Tutorial 1 : Getting started with Docker

Photo by Rubaitul Azad on Unsplash

Pre-requisite : Install Docker in your machine.

Note: I have installed Docker in Windows 10 using Docker Quickstart Terminal.

Run following command in a command prompt to check Docker version after installation :

docker --version

Output :

First let’s get acquainted with the terminologies involved.

What is Docker ?

• software platform to package and deploy application with all it’s dependencies (libraries with specific version like Python 3.9, numpy 1.19.3, etc.)

Why Docker ?

• every application needs installation of all the required dependencies
• installation process depends upon Operating System of machine
• multi-step task so it could go wrong
• Docker is one stop solution for all these issues without having to worry about version mismatch in a machine since it is done in an isolated environment

Steps :

• create a Dockerfile
• Docker image is built from Dockerfile
• running the Docker image creates a Docker container

Dockerfile :

• a text document with all the commands required to create Docker image

Docker image :

• a set of instructions for all the installation of dependencies and other code required for application

Docker container :

• running Docker image

What is Docker Hub ?

• service provided by Docker for finding and sharing Docker images

You will understand these concepts better when we use it in a code.

Pulling the Docker image from Docker Hub :

Run following command in a command prompt :

docker pull hello-world

Output :

Above output clearly shows that docker image is pulled successfully.

Running the Docker image:

Running the Docker image will create docker container :

docker run hello-world

Output :

Running container flashes the message “Hello from Docker” in a command prompt.

Now that you know how to pull and run the Docker image from Docker Hub, how can you find out how many images and containers are there ?

Take a deep breath and move to the next tutorial .