
docker-compose up --build
Docker Compose: Sample
YAML File
By Ravi Kiran Maroju

version: '3'
services:
web:
image: nginx
ports:
- "8080:80"
volumes:
- ./html:/usr/share/nginx/html
db:
image: mysql
environment:
MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD: example
Docker Security: Best
Practices
By Ravi Kiran Maroju

Use Official Images

Always prefer official images from Docker Hub

Scan for Vulnerabilities

Use tools like Docker Security Scanning

Limit Container Resources

Set memory and CPU limits

Use Non-Root Users

Run containers with least privileges
Docker Security: Resource
Limits
By Ravi Kiran Maroju

Memory Limits CPU Limits

docker run --memory=512m docker run --cpus=0.5 nginx
nginx

Storage Limits
Use storage drivers with quotas
Docker in Production:
Orchestration
By Ravi Kiran Maroju

What is Orchestration? Popular Orchestration

Managing multiple containers Tools
across multiple hosts Kubernetes
Docker Swarm
Amazon ECS
Google Kubernetes Engine
(GKE)

Benefits
High availability
Scaling
Load balancing
Self-healing
Docker Swarm: Introduction
By Ravi Kiran Maroju

What is Docker Architecture

Swarm? Manager nodes and worker
Docker's native clustering nodes
and orchestration solution

Features
Load balancing, scaling, rolling updates, and service discovery
Docker Swarm: Basic
Commands
By Ravi Kiran Maroju

Initialize a swarm
docker swarm init

Join a swarm as a worker

docker swarm join --token :2377

List nodes
docker node ls

Deploy a service
docker service create --replicas 3 nginx
Kubernetes: Introduction
By Ravi Kiran Maroju

What is Kubernetes? Architecture

Open-source container Master node and worker
orchestration platform nodes

Components
Pods, services, deployments, and more
Kubernetes vs Docker Swarm
By Ravi Kiran Maroju

Feature Kubernetes Docker Swarm

Complexity Higher Lower

Scalability Excellent Good

Setup Time Longer Shorter

Auto-healing Advanced Basic

Community Very large Moderate

Docker Registry: Introduction
What is a Docker Docker Hub
Registry? Public registry provided by
Storage and distribution Docker
service for Docker images

Private Registry
Self-hosted or cloud-based private image storage

By Ravi Kiran Maroju

Working with Docker Registry
By Ravi Kiran Maroju

Login to Docker Hub

docker login

Tag an image
docker tag my-image username/my-image:tag

Push an image
docker push username/my-image:tag

Pull an image
docker pull username/my-image:tag
Setting Up a Private Docker
Registry
By Ravi Kiran Maroju

Run a registry container

docker run -d -p 5000:5000 --name registry registry:2

Tag an image for local registry

docker tag my-image localhost:5000/my-image

Push to local registry

docker push localhost:5000/my-image

Pull from local registry

docker pull localhost:5000/my-image
Docker Monitoring: Tools
By Ravi Kiran Maroju

Docker Prometheus Grafana

Stats Open-source Visualization
Built-in monitoring and analytics
command-line system platform
monitoring

cAdvisor
Container
resource usage
analyzer
Docker Stats: Basic
Monitoring
By Ravi Kiran Maroju

View stats for all View stats for specific

containers containers

docker stats docker stats container1

container2

Format output

docker stats --format "{{.Name}}: {{.CPUPerc}}"

Docker Logging:
Configuration
By Ravi Kiran Maroju

Default Logging Logging Drivers

json-file driver stores logs as syslog, journald, fluentd,
JSON awslogs, splunk, etc.

Configure at Runtime
docker run --log-driver=syslog nginx
Docker Logging: Commands
By Ravi Kiran Maroju

View container logs

docker logs container_id

Follow logs in real-time

docker logs -f container_id

Show timestamps
docker logs -t container_id

Limit output
docker logs --tail=100 container_id
Docker Networking: Types
By Ravi Kiran Maroju

Host
Bridge Removes network isolation, uses host's
Default network driver, isolated network networking directly
on a single host
1
Overlay
3 Connect multiple Docker daemons
across hosts

None
Macvlan
Disables networking for the container
Assign MAC addresses to containers,
appear as physical devices
Docker Port Mapping
By Ravi Kiran Maroju

Basic Port Mapping Multiple Port Mappings

docker run -p 8080:80 nginx docker run -p 8080:80 -p

443:443 nginx
Maps host port 8080 to
container port 80 Maps multiple ports

Random Host Port

docker run -p 80 nginx

Assigns a random host port

Docker Storage Drivers
By Ravi Kiran Maroju

What are Storage Available Drivers

Drivers? overlay2, aufs,
Control how images and devicemapper, btrfs, zfs, vfs
containers are stored and
managed on the host

Best Practice
Use overlay2 when possible (default on most systems)
Docker Multi-Stage Builds
By Ravi Kiran Maroju

Example Use Case

Benefits Compile code in one stage, copy only the
What are Multi-Stage Builds? Smaller final images, separation of build binary to the final image
Use multiple FROM statements in and runtime dependencies
Dockerfile to create smaller production
images
Docker Multi-Stage Build Example
By Ravi Kiran Maroju

# Build stage
FROM golang:1.16 AS builder
WORKDIR /app
COPY . .
RUN go build -o myapp

# Final stage
FROM alpine:3.14
WORKDIR /app
COPY --from=builder /app/myapp .
CMD ["./myapp"]
Docker Health Checks
By Ravi Kiran Maroju

What are Health Checks? In Dockerfile

Commands that check if a
container is healthy and HEALTHCHECK --
functioning properly interval=5m --timeout=3s \
CMD curl -f
[Link] || exit 1

At Runtime

docker run --health-cmd="curl -f [Link] || exit 1" \

--health-interval=5m nginx
Docker Environment Variables
By Ravi Kiran Maroju

In Dockerfile
1
ENV APP_HOME=/app

At Runtime
docker run -e "APP_HOME=/app" nginx

From File
3
docker run --env-file=[Link] nginx

View Environment Variables

docker exec container_id env
Docker Secrets
What are Docker Benefits
Secrets? Encrypted at rest, transmitted
Secure way to store sensitive over TLS, mounted as files in
data like passwords and API containers
keys

Availability
Only available in Docker Swarm mode

By Ravi Kiran Maroju

Managing Docker Secrets
By Ravi Kiran Maroju

Create a secret
docker secret create my_secret [Link]

List secrets
docker secret ls

Inspect a secret
docker secret inspect my_secret

Remove a secret
docker secret rm my_secret
Using Docker Secrets
By Ravi Kiran Maroju

With a service Access in container

Secrets are mounted at
docker service create \ /run/secrets/secret_name
--name nginx \
--secret my_secret \
cat /run/secrets/my_secret
nginx

With custom target

docker service create \

--name nginx \
--secret source=my_secret,target=[Link] \
nginx
Docker Content Trust
By Ravi Kiran Maroju

What is Content Trust? How it Works

Ensures the integrity and Uses digital signatures to
publisher of Docker images verify image authenticity

Enable Content Trust

export DOCKER_CONTENT_TRUST=1
Docker Bench Security
By Ravi Kiran Maroju

What is Docker Bench Security?

Script that checks for dozens of common best-practices around
deploying Docker containers in production

Running Docker Bench

docker run -it --net host --pid host --userns host --cap-add
audit_control \
-v /var/lib:/var/lib \
-v /var/run/[Link]:/var/run/[Link] \
-v /usr/lib/systemd:/usr/lib/systemd \
-v /etc:/etc --label docker_bench_security \
docker/docker-bench-security
Docker Performance Tuning
By Ravi Kiran Maroju

CPU Tuning Memory Tuning

Set CPU shares, quotas, and pinning Set memory limits and swappiness

Storage Tuning Network Tuning

Choose appropriate storage driver and mount options Optimize network driver and DNS settings
Docker Best Practices
By Ravi Kiran Maroju

Image Building Security

Use specific tags, not 'latest' Run as non-root
Minimize layers Scan for vulnerabilities
Use .dockerignore Use read-only filesystems
Multi-stage builds Limit capabilities

Operations
Use health checks
Set resource limits
Implement logging
Use Docker Compose
Docker Troubleshooting
By Ravi Kiran Maroju

Check container status

docker ps -a

View logs
2 docker logs container_id

Inspect container
docker inspect container_id

Debug with interactive shell

docker exec -it container_id sh
Common Docker Issues
By Ravi Kiran Maroju

Container Won't Start Image Pull Failures

Check logs: docker logs Verify network connectivity
container_id Check authentication
Verify port availability Confirm image name and
Check resource constraints tag

Volume Mount Issues

Verify paths exist
Check permissions
Inspect volume: docker volume inspect volume_name
Docker Community
Resources
By Ravi Kiran Maroju

Documentation Forums GitHub

[Link] [Link] [Link]/docker

Slack
Docker Community
Slack
Docker Learning Path
By Ravi Kiran Maroju

Beginner
Learn basic commands and concepts

Intermediate
Create custom images and multi-container applications

Advanced
Orchestration, security, and production deployment

Expert
Performance tuning, custom plugins, and contributing to
Docker