Install Docker on Debian#

Docker Installation#

Download Docker:

sudo apt-get install -y ca-certificates curl && sudo mkdir -p /etc/apt/keyrings && sudo curl -fsSL https://download.docker.com/linux/debian/gpg -o /etc/apt/keyrings/docker.asc && sudo chmod a+r /etc/apt/keyrings/docker.asc && echo "deb [arch=$(dpkg --print-architecture) signed-by=/etc/apt/keyrings/docker.asc] https://download.docker.com/linux/debian $(. /etc/os-release && echo "$VERSION_CODENAME") stable" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/docker.list > /dev/null && sudo apt-get update

Install Docker and Docker Compose:

sudo apt-get install docker-ce docker-ce-cli containerd.io docker-buildx-plugin docker-compose-plugin

Set Docker to start automatically on boot:

sudo systemctl enable docker

(Retrieved from Docker documentation on August 25, 2024)

Add yourself to the Docker group to allow you running Docker commands without needing sudo every time. Replace username with your own:

sudo usermod -aG docker username

Create Docker Application#

Create a folder to keep all your Docker applications organized:

mkdir ~/docker
cd ~/docker

Create application folder inside the docker folder and go into it:

mkdir app1
cd app1

Create docker-compose.yml:

nano docker-compose.yml

Start/Stop Docker Application#

Start Docker container:

docker compose up -d

See a list of running containers defined in docker-compose.yml file in current working directory:

docker compose ps

See all running containers on your server:

docker ps

Stop Docker container:

docker compose down

Delete Docker Application#

Stop Docker container:

docker compose down

Delete volumes:

docker volume ls
docker volume rm <volume_name>

Stop Docker container and remove volumes together:

docker compose down --volumes

A volume is a storage space where your container’s data is stored. If you back up docker-compose.yml and volume, you can restore your Docker container and its data later. If you delete volume, data is lost and container is reset.

Delete Docker image:

docker rmi <repository:tag/image_id>

An image includes the files (HTML, CSS, JavaScript, SQL) and other components your application needs to run.

Finally, delete application folder:

rm -rf app1

WARNING

You can run docker compose down; docker system prune -a --volumes to delete all unused containers, volumes, and images from your server. However, be careful as this command deletes all data that is not actively in use. Ensure your other containers are running before using this command.