Docker

Docker is a platform for building, shipping, and running applications in containers. It’s the backbone of the Home Lab and essential for modern Web Development.

Key Concepts

• Image: A read-only template with instructions for creating a container
• Container: A runnable instance of an image
• Volume: Persistent storage that survives container restarts
• Network: Isolated communication channels between containers

Common Commands

# List running containers
docker ps
 
# Run a container in detached mode
docker run -d --name myapp -p 8080:80 nginx
 
# View logs
docker logs -f myapp
 
# Stop and remove
docker stop myapp && docker rm myapp
 
# Build from Dockerfile
docker build -t myimage:latest .

Docker Compose

Most services in the Home Lab use Compose for orchestration:

services:
  caddy:
    image: caddy:2
    ports:
      - "80:80"
      - "443:443"
    volumes:
      - ./Caddyfile:/etc/caddy/Caddyfile
      - caddy_data:/data
 
  uptime-kuma:
    image: louislam/uptime-kuma:1
    ports:
      - "3001:3001"
    volumes:
      - uptime_data:/app/data
 
volumes:
  caddy_data:
  uptime_data:

Security

Never run containers as root in production. Use non-root users in your Dockerfiles and avoid --privileged unless absolutely necessary.

Networking

Docker creates its own network bridge by default. For inter-container communication, use custom networks:

docker network create mynet
docker run --network mynet --name api myapi
docker run --network mynet --name web myweb

See Networking for how this integrates with the broader lab network.

Related

• Home Lab — Where these containers run
• Web Development — Docker in the dev workflow
• Bookmarks — Docker learning resources