docker-management

Docker Management

Manage Docker containers, images, volumes, networks, and Compose stacks using standard Docker CLI commands. No additional dependencies beyond Docker itself.

When to Use

• Run, stop, restart, remove, or inspect containers
• Build, pull, push, tag, or clean up Docker images
• Work with Docker Compose (multi-service stacks)
• Manage volumes or networks
• Debug a crashing container or analyze logs
• Check Docker disk usage or free up space
• Review or optimize a Dockerfile

Prerequisites

• Docker Engine installed and running
• User added to the docker group (or use sudo)
• Docker Compose v2 (included with modern Docker installations)

Quick check:

docker --version && docker compose version

Quick Reference

Task	Command
Run container (background)	docker run -d --name NAME IMAGE
Stop + remove	docker stop NAME && docker rm NAME
View logs (follow)	docker logs --tail 50 -f NAME
Shell into container	docker exec -it NAME /bin/sh
List all containers	docker ps -a
Build image	docker build -t TAG .
Compose up	docker compose up -d
Compose down	docker compose down
Disk usage	docker system df
Cleanup dangling	docker image prune && docker container prune

Procedure

1. Identify the domain

Figure out which area the request falls into:

• Container lifecycle → run, stop, start, restart, rm, pause/unpause
• Container interaction → exec, cp, logs, inspect, stats
• Image management → build, pull, push, tag, rmi, save/load
• Docker Compose → up, down, ps, logs, exec, build, config
• Volumes & networks → create, inspect, rm, prune, connect
• Troubleshooting → log analysis, exit codes, resource issues

2. Container operations

Run a new container:

# Detached service with port mapping
docker run -d --name web -p 8080:80 nginx

# With environment variables
docker run -d -e POSTGRES_PASSWORD=secret -e POSTGRES_DB=mydb --name db postgres:16

# With persistent data (named volume)
docker run -d -v pgdata:/var/lib/postgresql/data --name db postgres:16

# For development (bind mount source code)
docker run -d -v $(pwd)/src:/app/src -p 3000:3000 --name dev my-app

# Interactive debugging (auto-remove on exit)
docker run -it --rm ubuntu:22.04 /bin/bash

# With resource limits and restart policy
docker run -d --memory=512m --cpus=1.5 --restart=unless-stopped --name app my-app