Docker basics - the most important terms

This article provides an introduction in Docker and shows useful terms, which can be useful when using Docker and Docker containers:

# Start container
docker container run <IMAGENAME> starts a container based on an image (Example: checkmk/check-mk-raw:2.2.0-latest) 

# List containers (active)
docker ps displays a list of all containers that are currently active 

# List containers (all) 
docker ps -all displays all containers on the system including those that have been stopped. 

# Stop container 
docker stop <CONTAINER-NAME> stops a container 

# Reboot container
docker restart <CONTAINER-NAME> restarts a Docker container 

# Delete container
docker remove <CONTAINER-NAME> deletes a container 

# Display container volume 
docker volume ls displays all created container volumes 

# Delete container volume 
docker volume rm <VOLUME-NAME> - deletes a named volume 

# Execute container shell command in container
docker exec <CONTAINER-NAME> <COMMAND> executes the command and displays the output on its own terminal (locally)

# Open the interactive full shell in the container (interactive terminal) 
docker exec -it <CONTAINER-NAME> bash

# Display container logs: 
docker container logs <CONTAINER-NAME>

Author: Jonas Sterr Jonas Sterr has been working for Thomas-Krenn for several years. Originally employed as a trainee in technical support and then in hosting (formerly Filoo), Mr. Sterr now mainly deals with the topics of storage (SDS / Huawei / Netapp), virtualization (VMware, Proxmox, HyperV) and network (switches, firewalls) in product management at Thomas-Krenn.AG in Freyung.

Translator: Alina Ranzinger Alina has been working at Thomas-Krenn.AG since 2024. After her training as multilingual business assistant, she got her job as assistant of the Product Management and is responsible for the translation of texts and for the organisation of the department.