Docker Tips

Here are a few tips that I've found useful while delving in to Docker. For an introduction to Docker, see my post on the YP Engineering Blog. Enjoy!

Making smaller images.

Docker image size does matter. The larger your image, that more unweildy it starts to feel. Pulling a 50MB image is far preferable to pulling a 2G image. Some tips on building smaller images:

Use the smallest linux distro which meets your needs; busybox < debian < centos < ubuntu. I try to use progrium/busybox whenever possible (which isn't all that often without serious work), otherwise, I tend to use debian.
Install as little as possible to meet your needs -- apt-get build-essential is going to bloat your image, don't use it unless absolutly necessary.

Do as much as you can in a single RUN, as opposed to breaking things up. The downside to this is longer builds with less caching. However, it can make a huge difference in resulting image size. I once took an image from 1.3G to 555MB, just by collapsing all my commands to a single RUN. Additionally, clean up after yourself in that same RUN if possible. Example:

  # BAD
  RUN apt-get install git
  RUN apt-get install wget
  RUN apt-get install build-essential
  COPY http://somesite.com/somefile.tgz
  RUN tar xzf somefile.tgz
  RUN cd somefile
  RUN ./configure && make && install

  # GOOD
  RUN \
      apt-get install -y git wget build-essential && \
      curl -sSL -O http://somesite.com/somefile.tgz && \
      tar xzf somefile.tgz && \ 
      cd somefile && ./configure && make && install && \
      cd - && rm -rf somefile somefile.tgz && \
      apt-get remove -y build-essential && \
      apt-get autoremove -y && apt-get clean

Search private registry.

sudo docker search <private domain>/<term>

Removing images and containers in bulk.

# remove all containers
sudo docker rm $(sudo docker ps -a -q)
#... or ...
sudo docker ps -aq | xargs sudo docker rm

# remove all images
sudo docker rmi $(sudo docker images -q)
#... or ...
sudo docker images -q | xargs sudo docker rmi

# remove specific images in bulk
sudo docker rmi myimage:{tagone,tagtwo,tagfive}

# remove image containing TERM
sudo docker rmi $(sudo docker images | grep TERM | awk '{ print $3 }')
#... or ...
sudo docker images | grep TERM | awk '{ print $3 }' | xargs sudo docker rmi

# remove all non-running containers
sudo docker ps -a | grep Exited | awk '{ print $NF }' | xargs sudo docker rm

Interacting with the most recent continer started.

# view last container
sudo docker ps -l 

# view last container sha only
sudo docker ps -lq

# stop, start, attach, logs, etc. last container
#
# $ sudo docker <action> $(sudo docker ps -lq)
sudo docker start $(sudo docker ps -lq)
sudo docker stop $(sudo docker ps -lq)
sudo docker logs $(sudo docker ps -lq)
sudo docker attach $(sudo docker ps -lq)

Pushing to a private registry.

# assuming image 'jmervine/centos6-nodejs'
#
#               <current image name>    <private registry>:<port>/<image name>
sudo docker tag jmervine/centos6-nodejs docker.myregstry.com:5000/jmervine/centos6-nodejs
sudo docker push docker.myregstry.com:5000/jmervine/centos6-nodejs

# I then recommend removing your old image to avoid accidentally pushing it to the public registry.
sudo docker rmi jmervine/centos6-nodejs

Ports

# running randomly assigning host port
sudo docker run -d -p 3000 image/name

# running with exposed ports randomly assigned on host
sudo docker run -d -P image/name

# printing randomly assigned ports (only)
sudo docker port image_name | awk -F':' '{ print $NF }'

Copying Files TO Containers

# Directly in to a running container.
sudo docker exec -it <container_name|name> \
    bash -c "echo \"$(cat /path/to/host/file.txt)\" > /path/to/container/file.txt"

# When running a container.
sudo docker run -i <container_id|name> \
    bash -c "echo \"$(cat /path/to/host/file.txt)\" > /path/to/container/file.txt; /bin/bash ./start.sh"

# Via Docker volume.
# - where 'file.txt' is /path/to/host/dir/file.txt
sudo docker run -v /path/to/host/dir:/path/to/container/dir <container_id|name>

#... or ...
sudo docker run -v /path/to/host/dir:/path/to/container/dir <container_id|name>
cp /path/to/host/file.txt /path/to/host/dir/file.txt

# Via file system -- untested as of yet.
sudo cp -v /path/to/host/file.txt \
    /var/lib/docker/aufs/mnt/**$(sudo docker inspect -f '{{.Id}}' <container_id|name>)**/root/path/to/container/file.txt

Based on comments in http://stackoverflow.com/questions/22907231/copying-files-from-host-to-docker-container

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