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Lina Rudashevski
Lina Rudashevski

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10 docker-compose and docker commands that are useful for active development

Sure you might need other ones but I've found over time that these are the only ones I need or use on a regular basis, and I use Docker and docker-compose regularly for various projects.

1. terminal into the docker container

docker exec -it :container_id bash

You may need to terminal into a container to do things like run tests or apply migrations.

[13:54:41] (master) selfies
🙋 docker ps
CONTAINER ID        IMAGE                  COMMAND                  CREATED             STATUS              PORTS                    NAMES
b5e87b73f6f6        selfies_web            "python manage.py ru…"   2 seconds ago       Up 1 second         0.0.0.0:8000->8000/tcp   selfies_web_1
d8e636ad4805        postgres:10.1-alpine   "docker-entrypoint.s…"   3 seconds ago       Up 2 seconds        0.0.0.0:5432->5432/tcp   selfies_db_1
aeb5cba5a482        redis:latest           "docker-entrypoint.s…"   3 seconds ago       Up 2 seconds        6379/tcp                 selfies_redis_1
[13:54:43] (master) selfies
🙋 docker exec -it b5e87b73f6f6 bash
root@b5e87b73f6f6:/selfies# python manage.py makemigrations
No changes detected
root@b5e87b73f6f6:/selfies# 

2. run the docker container in debug mode

docker-compose run --service-ports web

If you want to debug your server, this command will let you do it. Otherwise you may get an error if you put a debugger in your code.

[13:56:59] (master) selfies
🙋 docker-compose run --service-ports web
Creating network "selfies_default" with the default driver
Creating selfies_redis_1 ... done
Creating selfies_db_1    ... done
Performing system checks...

System check identified no issues (0 silenced).
July 24, 2019 - 17:57:11
Django version 2.1.7, using settings 'selfies.settings'
Starting ASGI/Channels version 2.2.0 development server at http://0.0.0.0:8000/
Quit the server with CONTROL-C.
Performing system checks...

System check identified no issues (0 silenced).
July 24, 2019 - 18:12:29
Django version 2.1.7, using settings 'selfies.settings'
Starting ASGI/Channels version 2.2.0 development server at http://0.0.0.0:8000/
Quit the server with CONTROL-C.
HTTP OPTIONS /app/users/ 200 [0.01, 172.25.0.1:60046]
> /selfies/app/views/account_views.py(48)post()
-> try:
(Pdb) 

3. build the docker container

docker-compose build

This runs everything in the Dockerfile. I usually run this the first time to build the project, and after that only if I add dependencies to my requirements.txt file or change anything within my Dockerfile.

[18:59:42] (master) selfies
// ♥ docker-compose build
db uses an image, skipping
redis uses an image, skipping
Building web
Step 1/7 : FROM python:3.6-stretch
 ---> 9167692c277e
Step 2/7 : ENV PYTHONUNBUFFERED 1
 ---> Using cache
 ---> 0533dfe1c141
Step 3/7 : ENV REDIS_HOST "redis"
 ---> Using cache
 ---> c01adb015773
Step 4/7 : RUN mkdir /selfies
 ---> Using cache
 ---> e60377d4e9ee
Step 5/7 : WORKDIR /selfies
 ---> Using cache
 ---> 9018fb3984b0
Step 6/7 : ADD . /selfies/
 ---> Using cache
 ---> 8c6d291d99a7
Step 7/7 : RUN pip install -r requirements.txt
 ---> Using cache
 ---> 7caa2f3bf2ac
Successfully built 7caa2f3bf2ac
Successfully tagged selfies_web:latest

4. start the docker container

docker-compose up

This will run your container/s in the terminal and will show the server output

[13:39:32] (master) selfies
🙋 docker-compose up
Creating network "selfies_default" with the default driver
Creating selfies_redis_1 ... done
Creating selfies_db_1    ... done
Creating selfies_web_1   ... done
Attaching to selfies_db_1, selfies_redis_1, selfies_web_1
db_1     | 2019-07-24 17:40:36.069 UTC [1] LOG:  listening on IPv4 address "0.0.0.0", port 5432
db_1     | 2019-07-24 17:40:36.069 UTC [1] LOG:  listening on IPv6 address "::", port 5432
redis_1  | 1:C 24 Jul 2019 17:40:36.085 # oO0OoO0OoO0Oo Redis is starting oO0OoO0OoO0Oo
redis_1  | 1:C 24 Jul 2019 17:40:36.085 # Redis version=5.0.5, bits=64, commit=00000000, modified=0, pid=1, just started
redis_1  | 1:C 24 Jul 2019 17:40:36.085 # Warning: no config file specified, using the default config. In order to specify a config file use redis-server /path/to/redis.conf
redis_1  | 1:M 24 Jul 2019 17:40:36.086 * Running mode=standalone, port=6379.
redis_1  | 1:M 24 Jul 2019 17:40:36.086 # WARNING: The TCP backlog setting of 511 cannot be enforced because /proc/sys/net/core/somaxconn is set to the lower value of 128.
redis_1  | 1:M 24 Jul 2019 17:40:36.086 # Server initialized
redis_1  | 1:M 24 Jul 2019 17:40:36.086 # WARNING you have Transparent Huge Pages (THP) support enabled in your kernel. This will create latency and memory usage issues with Redis. To fix this issue run the command 'echo never > /sys/kernel/mm/transparent_hugepage/enabled' as root, and add it to your /etc/rc.local in order to retain the setting after a reboot. Redis must be restarted after THP is disabled.
redis_1  | 1:M 24 Jul 2019 17:40:36.086 * Ready to accept connections
db_1     | 2019-07-24 17:40:36.072 UTC [1] LOG:  listening on Unix socket "/var/run/postgresql/.s.PGSQL.5432"
db_1     | 2019-07-24 17:40:36.086 UTC [18] LOG:  database system was shut down at 2019-07-24 17:39:28 UTC
db_1     | 2019-07-24 17:40:36.090 UTC [1] LOG:  database system is ready to accept connections
web_1    | Performing system checks...
web_1    | 
web_1    | System check identified no issues (0 silenced).
web_1    | July 24, 2019 - 17:40:38
web_1    | Django version 2.1.7, using settings 'selfies.settings'
web_1    | Starting ASGI/Channels version 2.2.0 development server at http://0.0.0.0:8000/
web_1    | Quit the server with CONTROL-C.

5. start the docker container in the background

docker-compose up -d

This will run the container but in the background so you can continue to type in the terminal. I usually run it this way if I don't really need to see what the server is returning.

[13:31:03] (master) selfies
🙋 docker-compose up -d
Creating network "selfies_default" with the default driver
Creating selfies_db_1    ... done
Creating selfies_redis_1 ... done
Creating selfies_web_1   ... done

6. see all of the docker containers currently running

List of active docker containers which is useful for the CONTAINER ID and to know what you have running.

docker ps

[13:31:10] (master) selfies
🙋 docker ps
CONTAINER ID        IMAGE                  COMMAND                  CREATED             STATUS              PORTS                    NAMES
a2b93a900c36        selfies_web            "python manage.py ru…"   2 seconds ago       Up 1 second         0.0.0.0:8000->8000/tcp   selfies_web_1
2d39a1161aa2        postgres:10.1-alpine   "docker-entrypoint.s…"   4 seconds ago       Up 2 seconds        0.0.0.0:5432->5432/tcp   selfies_db_1
62a6f364860e        redis:latest           "docker-entrypoint.s…"   4 seconds ago       Up 2 seconds        6379/tcp                 selfies_redis_1

7. remove all docker containers in the repository

docker-compose down

I almost always follow this command with docker ps to make sure the containers were successfully removed, out of habit.

[13:37:20] (master) selfies
🙋 docker-compose down
Stopping selfies_web_1   ... done
Stopping selfies_db_1    ... done
Stopping selfies_redis_1 ... done
Removing selfies_web_1   ... done
Removing selfies_db_1    ... done
Removing selfies_redis_1 ... done
Removing network selfies_default

8. remove a specific docker container

docker kill :container_id

The container id is the leftmost column when doing docker ps. I sometimes do this if I need to remove a specific container that I'm not using.

[13:51:43] (master) selfies
🙋 docker ps
CONTAINER ID        IMAGE                  COMMAND                  CREATED             STATUS              PORTS                    NAMES
274b1605ca94        selfies_web            "python manage.py ru…"   11 minutes ago      Up 1 second         0.0.0.0:8000->8000/tcp   selfies_web_1
a641f449edfc        postgres:10.1-alpine   "docker-entrypoint.s…"   11 minutes ago      Up 2 seconds        0.0.0.0:5432->5432/tcp   selfies_db_1
61b08693e242        redis:latest           "docker-entrypoint.s…"   11 minutes ago      Up 2 seconds        6379/tcp                 selfies_redis_1
[13:51:44] (master) selfies
🙋 docker kill 274b1605ca94
274b1605ca94

9. view all of the docker images

You can see all your builds by running this. For me these are either official "images" like redis or python or old builds of my projects. I only occasionally use this, it's not really a part of my daily development.

docker images

[18:28:17] (master) selfies
// ♥ docker images
REPOSITORY                       TAG                 IMAGE ID            CREATED             SIZE
selfies_web                      latest              4869d063569e        7 days ago          1.32GB
python                           3.6-stretch         9167692c277e        11 days ago         936MB
redis                            latest              598a6f110d01        12 days ago         118MB
<none>                           <none>              9c4676224e86        2 months ago        1e+03MB
<none>                           <none>              6c925f68c3a9        2 months ago        929MB
<none>                           <none>              b44ef8ff52f4        2 months ago        929MB
<none>                           <none>              903b976cd478        2 months ago        1.47GB
<none>                           <none>              f7009c6f0868        2 months ago        1.49GB
<none>                           <none>              52750c0c3926        2 months ago        1.48GB
<none>                           <none>              1c509a380925        2 months ago        1.44GB

10. clean out any images, builds, etc., that might be hanging

docker system prune

I only occasionally use this, it's not really a part of my daily development.

[18:18:35] (master) selfies
// ♥ docker system prune
WARNING! This will remove:
        - all stopped containers
        - all networks not used by at least one container
        - all dangling images
        - all build cache
Are you sure you want to continue? [y/N] y
Deleted Containers:
1f570bbf6828dadfdaa97655165943fd0b93ce6c185df2531f61a82982ec24f2
40f79091bc943c86f5f3ab7bc9d484ac9b576effc686a8a0fdb0031a465b16b4
f3399b0cd4f8c30159b15e1a2027aadeeaf9006efa4b759e4e3586d4589a0004
e0d18cddd40241de3d3b03d695afe667819c884a12fd36465c4c6d584df5aaa6
b7757cef15b49ecfe58ac6a8de3f8fcae91c71d793b7942955ccaf7c266bff92
a8fc94cd1af14f27b0ae22c1728b33fc8cef4090aa7deef1c2549c33755ed114
4de12efd1f88b9ee3541049c9b6fb3df5b1ade3b5787f888f5cf05f2e02c3cec
21d97261412949c06a4fcfb9846a6dee22f92e6a928cd6fb715ee81924917d43
073ca414e8c79e593c82f46f565adbae92a159994699dbbd0fb9df8044b3b1bb
b62f36a4a182479d25c2251e8d90fb7d2b612f31a03e943e83882ab436981879
456510a02d7ad5137dcb907484b2c8d9e07f51946be1103d294e4e253bc0e664
effee0d0a9afa74825f8f820bd363ebe1b7b54948aed38d57e84342482c367fd
5d930ece03ed8a2c2cb9178b81c9b42ef4c7397ef90d29b040ed3b1220f8ba27
a6ccf4f68831a19ab7381354f5643f3afd94cfbe0d066ff9ce4b248b90139a63
1a65f709f9b9c7d9749a04e88d3c4d18539a495160e143337c25025b10f9b24c
e98fbb022cb920dd4550751fdb735c1f73ae1dd6a049b9855bd77db1a2cbb3d1
18cb48bcb6428d4a9d5ca2f4b9c0a2fbedb3ef98c1d1fe6788029d7abea8efe9
97d0ee4625df7d107bc543318b1b45701f17720c41c7bb9614183e2cca0e26c7
5fafd4e2df31a0b84657ce1a0450c9cc8d8caa56ede9b10cddbfa6b6f55f6b50
212dae9eab339a84817b590cceb345d66290fa7f0fd7e347bffda322eb60400e
14cdd7e40ca412e1b091ddf640513ecf3f5f8bfd51cbc826e59b4901b1a0e213
ceeeb46b3aa52660a7080949543654e6436b0c050c865ef6cbed83f43bba8cc3
6c96d28cffed031a8bdd836670401b74eb52fa8f03c1dca83b73b8d0ba8530ec
9c89d36c6ee1f8fbc9d0c542d14d6d5b924817abf47a656941062eed95e607f6
58d212388ac7f15468306e306977661169e8aacdeeaba2fea4fc9cf7ebbb9e46
71963edbfe38d4578ba1338a0d03ed94f81664b202f969acf72d38ceeded5fed
4838aa870e8962e6a1c8c0e679dad8d25f5ad08824bfd45df150d148ae7097ba
abab59a1cd1fcf0a14e1d8f45d03f1787b218233a118af59f604ad890cc64dc1
5375b62e20d2660f8347f5f7355122f9fb528a1b603b1e58ceb7d7b811740410
29d7238e6d81f522f8c98b4d2e478bb304aec7a00892b8339bf1b4a0483e7040

Deleted Networks:
selfiesh_default

Top comments (18)

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simlu profile image
Lukas Siemon

I would like to throw this one in:

docker run -u`id -u`:`id -g` -v $(pwd):/user/project -v ~/.aws:/user/.aws -v ~/.npmrc:/user/.npmrc -w /user/project -it --entrypoint /bin/bash circleci/node:12

Great if you need to run a bash shell in the current directory with e.g. Node 12. Replace docker image as needed.

This also links the aws and npm config into the docker container. Adjust config link through as needed.

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aduranil profile image
Lina Rudashevski

nice! tks for sharing this

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moonsmile profile image
Nguyễn Minh Tuấn

so cool <3

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dploeger profile image
Dennis Ploeger

Additionally,

docker system prune --volumes

will also remove old volumes, that aren't connected to any currently running container. However, be cautious as this might lead to data loss.

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aduranil profile image
Lina Rudashevski

nice! tks for sharing this!

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sairoko12 profile image
Cristian Benavides Jimenez • Edited

Another powerful commands

Stop and clean up your docker-compose services (because yolo):

docker-compose down -v --rmi all

Build and start services in single line:

docker-compose up --build

Build and start in background:

docker-compose up -d --build

Run command with docker-compose:

# docker-compose exec [service_name] [command]
docker-compose exec django python manage.py shell

See the logs an specific service

docker-compose logs -f [service_name]

Enjoy!

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oreynaldocl profile image
Oscar Callisaya

Good commands, for log I like to add --tail in order to avoid to see only last X logs
docker-compose logs -f --tail [number] [service_name]

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flexdinesh profile image
Dinesh Pandiyan

This is an excellent list and very helpful. Thanks Lina.

I will also add one more of my frequent commands to the list.

docker-compose up --build

This brings the container up and builds if there are changes. This is a shorthand for docker-compose build and docker-compose up together. Comes in handy when you're making changes to your compose file.

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aduranil profile image
Lina Rudashevski

nice one! tks

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jillesvangurp profile image
Jilles van Gurp • Edited

I came across something called lazydocker a few weeks. It's a command line ui for managing docker and docker-compose. Very handy for managing your local containers.

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aduranil profile image
Lina Rudashevski

very interesting, thanks for sharing!

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rzulty profile image
Piotr Grzegorzewski

It's a great list. I use some of them.

As for the tool with UI to manage/monitor docker images and containers, I use Portainer :)

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aduranil profile image
Lina Rudashevski

thank you! :)

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aduranil profile image
Lina Rudashevski

helpful - thank you so much!

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taragrg6 profile image
taragurung

Though, I have used docker for more than couple of years. I was not aware of the second one. Thanks for sharing

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aduranil profile image
Lina Rudashevski

i’m glad it was helpful!

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lewiskori profile image
Lewis kori

Great write up!

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aduranil profile image
Lina Rudashevski

thank you! :)