Docker

✍️ Published on ( min read)

Tips

When using alpine as the base image in a Dockerfile, remember you won't be able to use Debian commands like sudo apt-install
'docker-compose up' builds and runs the app, but might need to rebuild if you've made changes to the dockerfile
Remember 'Docker' runs in an isolated environment and has no additional apps installed unless specified (like chromium for example).

Common commands

List all containers :
```
docker container ls -a
```
List all volumes:
```
docker volume ls
```
Clear all unused images, containers, etc
```
docker system prune
```

Delete all volumes using:

docker volume rm $(docker volume ls -q)

similar for containers

Dockerfile and docker-compose

Dockerfile specifies the actual image whereas docker-compose will help run multiple docker images using docker-compose up

Alternatively, you can run the docker image directly by using something like docker run --publish 8080:8080 <container-id>

Doing a clean restart for a docker instance

Warning: This will wipe out any existing data inside volumes.

Stop the containers using the following command:
```
docker-compose down
```
Delete all containers using the following command:
```
docker rm -f $(docker ps -a -q)
```
Delete all volumes using the following command:
```
docker volume rm $(docker volume ls -q)
```
Restart the containers using the following command:
```
docker-compose up -d
```

Use alpine where possible

Alpine ( https://hub.docker.com/_/alpine ) is a tiny Linux distribution ideal for dockerizing/productionizing your applications. This is great for languages like NodeJS.

However, I've had my own gotcha moment with alpine when trying to run a compiled Rust binary in an Alpine container after multi-stage builds. Sounds good on paper, but there's more to it, you would need some low-level wizardry and expertise to make a typical binary run on Alpine container (it's small for a reason) using, and even if you could get it to run, it wouldn't be worth it as it will be negatively impacting performance. More on this: https://andygrove.io/2020/05/why-musl-extremely-slow/