Docker is a container-based software framework for automating deployment of applications. “Containers” are encapsulated, lightweight, and portable application modules. The major (intended) benefit of using a container is that your application will run consistently on and between any server, be it cloud or dedicated, or of varying operating systems.
Add the EPEL Repository
Docker is part of Extra Packages for Enterprise Linux (EPEL), which is a community repository of non-standard packages for the RHEL distribution. First, we’ll install the EPEL repository:
rpm -iUvh http://dl.fedoraproject.org/pub/epel/6/x86_64/epel-release-6-8.noarch.rpm
Then, as a matter of best practice, we’ll update our packages:
yum update -y
Installation
Now let’s install Docker by installing the docker-io package:
yum -y install docker-io
Once the installation completes, we’ll need to start the Docker daemon:
service docker start
And finally, and optionally, let’s configure Docker to start when the server boots:
chkconfig docker on
Download a Docker Container
Let’s begin using Docker! Download the fedora Docker image:
docker pull fedora
Run a Docker Container
Now, to setup a basic fedora container with a bash shell, we just run one command. docker run will run a command in a new container, -i attaches stdin and stdout, -t allocates a tty, and we’re using the standard fedora container.
docker run -i -t fedora /bin/bash
That’s it! You’re now using a bash shell inside of a fedora docker container.
To disconnect, or detach, from the shell without exiting use the escape sequence Ctrl-p + Ctrl-q.
There are many community containers already available, which can be found through a search. In the command below I am searching for the keyword centos:
docker search centos
