I am running an instance of docker, and I would like to save my work - the docs just aren't 100% clear on how to do this, so I'm asking here. I opened the docker instance using:
docker run -it [public dockerhub name]
Now I would like to save all my work locally so that I can come back to it. I don't particularly want to check it into dockerhub, unless that's advisable.
Here's what I have done. I have opened a new docker CLI tab, and done docker ps there to find the ID of the running docker instance. Then in the same tab I tried doing this:
docker commit <docker-id> me/myinstance
This gave me a commit hash.
Can I now safely exit the running docker instance? What command would I use to open it again - do I need to store the commit hash, or can I just do docker run -it me/myinstance?
As the docs mention:
You pull an image from Docker hub
You run that image on a container using docker run <image>
When you make changes to a container, you're not changing the underlying image, so those changes are not persisted if the container is stopped. To persist the changes you've made to the container, you create a new image with docker commit <container_id>
In the example that is on Docker docs:
# What containers are running on my system?
$ docker ps
ID IMAGE COMMAND CREATED
c3f279d17e0a ubuntu:12.04 /bin/bash 7 days ago
197387f1b436 ubuntu:12.04 /bin/bash 7 days ago
# Create a new image called svendowideit/testimage, tag it as "version3"
$ docker commit c3f279d17e0a svendowideit/testimage:version3
f5283438590d
# What images do I have on my system?
$ docker images
REPOSITORY TAG ID
svendowideit/testimage version3 f5283438590d
This way, you have persisted the changes to container c3f279d17e0a, on a new image, called svendowideit/testimage:version3.
Now you have an image with your modification, so you can run it as many times as you want on a container:
$ docker run svendowideit/testimage:version3
Again, containers are stateless. Any change you make inside a container, is lost when that container stops. One way to persist data even after a container exists, is by using volumes. This way your container has access to a directory in the host filesystem, that you can read and write.
Changes made inside a container are not lost when the container exits and containers (container applications) are not stateless unless you have specifically separated the data storage from the application (by mounting folders from the host filesystem or sending data to a database outside of the container).
To see your changes persisted in a container, start the old container (docker start ~) instead of creating a new container (docker run ~).
This is easier to do if you name your containers.
ie.
docker run -it --name containerName imageName
do stuff to your container
docker kill containerName
docker start containerName
You will see that your changes are persisted in that container.
You can also commit your container as an image, which can be pushed to a registry or exported to a file.
Related
I login to ubuntu docker container having name epic_torvalds using docker exec and create a file /tmp/test.log
I then wish to persist this change /tmp/test.log so I do docker commit epic_torvalds newlogimage
Now stopping and starting the containers using docker container rm -f <containerid> for both epic_torvalds & newlogimage shows /tmp/test.log even after restarting the docker daemon.
My expectation was that the changes to the container once committed are saved in the newly created container and do not persist in the base image from which it was created.
Only If I delete the image of epic_torvalds and recreate the old ubuntu image using docker run is when the /tmp/test.log is lost.
Thus, is the changes to a container persisted by default despite restarts without docker commit?
Is there is a feature not to persist changes to the container if that happens to be the default behavior?
i'm trying to start up tomcat on my docker desktop,and i followed the official tomcat tutorial on docker hub.but somehow i found that docker will create a new container everytime after running the command:docker run -it --rm tomcat and delete the container automatically when tomcat shuts down.
i have already known the reason is that run --rm can automatically remove the container when it exits.
now i finally built webs on tomcat,and i don't want them to be vanished.
how can i save my container before it's deleted?
thx! ;D
Based on what I've found on the internet, remove the --rm flag is not possible currently. docker update gives you the ability to update some parameters after you start your container, but you cannot update the cleanup flag (--rm) according to the document.
References:
I started a docker container with --rm Is there an easy way to keep it, without redoing everything?
Cancel --rm option on running docker container
But some workaround can be applied. You can export your current container to an image, act as a checkpoint, then you can start a new container without the --rm flag, and based on the image you exported. You can use docker commit to do so:
docker commit [your container name/id] [repo/name:tag]
(Use docker ps to list your containers, do it in a new bash/cmd/PowerShell session, or you will lose your work when you exit your docker container)
Then start a new container without the --rm flag:
docker run -it [repo/name:tag]
Disclaimer:
In the production environment, you should never change the container by running bash or sh in it. Use Dockerfile and docker build instead. Dockerfile will give you a reproducible configuration even you delete your container. By design, the container should not have any important data (aka not persistent). Use the image and volumes to save your custom changes and configurations.
Is there a way to clone a container and its data into a new one with different starting parameters?
At the moment I'm only able to start a new cloned container (from custom image) WITHOUT the data.
I tell you what I have to do: I started a "docker-jenkins" container with some starting parameters and then configured it, but now I noticed that I forgot some important starting parameters so I wanna restart the same container adding more starting parameters...
The problem is (if I understand well) that I cannot modify the starting parameters of existing running container, so my idea is to start a cloned one (data INCLUDED) with different parameters but I don't understand how to do it...
Can someone help me?
1. Using volumes
If your sole point is to persist your data you need to use Volumes.
A data volume is a specially-designated directory within one or more
containers that bypasses the Union File System. Data volumes provide
several useful features for persistent or shared data:
Volumes are initialized when a container is created. If the container’s base image contains data at the specified mount point,
that existing data is copied into the new volume upon volume
initialization. (Note that this does not apply when mounting a host
directory.)
Data volumes can be shared and reused among containers.
Changes to a data volume are made directly.
Changes to a data volume will not be included when you update an image.
Data volumes persist even if the container itself is deleted.
Source:
https://docs.docker.com/engine/tutorials/dockervolumes/
Essentially you map a folder from your machine to one into your container.
When you kill the container and spawn a new instance (with modified parameters) your volume (with the existing data) is re-mapped.
Example:
docker run -p 8080:8080 -p 50000:50000 -v /your/home:/var/jenkins_home jenkins
Source:
https://hub.docker.com/_/jenkins/
2. Using commit to create snapshots
A different route is to make use of the docker commit command.
It can be useful to commit a container’s file changes or settings into
a new image. This allows you debug a container by running an
interactive shell, or to export a working dataset to another server.
Generally, it is better to use Dockerfiles to manage your images in a
documented and maintainable way.
The commit operation will not include any data contained in volumes
mounted inside the container.
https://docs.docker.com/engine/reference/commandline/commit/
$ docker ps
ID IMAGE COMMAND CREATED STATUS PORTS
c3f279d17e0a ubuntu:12.04 /bin/bash 7 days ago Up 25 hours
197387f1b436 ubuntu:12.04 /bin/bash 7 days ago Up 25 hours
$ docker commit c3f279d17e0a svendowideit/testimage:version3
f5283438590d
$ docker images
REPOSITORY TAG ID CREATED SIZE
svendowideit/testimage version3 f5283438590d 16 seconds ago 335.7 MB
It is also possible to commit with altered configuration:
docker commit --change='CMD ["apachectl", "-DFOREGROUND"]' -c "EXPOSE 80" c3f279d17e0a svendowideit/testimage:version4
To clone a container in docker, you can use docker commit and create a snapshot the container
Use docker images to view the docker image REPOSITORY and TAG names.
Use docker ps -a to view the available containers and note the CONTAINER ID of the container of which a snapshot is to be created.
use docker commit <CONTAINER ID> <REPOSITORY>:<TAG> to create snapshot and save it as an image.
Again use docker images to view the saved image.
To access saved snapshot
run,
docker run -i -t <IMAGE ID> /bin/bash
docker ps -a
docker start <CONTAINER ID>
docker exec -ti <CONTAINER ID> bash
I'm quite new to docker.I have a docker container running.
[root#vm Downloads]# docker ps
CONTAINER ID IMAGE COMMAND CREATED STATUS PORTS NAMES
fc86020fff36 centos:6.6 "/bin/bash" 5 days ago Up 17 hours drunk_tesla
I want to stop this vm and run it as --privileged. But I have bunch of things in this docker.
I don't want to use --run because it creates a new docker instance and i have to re-do everything.
Is there anyway i can stop and start the docker container in privileged mode?
Thanks,
r
Since the docker image you used (centos:6.6) for creating this container has no volumes, that means that any data you modified in this container is written on the container filesystem itself (as opposed to on a docker volume).
The docker commit command will take the content of a container filesystem (excluding volumes) and produce a new docker image from it. This way you will be able to create a new container from that new image that will have the same content.
docker commit drunk_tesla mycentosimage
docker run -it --privileged mycentosimage bash
This is a very basic question, but I'm struggling a bit and would like to make sure I understand properly.
After a container is started from an image and some changes done to files within (i.e.: some data stored in the DB of a WebApp running on the container), what's the appropriate way to continue working with the same data between container stop and restart?
Is my understanding correct that once the container is stopped/finished (i.e.: exit after an interactive session), then that container is gone together with all file changes?
So if I want to keep some file changes I have to commit the state of the container into a new image / new version of the image?
Is my understanding correct that once the container is stopped/finished (i.e.: exit after an interactive session), then that container is gone together with all file changes?
No, a container persists after it exits, unless you started it using the --rm argument to docker run. Consider this:
$ docker run -it busybox sh
/ # date > example_file
/ # exit
Since we exited our shell, the container is no longer running:
$ docker ps
CONTAINER ID IMAGE COMMAND CREATED STATUS PORTS NAMES
But if we had the -a option, we can see it:
CONTAINER ID IMAGE COMMAND CREATED STATUS PORTS NAMES
79aee3e2774e busybox:latest "sh" About a minute ago Exited (0) 54 seconds ago loving_fermat
And we can restart it and re-attach to it:
$ docker start 79aee3e2774e
$ docker attach 79aee3e2774e
<i press RETURN>
/ #
And the file we created earlier is still there:
/ # cat example_file
Wed Feb 18 01:51:38 UTC 2015
/ #
You can use the docker commit command to save the contents of the container into a new image, which you can then use to start new containers, or share with someone else, etc. Note, however, that if you find yourself regularly using docker commit you are probably doing yourself a disservice. In general, it is more manageable to consider containers to be read-only and generate new images using a Dockerfile and docker build.
Using this model, data is typically kept external to the container,
either through host volume mounts or using a data-only container.
You can see finished containers with docker ps -a
You can save a finished container, with the filesystem changes, into an image using docker commit container_name new_image_name
You can also extract data files from the finished container with: docker cp containerID:/path/to/find/files /path/to/put/copy
Note that you can also "plan ahead" and avoid trapping data you'll need permanently within a temporary container by having the container mount a directory from the host, e.g.
docker run -v /dir/on/host:/dir/on/container -it ubuntu:14.04