In this article, we want to teach you How to Install and Use Docker on Ubuntu 20.04.
To see what Docker exactly is check our article about what is Docker and how does it work.
How to Install and Use Docker on Ubuntu 20.04
In this article, you will install Docker itself on Ubuntu 20.04. you need some requirements to install the Docker.
Requirements for installing Docker
You need to log in as a non-root user with Sudo privileges to install Docker on Ubuntu 20.04. you can visit this article about the Initial server setup with Ubuntu 20.04.
Also in the article, you will need to create an account on DockerHub to create your own images and push them to Docker Hub.
How to Install Docker on Ubuntu 20.04
The Docker installation package is available in the official Ubuntu repository by default. but it may not be in the latest version. to get the latest version, update the existing packages on Ubuntu 20.04 with the following command:
sudo apt update
Here you need to install a few prerequisite packages which let apt use packages over HTTPS, run the following command:
sudo apt install apt-transport-https ca-certificates curl software-properties-common
Then, you should add the GPG key for the official Docker repository to your system with the following command:
curl -fsSL https://download.docker.com/linux/ubuntu/gpg | sudo apt-key add -
In this step, you need to add the Docker repository to APT sources on Ubuntu 20.04:
sudo add-apt-repository "deb [arch=amd64] https://download.docker.com/linux/ubuntu focal stable"
Update the packages with the following command:
sudo apt update
You need to be sure about installing from the Docker repository instead of the default Ubuntu repository:
apt-cache policy docker-ce
In your output you will see something like this:
Output
Installed: (none)
Candidate: 5:20.10.8~3-0~ubuntu-focal
Version table:
5:20.10.8~3-0~ubuntu-focal 500
500 https://download.docker.com/linux/ubuntu focal/stable amd64 PackagesNow the docker-ce candidates to install. install Docker on Ubuntu 20.04 with the following command:
sudo apt install docker-ce
When the installation is completed, check that is active and running on Ubuntu 20.04 with the following command:
sudo systemctl status docker
Your output should be similar to this:
Output docker.service - Docker Application Container Engine Loaded: loaded (/lib/systemd/system/docker.service; enabled; vendor preset> Active: active (running) since Sun 2021-08-29 13:10:10 CEST; 26s ago TriggeredBy: ● docker.socket Docs: https://docs.docker.com Main PID: 8435 (dockerd) Tasks: 8 Memory: 28.4M CGroup: /system.slice/docker.service └─8435 /usr/bin/dockerd -H fd:// --containerd=/run/containerd/cont>
Now you install Docker on Ubuntu 20.04. it will give you the Docker service, Also as, docker command-line utility.
Note: As we mentioned above, you need sudo privileges to run docker commands. or if you don’t want to use sudo, you can add a user to the docker group. in this way, the user can run commands without using sudo.
To add a user to the docker group run the following command:
sudo usermod -aG docker ${USER}You can log out and back into the server with the same user.
If you want to add a user that you aren’t logged in with, run the following command:
sudo usermod -aG docker username
For the rest of the article, we run commands as a user in the docker group. if you don’t use sudo before each command.
How to use the Docker command
At this point, you install Docker on Ubuntu 20.04. now let’s know about the docker command.
The syntax of using the docker command is like this:
docker [option] [command] [arguments]
You can list all available subcommands by typing the following command:
docker
Your output should be like this:
Output
attach Attach local standard input, output, and error streams to a running container
build Build an image from a Dockerfile
commit Create a new image from a container's changes
cp Copy files/folders between a container and the local filesystem
create Create a new container
diff Inspect changes to files or directories on a container's filesystem
events Get real time events from the server
exec Run a command in a running container
export Export a container's filesystem as a tar archive
history Show the history of an image
images List images
import Import the contents from a tarball to create a filesystem image
info Display system-wide information
inspect Return low-level information on Docker objects
kill Kill one or more running containers
load Load an image from a tar archive or STDIN
login Log in to a Docker registry
logout Log out from a Docker registry
logs Fetch the logs of a container
pause Pause all processes within one or more containers
port List port mappings or a specific mapping for the container
ps List containers
pull Pull an image or a repository from a registry
push Push an image or a repository to a registry
rename Rename a container
restart Restart one or more containers
rm Remove one or more containers
rmi Remove one or more images
run Run a command in a new container
save Save one or more images to a tar archive (streamed to STDOUT by default)
search Search the Docker Hub for images
start Start one or more stopped containers
stats Display a live stream of container(s) resource usage statistics
stop Stop one or more running containers
tag Create a tag TARGET_IMAGE that refers to SOURCE_IMAGE
top Display the running processes of a container
unpause Unpause all processes within one or more containers
update Update configuration of one or more containers
version Show the Docker version information
wait Block until one or more containers stop, then print their exit codesTo get more information you can run the following command:
docker docker-subcommand --help
To view system-wide information about Docker, use:
docker info
When you get to know about the docker command on Ubuntu 20.04. let’s see how to work with them.
How to work with Docker images
Docker containers are built from Docker images. By default, Docker pulls these images from Docker Hub. Anyone can host their Docker images on Docker Hub, so most applications and Linux distributions you’ll need will have images hosted there.
To check that you can access and download images from Docker Hub, run the following command:
docker run hello-world
Your output should seem like this:
Output Unable to find image 'hello-world:latest' locally latest: Pulling from library/hello-world b8dfde127a29: Pull complete Digest: sha256:7d91b69e04a9029b99f3585aaaccae2baa80bcf318f4a5d2165a9898cd2dc0a1 Status: Downloaded newer image for hello-world:latest Hello from Docker! This message shows that your installation appears to be working correctly.
Now you can search for available images on Docker Hub, for example, run the following command to search ubuntu image:
docker search ubuntu
In the output you will see something similar to this:
Output
NAME DESCRIPTION STARS OFFICIAL AUTOMATED
ubuntu Ubuntu is a Debian-based Linux operating sys… 12691 [OK]
dorowu/ubuntu-desktop-lxde-vnc Docker image to provide HTML5 VNC interface … 561 [OK]
websphere-liberty WebSphere Liberty multi-architecture images … 280 [OK]
rastasheep/ubuntu-sshd Dockerized SSH service, built on top of offi… 255 [OK]
consol/ubuntu-xfce-vnc Ubuntu container with "headless" VNC session… 241 [OK]
ubuntu-upstart DEPRECATED, as is Upstart (find other proces… 113 [OK]
1and1internet/ubuntu-16-nginx-php-phpmyadmin-mysql-5 ubuntu-16-nginx-php-phpmyadmin-mysql-5 50 [OK]Here, when you choose the image that you want to use, you can run the following command to download the image:
docker pull ubuntu
You will see the following output:
Output
Using default tag: latest
latest: Pulling from library/ubuntu
16ec32c2132b: Pull complete
Digest: sha256:82becede498899ec668628e7cb0ad87b6e1c371cb8a1e597d83a47fac21d6af3
Status: Downloaded newer image for ubuntu:latest
docker.io/library/ubuntu:latestAfter you downloaded the image, you can run a container with that image with the “run” subcommand. if an image wasn’t downloaded the “run” subcommand downloaded it first then run the container using it.
To see images you have been downloaded run the following command:
docker images
You will see something like this:
Output REPOSITORY TAG IMAGE ID CREATED SIZE ubuntu latest 1318b700e415 4 weeks ago 72.8MB hello-world latest d1165f221234 5 months ago 13.3kB
At this point, you learn how to work with Docker images on Ubuntu 20.04. now let’s see how to run Docker containers.
How to run Docker containers
Here you can run a container using the latest image of Ubuntu with the following command:
docker run -it ubuntu
Note: -it switches give you interactive shell access into the container.
Your command prompt should change to this form:
[email protected]:/#
Important Note: Remember the container id in the command prompt. In this example, the container ID is 450142aac378.
Now you can run any commands that you want. you don’t need to use sudo for your commands because you run commands as a root inside the container.
[email protected]:/# apt update
Here you can install any application. here we install Node.js with the following command:
[email protected]:/# apt install nodejs
Note Any changes you make inside the container only apply to that container.
You can exit from the container by the following command:
[email protected]:/# exit
When you finished running Docker containers on Ubuntu 20.04 let’s see how to manage them.
How to manage Docker containers
You can see active and running containers with the following command:
docker ps
To list all containers both active and inactive. use the following command;
docker ps -a
In your output you will see:
Output
CONTAINER ID IMAGE COMMAND CREATED STATUS PORTS NAMES
450142aac378 ubuntu "bash" 3 minutes ago Exited (127) 11 seconds ago objective_galois
9b2ee1d994ce hello-world "/hello" 6 minutes ago Exited (0) 6 minutes ago compassionate_diracYou can see the containers you created with:
docker ps -l
Output
CONTAINER ID IMAGE COMMAND CREATED STATUS PORTS NAMES
450142aac378 ubuntu "bash" 3 minutes ago Exited (127) 47 seconds ago objective_galoisAlso, you can start an existed container with a container ID. for example:
docker start 450142aac378
Then you can use the docker ps command to see its status your output should similar to this:
Output
CONTAINER ID IMAGE COMMAND CREATED STATUS PORTS NAMES
450142aac378 ubuntu "bash" 5 minutes ago Up 27 seconds objective_galoisTo stop a running container you can run the following command with container ID or name:
docker stop objective_galoisIf you want to remove a container you can run the following command with the name of that container. for example to remove the hello-world you run the following command:
docker rm compassionate_diracAt this point, you learn how to manage Docker containers on Ubuntu 20.04 too.
Let’s see how Containers can be turned into images that you can use to build new containers.
How to commit Changes in a Container to a Docker Image
In this part, you learn how to save the state of a container as a new Docker image.
After installing Node.js inside the Ubuntu container, you now have a container running off an image, but the container is different from the image you used to create it. But you might want to reuse this Node.js container as the basis for new images later.
Here you can commit the changes to a new Docker image with the following command:
docker commit -m "What you did to the image" -a "Author Name" container_id repository/new_image_name
For example for the user olivia, with the container ID of 450142aac378 :
docker commit -m "added Node.js" -a "olivia" 450142aac378 olivia/ubuntu-nodejs
Then you see your available images with the following command:
docker images
In your output you will see:
Output
REPOSITORY TAG IMAGE ID CREATED SIZE
olivia/ubuntu-nodejs latest 5d98f09fcc3d 14 seconds ago 72.8MB
ubuntu latest 1318b700e415 4 weeks ago 72.8MB
hello-world latest d1165f221234 5 months ago 13.3kBHow to push Docker images to a Docker repository
After you create a new image from an existing image you may want to share it with a few of your friends, the whole world on Docker Hub, or other Docker registries that you have access to. To push an image to Docker Hub or any other Docker registry, you must have an account there.
To have an account on Docker hub you need to register at Docker Hub.
If you want to log in to the Docker hub you will be asked for authentication :
docker login -u docker-registry-username
If you enter the correct password, authentication should succeed. Then you may push your own image using the following command:
docker push docker-registry-username/docker-image-name
For example:
docker push olivia/ubuntu-nodejs
It will take a little time to complete. After you push an image to a registry, it should be listed on your account’s dashboard.
Note: If a push attempt results in an error of this sort, log in, then repeat the push attempt.
Conclusion Of How to Install and Use Docker on Ubuntu 20.04
In this article, you learn how to install Docker, work with images and containers, and push a modified image to Docker Hub.
Hope you enjoy it.