docker inside docker container - docker

Question

I want to install docker inside a running docker container.
docker run -it centos:centos7
My base container is using centos, I can login to running container using docker exec. But when I try to install docker inside it using yum install -y docker it installs.
But somehow I can't start the docker service with docker -d &, it gives me error as:
INFO[0000] Option DefaultNetwork: bridge
WARN[0000] Running modprobe bridge nf_nat br_netfilter failed with message: , error: exit status 1
FATA[0000] Error starting daemon: Error initializing network controller: Error initializing bridge driver: Setup IP forwarding failed: open /proc/sys/net/ipv4/ip_forward: read-only file system
Is there a way I can install docker inside docker container or build image already having running docker? I have already seen these examples but none works for me.
The output of uname -r on the host machine:
[fedora# ~]$ uname -r
4.2.6-200.fc22.x86_64
Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks in advance

Answer 1

Update
Thanks to https://stackoverflow.com/a/38016704/372019 I want to show another approach.
Instead of mounting the host's docker binary, you should copy or install a container specific release of the docker binary. Since you're only using it in a client mode, you won't need to install it as a system service. You still need to mount the Docker socket into the container so that you can easily communicate with the host's Docker engine.
Assuming that you got a base image with a working Docker binary (e.g. the official docker image), the example now looks like this:
docker run\
-v /var/run/docker.sock:/var/run/docker.sock\
docker:1.12 docker info
Without actually answering your question I'd suggest you to read Using Docker-in-Docker for your CI or testing environment? Think twice.
It explains why running docker-in-docker should be replaced with a setup where Docker containers run as siblings of the "outer" or "base" container. The article also links to the original https://github.com/jpetazzo/dind project where you can find working examples how to run Docker in Docker - in case you still want to have docker-in-docker.
An example how to enable a container to access the host's Docker daemon look like this:
docker run\
-v /var/run/docker.sock:/var/run/docker.sock\
-v /usr/bin/docker:/usr/bin/docker\
busybox:latest /usr/bin/docker info

Answer 2

If you are on Mac with Docker toolbox.
The below command WON’T WORK
docker run\
-v /var/run/docker.sock:/var/run/docker.sock\
-v /usr/bin/docker:/usr/bin/docker\
busybox:latest /usr/bin/docker info
Because /var/run/docker.sock will not be on your OSX filesystem
the Docker daemon is running inside the boot2docker VM - and that's where the unix socket is.
So you have to run the container from boot2docker VM
$ docker-machine ssh default
$ docker run\
-v /var/run/docker.sock:/var/run/docker.sock\
-v $(which docker):/usr/bin/docker\
busybox:latest /usr/bin/docker info
$ exit
This looks like Docker-in-Docker, feels like Docker-in-Docker, but it’s not Docker-in-Docker, when this container will create more containers, those containers will be created in the top-level Docker.

Answer 3

You need the --privileged parameter.
By default, Docker containers are “unprivileged” and cannot, for
example, run a Docker daemon inside a Docker container.
Source
Run your base image with the command docker run --privileged -it centos:centos7 bash. Then you may install and run another docker container inside that container.

Answer 4

I`ve a similar problems in my vms.
I`ve solve the problem with change the storage file system from image to vfs(in daemon.json file)
like the image bellow
For image works first create a base image, in my case with centos7
FROM centos:7
ENV container docker
RUN (cd /lib/systemd/system/sysinit.target.wants/; for i in *; do [ $i == \
systemd-tmpfiles-setup.service ] || rm -f $i; done); \
rm -f /lib/systemd/system/multi-user.target.wants/*;\
rm -f /etc/systemd/system/*.wants/*;\
rm -f /lib/systemd/system/local-fs.target.wants/*; \
rm -f /lib/systemd/system/sockets.target.wants/*udev*; \
rm -f /lib/systemd/system/sockets.target.wants/*initctl*; \
rm -f /lib/systemd/system/basic.target.wants/*;\
rm -f /lib/systemd/system/anaconda.target.wants/*;
VOLUME [ "/sys/fs/cgroup" ]
CMD ["/usr/sbin/init"]
with this image builded (in my case i called local/c7-systemd) create a second image, installing docker and moving daemon.json to inside.
FROM local/c7-systemd
RUN yum install -y yum-utils
RUN yum-config-manager --add-repo https://download.docker.com/linux/centos/docker-ce.repo
RUN yum install -y docker-ce docker-ce-cli containerd.io
RUN curl -L "https://github.com/docker/compose/releases/download/1.28.2/docker-compose-$(uname -s)-$(uname -m)" -o /usr/local/bin/docker-compose
RUN chmod +x /usr/local/bin/docker-compose
RUN ln -s /usr/local/bin/docker-compose /usr/bin/docker-compose
COPY daemon.json /etc/docker/daemon.json
RUN yum install -y nano
RUN systemctl enable docker
EXPOSE 80
EXPOSE 8080
EXPOSE 8161
EXPOSE 6379
EXPOSE 8761
CMD ["/usr/sbin/init"]
enjoy!