Install Docker CE on Debian 12 Bookworm (Full Guide)

In this guide, we want to teach you to Install and Use Docker CE on Debian 12 Bookworm. Docker is an open-source platform that can ease the creation, implementation, and performance processes with containers.

what you read in this post?

- What is the difference between Docker and Docker CE?
How To Install Docker CE on Debian 12 Bookworm?

What is the difference between Docker and Docker CE?

Docker CE is a package provided by Docker. The package is available through a third-party package repository provided for major Linux distributions. Like the docker.io and docker packages, docker-ce is free and open source.

You can follow this guide to start your Docker CE installation on Debian 12 and start working with it.

How To Install Docker CE on Debian 12 Bookworm?

Before you start your Docker installation, you must have access to your server as a non-root user with sudo privileges. To do this, you can follow this guide on Initial Server Setup with Debian 12 Bookworm.

Then, follow the steps below.

Step 1 – Run System Update and Install Required Packages for Docker

First, you need to update and upgrade the APT packages by using the command below:

sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade -y

Then, use the command below to install the required packages on Debian 12 for Docker:

sudo apt install apt-transport-https ca-certificates curl gnupg2 software-properties-common -y

Step 2 – Add Docker’s official GPG key on Debian 12

At this point, you need to add the GPG key for the official Docker repository to your system by using the following commands:

# sudo install -m 0755 -d /etc/apt/keyrings
# curl -fsSL https://download.docker.com/linux/debian/gpg | sudo gpg --dearmor -o /etc/apt/keyrings/docker.gpg
 # sudo chmod a+r /etc/apt/keyrings/docker.gpg

Step 3 – Set up Docker Repository on Debian 12

Here you need to add the Docker repository to the APT sources with the command below:

echo \
  "deb [arch="$(dpkg --print-architecture)" signed-by=/etc/apt/keyrings/docker.gpg] https://download.docker.com/linux/debian \
  "$(. /etc/os-release && echo "$VERSION_CODENAME")" stable" | \
  sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/docker.list > /dev/null

Step 4 – How To Install Docker on Debian 12?

Finally, run the system update and use the following command to install Docker CE in the latest version on your server:

# sudo apt update
# sudo apt install docker-ce docker-ce-cli containerd.io docker-buildx-plugin -y

Step 5 – How To Check Docker Status?

Your Docker CE service must be enabled and activated during the installation on Debian 12. To verify it, you can run the command below:

sudo systemctl status docker

In your output you should see:

Output
● docker.service - Docker Application Container Engine
     Loaded: loaded (/lib/systemd/system/docker.service; enabled; preset: enabl>
     Active: active (running) since Sat 2023-07-01 08:03:18 EDT; 12s ago
TriggeredBy: ● docker.socket
       Docs: https://docs.docker.com
   Main PID: 2651 (dockerd)
      Tasks: 9
     Memory: 27.5M
        CPU: 579ms
     CGroup: /system.slice/docker.service
...

At this point, you have the docker command-line utility. In the rest of the article, we will show you how to use the docker command-line utility on Debian 12.

Step 6 – Run Docker Commands without sudo

The docker command can only be run by the root user or the user in the docker group. A Docker group is created in the installation process by default.

If you don’t want to use sudo for the docker command you need to add your user to the docker group with the following command:

sudo usermod -aG docker ${USER}

To apply this change, run the following command:

su - ${USER}

Here you will be asked to enter your username’s password to continue.

You can verify that your user added to the docker group with the following command:

id -nG

In the rest of the article, we run the docker commands as a user in the docker group. If you don’t want this remember to run commands with a user with sudo privileges.

After the installation of Docker on Debian 12 is finished, Let’s see how the docker command works.

Step 7 – How To Use Docker Command Line Utility

The syntax of the docker command is like this form:

docker [option] [command] [arguments]

You can see all available subcommands of docker with the following command:

docker

In your output you will see:

Output
Common Commands:
  run         Create and run a new container from an image
  exec        Execute a command in a running container
  ps          List containers
  build       Build an image from a Dockerfile
  pull        Download an image from a registry
  push        Upload an image to a registry
  images      List images
  login       Log in to a registry
  logout      Log out from a registry
  search      Search Docker Hub for images
  version     Show the Docker version information
  info        Display system-wide information

Management Commands:
  builder     Manage builds
  buildx*     Docker Buildx (Docker Inc., v0.10.5)
  compose*    Docker Compose (Docker Inc., v2.18.1)
  container   Manage containers
  context     Manage contexts
  image       Manage images
...

Step 8 – How To Work with Docker Images on Debian12?

The Docker Image is a portable file that contains a set of instructions that specify which software components the Container should run and how to run it.

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.

You can check that you have access and download images from Docker Hub with the following command:

docker run hello-world

Your output should look like this:

Output
Unable to find image 'hello-world:latest' locally
latest: Pulling from library/hello-world
719385e32844: Pull complete
Digest: sha256:a13ec89cdf897b3e551bd9f89d499db6ff3a7f44c5b9eb8bca40da20eb4ea1fa
Status: Downloaded newer image for hello-world:latest

Hello from Docker!
This message shows that your installation appears to be working correctly.
...

Search for available Docker Images

Also, you can search for the available images on the Docker hub with the search subcommand.

For example, search for the Debian image with the following command:

docker search debian

In your output, you will see a listing of images that you have searched.

Output
NAME                                  DESCRIPTION                                     STARS     OFFICIAL   AUTOMATED
ubuntu                                Ubuntu is a Debian-based Linux operating sys…   16114     [OK]
debian                                Debian is a Linux distribution that's compos…   4706      [OK]
neurodebian                           NeuroDebian provides neuroscience research s…   100       [OK]
bitnami/debian-base-buildpack         Debian base compilation image                   2                    [OK]
kasmweb/debian-bullseye-desktop       Debian Bullseye desktop for Kasm Workspaces     0
mirantis/debian-build-ubuntu-xenial                                            
...

Download a Docker Image

Here you can download the official Debian image with the following command:

docker pull debian

Your output should be similar to this:

Output
Using default tag: latest
latest: Pulling from library/debian
bba7bb10d5ba: Pull complete
Digest: sha256:d568e251e460295a8743e9d5ef7de673c5a8f9027db11f4e666e96fb5bed708e
Status: Downloaded newer image for debian:latest
docker.io/library/debian:latest

List Downloaded Docker Images

To see what images you have downloaded to your system run the following command:

docker images

In your output, you will see something similar to this:

Output
REPOSITORY    TAG       IMAGE ID       CREATED       SIZE
debian        latest    49081a1edb0b   2 weeks ago   116MB
hello-world   latest    9c7a54a9a43c   8 weeks ago   13.3kB

Step 9 – How to Run a Docker Container on Debian 12?

Containers can be the best replacement for virtual machines. Containers separate the executive environments and share the operation system’s core.

For example, run the container using the latest image of Debian. To do this run the following command:

docker run -it debian

Note: -it switches and gives you interactive shell access into the container.

You would see this form in your output:

Output
root@70c3b825b259:/#

Important note: Remember the container ID. Here the container ID is 70c3b825b259.

Now you can run any command in your container without sudo because you execute commands in the container as a root user.

Update the packages inside the container with the following command:

root@70c3b825b259:/# apt update

Now you can install any application that you want. For example, we install Apache:

root@70c3b825b259:/# apt install apache2

When the installation of Apache is finished, verify that Apache is installed with the following command:

root@70c3b825b259:/# apache2 -v

Output
Server version: Apache/2.4.57 (Debian)
Server built:   2023-04-13T03:26:51

Note: Any changes you make inside the container only apply to that container.

To exit the container type exit:

root@70c3b825b259:/# exit

List Active Docker Containers

To view active containers run the following command:

docker ps

Output
CONTAINER ID   IMAGE     COMMAND   CREATED   STATUS    PORTS     NAMES

You have started two containers in this article. But they are not activated.

To see all containers both active and inactive run the following command:

docker ps -a

Output
CONTAINER ID   IMAGE         COMMAND    CREATED          STATUS                            PORTS     NAMES
70c3b825b259   debian        "bash"     3 minutes ago    Exited (130) About a minute ago             boring_goodall
11b7515a7b34   hello-world   "/hello"   10 minutes ago   Exited (0) 10 minutes ago                   sweet_elbakyan

Also, you can see the latest container that you have created with the following command:

docker ps -l

Output
CONTAINER ID   IMAGE     COMMAND   CREATED         STATUS                            PORTS     NAMES
70c3b825b259   debian    "bash"    4 minutes ago   Exited (130) About a minute ago             boring_goodall

Manage Docker Containers

You can start and stop a container with the container ID or the container’s name.

Here we start the Debian-based container with the ID:

docker start 70c3b825b259

Now you can check the status to see if your container is active:

docker ps

Output
CONTAINER ID   IMAGE     COMMAND   CREATED         STATUS         PORTS     NAMES
70c3b825b259   debian    "bash"    5 minutes ago   Up 9 seconds             boring_goodall

Here you can stop the container. Now we use the container’s name to stop it:

docker stop boring_goodall

Also, you can remove a container with the container ID or the container’s name. For example, remove the hello-world container with its name by the following command:

docker rm sweet_elbakyan

Containers can be turned into images that you can use to build new containers.

Let’s see how it works.

Step 10 – How To Make Docker Containers to Docker Images?

After installing Apache inside the Debian container on Debian 12, 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 use this Apache container again as the basis for new images later.

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:

docker commit -m "install Apache" -a "olivia" 70c3b825b259 olivia/debian-apache

Now your new image is saved on your system.

List the docker images with the following command:

docker images

In your output you will see the new image:

Output
REPOSITORY             TAG       IMAGE ID       CREATED          SIZE
olivia/debian-apache   latest    118327ea7c75   10 seconds ago   252MB
debian                 latest    49081a1edb0b   2 weeks ago      116MB
hello-world            latest    9c7a54a9a43c   8 weeks ago      13.3kB

Note: The size difference reflects the changes that were made.

At this point, you can share the new image with others so they can create containers from it.

After you create a new image from an existing image on Debian 12 you can share it with others on Docker Hub or other Docker repositories that you have access to.

First, you need to create an account on Docker Hub.

Then log in to your Docker Hub to push your image with the following command:

docker login -u docker-registry-username

You will be asked to enter your Docker Hub password.

Note: If your Docker registry username is different from the local username you used to create the image, you will have to tag your image with your registry username.

For example:

docker tag olivia/debian-apache docker-registry-username/debian-apache

Then push your own image with the following command:

docker push docker-registry-username/docker-image-name

The process may take some time to complete as it uploads the images.

After pushing an image to a registry, it should be listed on your account’s dashboard.

Note: If a push attempt results in an error, Log in again and repeat the push attempt. Then verify that it exists on your Docker Hub repository page.

Conclusion

At This point, you have learned to Install Docker CE on Debian 12 Bookworm. Also, you have learned to work with Docker images, and Docker containers, manage containers, and how to make docker containers into images and share them on a Docker repository.

Hope you enjoy it. You may be interested in these articles too:

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