My Top 3 Uses for "Docker Info"

The very first day I started using Docker I used docker info to verify the server was installed correctly on my Mac, and never used it again! 😅

But sometimes it's good to have this simple command in your toolbox to get information quickly. Here are my top 3 uses for docker info:

1. To verify "if" and "which" docker engine is running

It's obvious, I know, but docker info can tell you in the simplest way that the Docker daemon is alive and kicking and that its API is responding correctly.

It's also a quick way to check what Docker version you're running on

❯ docker info | head
Client:
 Debug Mode: false

Server:
 Containers: 29
  Running: 22
  Paused: 0
  Stopped: 7
 Images: 58
 Server Version: 19.03.12

2. System resources limit: CPU & Memory

Are your containers running slowly or not starting at all? Check if your Docker daemon is running with CPU or Memory limits!

❯ docker info | grep -e CPU -e Memory
 CPUs: 2
 Total Memory: 1.945GiB

3. Check engine's proxy settings

If you run Docker in a corporate network, is very common that you need to connect to the internet via a proxy server. If you get connection timeouts it's likely that you don't have the right settings.

❯ docker info | grep -e Proxy
 HTTP Proxy: http://proxy.mycompany.com:3128
 HTTPS Proxy: http://proxy.mycompany.com:3128
 No Proxy: localhost,127.0.0.1

Did you know...

you can print the full list of information in JSON format with this command?

# Using "| jq" to prettify the json output, though not mandatory
❯ docker info -f '{{json .}}' | jq

Do you use docker info often?

Tell me how in the comments!

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