Docker
Container platform for building, shipping, and running applications.
When to Use
- •Containerizing applications
- •Development environment consistency
- •Microservices deployment
- •CI/CD pipelines
Quick Start
dockerfile
# Multi-stage build FROM node:20-alpine AS builder WORKDIR /app COPY package*.json ./ RUN npm ci COPY . . RUN npm run build FROM node:20-alpine WORKDIR /app COPY --from=builder /app/dist ./dist COPY --from=builder /app/node_modules ./node_modules USER node EXPOSE 3000 CMD ["node", "dist/server.js"]
Core Concepts
Dockerfile Best Practices
dockerfile
FROM python:3.12-slim
ENV PYTHONDONTWRITEBYTECODE=1 \
PYTHONUNBUFFERED=1
WORKDIR /app
# Install dependencies first (better caching)
COPY requirements.txt .
RUN pip install --no-cache-dir -r requirements.txt
# Create non-root user
RUN adduser --disabled-password appuser
USER appuser
COPY --chown=appuser:appuser . .
EXPOSE 8000
CMD ["gunicorn", "main:app", "-b", "0.0.0.0:8000"]
Docker Compose
yaml
version: "3.9"
services:
app:
build:
context: .
target: development
volumes:
- .:/app
- /app/node_modules
ports:
- "3000:3000"
environment:
- DATABASE_URL=postgresql://postgres:postgres@db:5432/app
depends_on:
db:
condition: service_healthy
db:
image: postgres:16-alpine
volumes:
- postgres_data:/var/lib/postgresql/data
environment:
POSTGRES_PASSWORD: postgres
healthcheck:
test: ["CMD", "pg_isready", "-U", "postgres"]
interval: 5s
timeout: 5s
retries: 5
volumes:
postgres_data:
Common Patterns
Layer Optimization
dockerfile
# Order layers by change frequency
COPY package*.json ./ # Changes less often
RUN npm ci
COPY . . # Changes more often
# Combine RUN commands
RUN apt-get update && \
apt-get install -y --no-install-recommends curl && \
rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/*
Common Commands
bash
# Build docker build -t myapp . docker build --target production -t myapp:prod . # Run docker run -d --name myapp -p 3000:3000 myapp docker run -it --rm myapp sh # Compose docker compose up -d docker compose logs -f app docker compose down -v
Best Practices
Do:
- •Use multi-stage builds
- •Run as non-root user
- •Use specific base image tags
- •Include health checks
Don't:
- •Use
latesttag - •Run as root in production
- •Copy unnecessary files
- •Ignore .dockerignore
Troubleshooting
| Issue | Cause | Solution |
|---|---|---|
| Build slow | No layer caching | Order commands by change frequency |
| Image too large | No multi-stage | Use multi-stage builds |
| Container exits | Process crashes | Check logs, add healthcheck |