Running docker command from docker container - docker

Need to write a Dockerfile that installs docker in container-a. Because container-a needs to execute a docker command to container-b that's running alongside container-a.
My understanding is you're not supposed to use "sudo" when writing the Dockerfile.
But I'm getting stuck -- what user to I assign to docker group? When you run docker exec -it, you are automatically root.
sudo usermod -a -G docker whatuser?
Also (and I'm trying this out manually inside container-a to see if it even works) you have to do a newgrp docker to activate the changes to groups. Anytime I do that, I end up sudo'ing when I haven't sudo'ed. Does that make sense? The symptom is -- I go to exit the container, and I have to exit twice (as if I changed users).
What am I doing wrong?

If you are trying to run the containers alongside one another (not container inside container), you should mount the docker socket from the host system and execute commands to other containers that way:
docker run --name containera \
-v /var/run/docker.sock:/var/run/docker.sock \
yourimage
With the the docker socket mounted you can control docker on the host system.

Related

how to copy files from one docker service to another, inside of docker bash

I am trying to copy a file from one docker-compose service to another while in the service's bash environment, but I cannot seem to figure out how to do it.
Can anybody provide me with an idea?
Here is the command I am attempting to run:
(docker cp ../db_backups/latest.sqlc pgadmin_1:/var/lib/pgadmin/storage/mine/)
The error is simply:
bash: docker: command not found
There's no way to do that by default. There are a few things you could do to enable that behavior.
The easiest solution is just to run docker cp on the host (docker cp from the first container to the host, then docker cp from the host to the second container).
If it all has to be done inside the container, the next easiest solution is probably to use a shared volume:
docker run -v shared:/shared --name containerA ...
docker run -v shared:/shared --name containerB ...
Then in containerA you can cp ../db_backups/latest.sqlc /shared, and in containerB you can cp /shared/latest.sqlc /var/lib/pgadmin/storage/mine.
This is a nice solution because it doesn't require installing anything inside the container.
Alternately, you could:
Install the docker CLI inside each container, and mount the Docker socket inside each container. This would let you run your docker cp command, but it gives anything inside the container complete control of your host (because access to docker == root access).
Run sshd in the target container, set up the necessary keys, and then use scp to copy things from the first container to the second container.

How to develop within docker image

I started to experiment with the docker but have some questions regarding how to develop on it and regarding its use cases. If anyone could guide me through these questions, it will be much appreciated.
First,
As far as I understood, docker is used mainly for developing applications on custom environments, thus avoiding the tidious installation processes. This is initially my intention, why I'd like to use docker for.
I've created a docker file which builds successfuly, and which has basic C++ development tools based upon library/gcc. I want to be able to develop in this docker container as you would do on your terminal.
What I did is I created a docker image from a Dockerfile. (I can observe that it is successfully created)
docker build -t mydockerimage .
Then run the docker in detached mode.
docker run -d mydockerimage
At this point, I am notified with the ID of the docker container. However docker container does not seem to be running when I check the output of:
docker container ls
Here comes the first question, why is my docker container not running?
To my understanding, simplest way to interact with the docker container is as follows:
docker exec -it <container_id_or_name> echo "Hello from container!"
Is this true? Is this a use case of docker in which I simply can start the container and exec some Linux command on it?
Moreover, I get a permission denied on /var/lib/docker.sock when I try to execute docker commands without sudo. What am I missing here?
Thank you in advance.
Do you provide an entrypoint or CMD in your dockerfile? This will be executed inside your container and keeps the container running. You can find some details here.
In short. Docker has a default entrypoint: /bin/sh -c, but no default CMD.
Check the dockerfile of ubuntu. This has bash as CMD so it's executing /bin/sh -c bash.
$ docker run -it ubuntu bash
root#9855e779cab2:/#
This will result in an interactive shell in which you can execute commands like on an ubuntu. If you exit the container the container will stop running.
To keep a container running you can use the -d option. It will run the container in the background as a daemon:
$ docker run -d -it ubuntu bash
2606ad8e095baa0237cc30e599a26a4d727d99d47392d779fb83cd50f1a39614
$ docker ps
CONTAINER ID IMAGE COMMAND CREATED STATUS PORTS NAMES
2606ad8e095b ubuntu "bash" 18 seconds ago Up 17 seconds cranky_johnson
Now you can exec inside the container to "go inside" the container and execute ubuntu commands.
$ docker exec -it 2606ad8e095b bash
root#2606ad8e095b:/#
When you exit the container it remains running in the background.
Now we can execute your command too:
$ docker exec -it 2606ad8e095b echo "Hello from container!"
Hello from container!
This will open a bash session in your container and echo the string.
I think it's important in your case you define some entrypoint (which can also be a script) or a CMD. Probably you need something very similar to Ubuntu when you just want to use bash inside your container.
Moreover, I get a permission denied on /var/lib/docker.sock when I try to execute docker commands without sudo. What am I missing here?
This is normal. The Docker daemon currently requires root privileges. So you have to use docker with your root user or users which have root priviledges and you have to add sudo every time. You can add your user to a docker group. Every time the daemon starts, it makes the ownership of the Unix socket read/writable by the docker group. This means you can use docker without using sudo everytime when that user is inside your docker group.
To add your user to the docker group:
$ sudo groupadd docker
$ sudo usermod -aG docker $USER
$ exit
ssh back or open new shell

How to run postgres commands in a docker container?

I don't want to install postgres locally but as I have it in my docker container, I'd like to be able to run its commands and utils, like pg_dump myschema > schema.sql.
How can I run commands related to running containers inside of them?
docker exec -it <container> <cmd>
e.g.
docker exec -it your-container /bin/bash
There are different options
You can actually copy files to docker using docker cp command. Copy required files to docker and then you can go inside the docker and run the command.
Make some modification in docker file for docker image creation. Its actually really simple to create docker file. Then using EXPOSE option you can expose a port. After that you can use docker run --publish ie.. -p option to publish a container’s port(s) to the host. Then you can access postgres from outside and run scripts from outside by creating connection.
In the first option you need go inside the containers. For that first list running dockers using docker ps command. After that you can use docker exec -it container_name /bin/bash command

Docker container not running after creating with mounted volume

I am trying to use an image that I pulled from the docker database. However I need data from the host to use some programs loaded into the image. I created a container with this
sudo docker run --name="mdrap" -v "/home/ubuntu/profile/reads/SE:/usr/local/src/volume" sigenae/drap
it appears that everything works and then I start the container
sudo docker start mdrap
but when I check the running containers it is not listed there and if I try to load the container into /bin/bash it tells me the container is not running. I am a beginner with docker and am only trying to use an image to run programs with all the required dependencies, what am I doing wrong?
docker start is only to start a stopped container. It's not necessary after a docker run. (but more after a docker **create**, like in the documentation)
A container is started as long as it's main process is running.
As soon as the main process stops, the container stops.
The main process of a container can be either:
the ENTRYPOINT if defined
the CMD if no ENTRYPOINT and no command line argument
the command line argument
In your case, as you don't have any command line argument (after the image name on the docker run command) and the image only defines a CMD (=/bin/bash), your container is trying to start a /bin/bash.
But, as you don't launch the container with the --interactive/-i nor --tty/-t (again like in the documentation), your process as nothing to interact with and stops (idem for each start of this container).
So your solution is simply to follow the documentation:
docker create --name drap --privileged -v /home/ubuntu/profile/reads/SE:/usr/local/src/volume -i -t sigenae/drap /bin/bash
docker start drap
docker exec -i -t drap /bin/bash
Or even simpler:
docker run --name drap --privileged -v /home/ubuntu/profile/reads/SE:/usr/local/src/volume -i -t sigenae/drap /bin/bash

Docker issue commands to an app inside container?

I am using nodeBB to start a server you can run ./nodebb start to stop you can do ./nodebb stop. Now that I have dockerized it http://nodebb-francais.readthedocs.org/projects/nodebb/en/latest/installing/docker/nodebb-redis.html I am not sure how I can interact with it.
I have followed the steps "Using docker-machine mac os x"
docker run --name my-forum-redis -d -p 6379:6379 nodebb/docker:ubuntu-redis
Then
docker run --name my-forum-nodebb --link my-forum-redis:redis -p 80:80 -p 443:443 -p 4567:4567 -P -t -i nodebb/docker:ubuntu
Then
docker start my-forum-nodebb
I had an issue with redis address in use, so I want to fix that and restart but I am not sure how? Also I would like to issue the command grunt in the project directory, again not sure how?
My question is how can I interact with an app inside a docker container as if I had direct access to the project folder itself? Am I missing something?
All code in this answer is untested, as I'm currently at a computer without docker.
See whether the containers are still running
docker ps
Stop misconfigured containers
docker stop my-forum-redis
docker stop my-forum-nodebb
Remove misconfigured containers and their volumes
(The docker images they are based on will be retained.)
docker rm --volumes --force stop my-forum-nodebb
docker rm --volumes --force my-forum-redis
Start again
Then, issue your 3 commands again, now with the correct ports.
Execute arbitrary commands inside container
Also I would like to issue the command grunt in the project directory, again not sure how?
You probably want to do the following after the docker run --name my-forum-nodebb ... command but before docker start my-forum-nodebb.
docker run accepts a command to execute instead of the container's default command. Let's first use this to find out where in the container we'd land:
docker run my-forum-nodebb pwd
If that is the directory where you want to run grunt, just go forward with it:
docker run my-forum-nodebb grunt
If not, you'll have to stuff several commands into a single one. You can do that by invoking a shell:
docker run my-forum-nodebb bash -c 'cd /path/to/project/dir; grunt'
where /path/to/project/dir is to be replaced by where you want to run grunt.

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