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Installation and Configuration of Docker

To start working with Docker, it is essential to perform a proper installation and configure it correctly on the operating system. This chapter provides a step-by-step guide to installing Docker on different platforms and verifying that it is ready to run containers.

Installing Docker on Different Operating Systems

This image shows the Docker Desktop interface This image shows the Docker Desktop interface

Installation on Windows

To install Docker on Windows, Docker Desktop is the recommended option. Docker Desktop provides a graphical interface and allows working with Docker on Windows 10 or higher systems.

Download Docker Desktop from Docker's official website.
Run the installer and follow the on-screen instructions.
Once the installation is complete, start Docker Desktop.

Installation on macOS

On macOS, Docker is also installed using Docker Desktop, which provides a simple environment for managing containers.

Download Docker Desktop for macOS from Docker's official website.
Run the downloaded file and drag Docker to the Applications folder.
Open Docker from the Applications folder and accept the terms of use.

Installation on Linux

For Linux, the Docker installation varies slightly between distributions. Below is the installation on Ubuntu as an example.

bash

"This set of commands installs Docker on an Ubuntu system. It first updates the package list with sudo apt-get update, then installs Docker with sudo apt-get install -y docker.io, and finally enables the service to start automatically with systemctl start docker and systemctl enable docker."

For other Linux-based systems, check Docker's official documentation, which provides detailed instructions.

Installation Verification

After installation, it is important to verify that Docker is correctly configured and working. The following command allows us to check if Docker runs smoothly:

bash

"The command docker space dash dash version displays the installed Docker version on the system. It is useful to confirm that the installation was successful."

If the command shows the Docker version, it means the installation was successful.

Initial Docker Configuration

Docker can be customized to meet different needs, especially in a development or production environment. Below are some basic configurations that can be useful.

Permissions Configuration

On Linux systems, users need superuser permissions to run Docker commands. To avoid using sudo for every command, the current user can be added to the docker group:

bash

"The command sudo usermod dash a G docker current user adds the user to the docker group, allowing commands to be executed without needing sudo."

It's important to log out and back in to apply the changes.

Docker Daemon File Configuration

The Docker Daemon configuration file (daemon.json) allows configuring advanced options such as resource limiting and proxy settings. On Linux systems, the file is usually located at /etc/docker/daemon.json.

Example of configuration to set resource limits:

json

"In this example of the daemon.json file, default resource limits are set, specifically the open file limit with nofile. The hard and soft limits are set to sixty-four thousand."

After making changes to the configuration file, it is necessary to restart Docker for the changes to take effect:

bash

"To apply changes to Docker's configuration, the command sudo systemctl restart docker restarts the Docker service."

Getting Started with Docker

Once Docker is installed and configured, it is useful to try some basic commands to get familiar with the tool.

Run a Test Container

The docker run command allows running a container from an image. For a quick test, we can use the hello-world image, which is designed to verify that Docker is working correctly.

bash

"This command runs a container using the hello dash world image, displaying a welcome message to confirm that Docker is working properly."

This command downloads the hello-world image from Docker Hub (if not already available on the system) and runs a container that prints a confirmation message.

Conclusion

The installation and configuration of Docker is the first step to harnessing the power of containerization in the development and deployment of applications. With Docker ready to use, we are prepared to explore how to create and manage our own images and containers in the next chapter.

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