Docker is supported on these Ubuntu operating systems:
This page instructs you to install Docker on Ubuntu, using packages provided by Docker. Using these packages ensures you get the latest official release of Docker. If you are required to install using Ubuntu-managed packages, consult the Ubuntu documentation. Some files and commands may be different if you use Ubuntu-managed packages.
Note: Ubuntu Utopic 14.10 and 15.04 exist in Docker’s
APT
repository but are no longer officially supported.
Docker has two important installation requirements:
Docker requires version 3.10 or higher of the Linux kernel. Kernels older than 3.10 lack some of the features required to run Docker containers and contain known bugs which cause data loss and frequently panic under certain conditions.
To check your current kernel version, open a terminal and use uname -r
to display your kernel version:
$ uname -r
3.11.0-15-generic
To set APT
to use packages from the Docker repository:
Log into your machine as a user with sudo
or root
privileges.
Open a terminal window.
Update package information, ensure that APT works with the https
method, and that CA certificates are installed.
$ sudo apt-get update
$ sudo apt-get install apt-transport-https ca-certificates
Add the new GPG
key. This commands downloads the key with the ID58118E89F3A912897C070ADBF76221572C52609D
from the keyserver hkp://ha.pool.sks-keyservers.net:80
and adds it to the adv
keychain. For more info, see the output of man apt-key
.
$ sudo apt-key adv \
--keyserver hkp://ha.pool.sks-keyservers.net:80 \
--recv-keys 58118E89F3A912897C070ADBF76221572C52609D
Find the entry in the table below which corresponds to your Ubuntu version. This determines where APT will search for Docker packages. When possible, run a long-term support (LTS) edition of Ubuntu.
Ubuntu version | Repository |
---|---|
Precise 12.04 (LTS) | deb https://apt.dockerproject.org/repo ubuntu-precise main |
Trusty 14.04 (LTS) | deb https://apt.dockerproject.org/repo ubuntu-trusty main |
Wily 15.10 | deb https://apt.dockerproject.org/repo ubuntu-wily main |
Xenial 16.04 (LTS) | deb https://apt.dockerproject.org/repo ubuntu-xenial main |
Note: Docker does not provide packages for all architectures. Binary artifacts are built nightly, and you can download them from https://master.dockerproject.org. To install docker on a multi-architecture system, add an
[arch=...]
clause to the entry. Refer to Debian Multiarch wiki for details.
Run the following command, substituting the entry for your operating system for the placeholder
.
$ echo "" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/docker.list
Update the APT
package index.
$ sudo apt-get update
Verify that APT
is pulling from the right repository.
When you run the following command, an entry is returned for each version of Docker that is available for you to install. Each entry should have the URL https://apt.dockerproject.org/repo/
. The version currently installed is marked with ***
.The output below is truncated.
$ apt-cache policy docker-engine
docker-engine:
Installed: 1.12.2-0~trusty
Candidate: 1.12.2-0~trusty
Version table:
*** 1.12.2-0~trusty 0
500 https://apt.dockerproject.org/repo/ ubuntu-trusty/main amd64 Packages
100 /var/lib/dpkg/status
1.12.1-0~trusty 0
500 https://apt.dockerproject.org/repo/ ubuntu-trusty/main amd64 Packages
1.12.0-0~trusty 0
500 https://apt.dockerproject.org/repo/ ubuntu-trusty/main amd64 Packages
From now on when you run apt-get upgrade
, APT
pulls from the new repository.
For Ubuntu Trusty, Wily, and Xenial, install the linux-image-extra-*
kernel packages, which allows you use theaufs
storage driver.
To install the linux-image-extra-*
packages:
Open a terminal on your Ubuntu host.
Update your package manager.
$ sudo apt-get update
Install the recommended packages.
$ sudo apt-get install linux-image-extra-$(uname -r) linux-image-extra-virtual
Go ahead and install Docker.
For Ubuntu Precise, Docker requires the 3.13 kernel version. If your kernel version is older than 3.13, you must upgrade it. Refer to this table to see which packages are required for your environment:
Package | Description |
---|---|
linux-image-generic-lts-trusty |
Generic Linux kernel image. This kernel has AUFS built in. This is required to run Docker. |
linux-headers-generic-lts-trusty |
Allows packages such as ZFS and VirtualBox guest additions which depend on them. If you didn’t install the headers for your existing kernel, then you can skip these headers for the”trusty” kernel. If you’re unsure, you should include this package for safety. |
xserver-xorg-lts-trusty |
Optional in non-graphical environments without Unity/Xorg. Required when running Docker on machine with a graphical environment. |
ligbl1-mesa-glx-lts-trusty |
To learn more about the reasons for these packages, read the installation instructions for backported kernels, specifically the LTS Enablement Stack. Refer to note 5 under each version. |
To upgrade your kernel and install the additional packages, do the following:
Open a terminal on your Ubuntu host.
Update your package manager.
$ sudo apt-get update
Install both the required and optional packages.
$ sudo apt-get install linux-image-generic-lts-trusty
Repeat this step for other packages you need to install.
Reboot your host to use the updated kernel.
$ sudo reboot
After your system reboots, go ahead and install Docker.
Make sure you have satisfied all the prerequisites, then follow these steps.
Note: For production systems, it is recommended that you install a specific version so that you do not accidentally update Docker. You should plan upgrades for production systems carefully.
Log into your Ubuntu installation as a user with sudo
privileges.
Update your APT
package index.
$ sudo apt-get update
Install Docker.
$ sudo apt-get install docker-engine
Start the docker
daemon.
$ sudo service docker start
Verify that docker
is installed correctly by running the hello-world
image.
$ sudo docker run hello-world
This command downloads a test image and runs it in a container. When the container runs, it prints an informational message and exits.
To install a specific version of docker-engine
:
List all available versions using apt-cache madison
: ```bash $ apt-cache madison docker-engine
docker-engine | 1.12.3-0~xenial | https://apt.dockerproject.org/repo ubuntu-xenial/main amd64 Packages docker-engine | 1.12.2-0~xenial | https://apt.dockerproject.org/repo ubuntu-xenial/main amd64 Packages docker-engine | 1.12.1-0~xenial | https://apt.dockerproject.org/repo ubuntu-xenial/main amd64 Packages docker-engine | 1.12.0-0~xenial | https://apt.dockerproject.org/repo ubuntu-xenial/main amd64 Packages docker-engine | 1.11.2-0~xenial | https://apt.dockerproject.org/repo ubuntu-xenial/main amd64 Packages docker-engine | 1.11.1-0~xenial | https://apt.dockerproject.org/repo ubuntu-xenial/main amd64 Packages docker-engine | 1.11.0-0~xenial | https://apt.dockerproject.org/repo ubuntu-xenial/main amd64 Packages ```
The second field is the version string. To install exactly 1.12.0-0~xenial
, append it after the package name in the apt-get install
command, separated from the package name by an equals sign (=
). bash $ sudo apt-get install docker-engine=1.12.0-0~xenial
If you already have a newer version installed, you will be prompted to downgrade Docker. Otherwise, the specific version will be installed.
Follow steps 4 and 5 of Install the latest version.
If you want to test Docker on Ubuntu, on a non-production system, follow these steps. To install a stable released version of Docker afterward, you will need to revert to the previous configuration.
Edit /etc/apt/sources.list.d/docker.list
.
$ sudo nano /etc/apt/sources.list.d/docker.list
Change main
to testing
at the end of the top line. Save and close the file.
Update the package list.
$ sudo apt-get update
List the available testing versions.
$ sudo apt-cache madison docker-engine
Install a specific version following the same procedure as Install a specific version.
This section contains optional procedures for configuring Ubuntu to work better with Docker.
The docker
daemon binds to a Unix socket instead of a TCP port. By default that Unix socket is owned by the user root
and other users can only access it using sudo
. The docker
daemon always runs as the root
user.
If you don’t want to use sudo
when you use the docker
command, create a Unix group called docker
and add users to it. When the docker
daemon starts, it makes the ownership of the Unix socket read/writable by thedocker
group.
Warning: The
docker
group is equivalent to theroot
user. For details on how this impacts security in your system, see Docker Daemon Attack Surface for details.
To create the docker
group and add your user:
Log into Ubuntu as a user with sudo
privileges.
Create the docker
group. bash $ sudo groupadd docker
Add your user to the docker
group.
$ sudo usermod -aG docker $USER
Log out and log back in so that your group membership is re-evaluated.
Verify that you can docker
commands without sudo
.
$ docker run hello-world
If this fails, you will see an error:
Cannot connect to the Docker daemon. Is 'docker daemon' running on this host?
Check whether the DOCKER_HOST
environment variable is set for your shell.
$ env | grep DOCKER_HOST
If it is set, the above command will return a result. If so, unset it.
$ unset DOCKER_HOST
You may need to edit your environment in files such as ~/.bashrc
or ~/.profile
to prevent theDOCKER_HOST
variable from being set erroneously.
You may see messages similar to the following when working with an image:
WARNING: Your kernel does not support cgroup swap limit. WARNING: Your
kernel does not support swap limit capabilities. Limitation discarded.
If you don’t care about these capabilities, you can ignore the warning. You can enable these capabilities in your kernel by following these instructions. Memory and swap accounting incur an overhead of about 1% of the total available memory and a 10% overall performance degradation, even if Docker is not running.
Log into Ubuntu as a user with sudo
privileges.
Edit the /etc/default/grub
file.
Add or edit the GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX
line to add the following two key-value pairs:
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX="cgroup_enable=memory swapaccount=1"
Save and close the file.
Update GRUB.
$ sudo update-grub
If your GRUB configuration file has incorrect syntax, an error will occur. In this case, steps 3 and 4.
Reboot your system. Memory and swap accounting are enabled and the warning does not occur.
If you use UFW (Uncomplicated Firewall) on the same host as you run Docker, you’ll need to do additional configuration. Docker uses a bridge to manage container networking. By default, UFW drops all forwarding traffic. You must set UFW’s forwarding policy appropriately.
In addition, UFW blocks all incoming traffic by default. If you want to access the Docker Remote API from another host and you have enabled remote access, you need to configure UFW to allow incoming connections on the Docker port, which defaults to 2376
if TLS encrypted transport is enabled or 2375
otherwise. By default, Docker runs without TLS enabled. If you do not use TLS, you are strongly discouraged from allowing access to the Docker Remote API from remote hosts, to prevent remote privilege-escalation attacks.
To configure UFW and allow incoming connections on the Docker port:
Log into Ubuntu as a user with sudo
privileges.
Verify that UFW is enabled.
$ sudo ufw status
If ufw
is not enabled, the remaining steps will not be helpful.
Edit the UFW configuration file, which is usually /etc/default/ufw
or /etc/sysconfig/ufw
. Set theDEFAULT_FORWARD_POLICY
policy to ACCEPT
.
DEFAULT_FORWARD_POLICY="ACCEPT"
Save and close the file.
If you need to enable access to the Docker Remote API from external hosts and understand the security implications (see the section before this procedure), then configure UFW to allow incoming connections on the Docker port, which is 2375 if you do not use TLS, and 2376 if you do.
$ sudo ufw allow 2376/tcp
Reload UFW. bash $ sudo ufw reload
Ubuntu systems which use networkmanager
use a dnsmasq
instance that runs on a loopback address such as127.0.0.1
or 127.0.1.1
and adds this entry to /etc/resolv.conf
. The dnsmasq
service provides a local DNS cache to speed up DNS look-ups and also provides DHCP services. This configuration will not work within a Docker container which has its own network namespace. This is because the Docker container resolves loopback addresses such as 127.0.0.1
to itself, and it is very unlikely to be running a DNS server on its own loopback address.
If Docker detects that no DNS server referenced in /etc/resolv.conf
is a fully functional DNS server, the following warning occurs and Docker uses the public DNS servers provided by Google at 8.8.8.8
and 8.8.4.4
for DNS resolution.
WARNING: Local (127.0.0.1) DNS resolver found in resolv.conf and containers
can't use it. Using default external servers : [8.8.8.8 8.8.4.4]
If you don’t use dnsmasq
or NetworkManaager or have never seen this warning, you can skip the rest of this section. To see if you use dnsmasq
, use the following command:
$ ps aux |grep dnsmasq
If this warning occurs and cannot use the public nameservers, such as when you run a DNS server which resolves hostnames on your internal network, you have two choices:
dnsmasq
in NetworkManager. If you do this, NetworkManager will add your true DNS nameserver to /etc/resolv.conf
, but you will lose the possible benefits of dnsmasq
.You only need to use one of these methods.
The instructions below work whether your Ubuntu installation uses upstart
or systemd
.
The default location of the configuration file is /etc/docker/daemon.json
. You can change the location of the configuration file using the --config-file
daemon flag. The documentation below assumes the configuration file is located at /etc/docker/daemon.json
.
Log into Ubuntu as a user with sudo
privileges.
Create or edit the Docker daemon configuration file, which defaults to /etc/docker/daemon.json
file, which controls the Docker daemon configuration.
sudo nano /etc/docker/daemon.json
Add a dns
key with one or more IP addresses as values. If the file has existing contents, you only need to add or edit the dns
line. json { "dns": ["8.8.8.8", "8.8.4.4"] }
If your internal DNS server cannot resolve public IP addresses, include at least one DNS server which can, so that you can connect to Docker Hub and so that your containers can resolve internet domain names.
Save and close the file.
Restart the Docker daemon.
$ sudo service docker restart
Verify that Docker can resolve external IP addresses by trying to pull an image:
$ docker pull hello-world
If necessary, verify that Docker containers can resolve an internal hostname by pinging it.
$ docker run --rm -it alpine ping -c4 my_internal_host
PING google.com (192.168.1.2): 56 data bytes
64 bytes from 192.168.1.2: seq=0 ttl=41 time=7.597 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.2: seq=1 ttl=41 time=7.635 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.2: seq=2 ttl=41 time=7.660 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.2: seq=3 ttl=41 time=7.677 ms
dnsmasq
in NetworkManager If you prefer not to change the Docker daemon’s configuration to use a specific IP address, follow these instructions to disable dnsmasq
in NetworkManager.
Edit the /etc/NetworkManager/NetworkManager.conf
file.
Comment out the dns=dnsmasq
line by adding a #
character to the beginning of the line.
# dns=dnsmasq
Save and close the file.
Restart both NetworkManager and Docker. As an alternative, you can reboot your system.
$ sudo restart network-manager
$ sudo restart docker
Ubuntu uses systemd
as its boot and service manager 15.04
onwards and upstart
for versions 14.10
and below.
systemd
$ sudo systemctl enable docker
upstart
For 14.10
and below, Docker is automatically configured to start on boot using upstart
.
To install the latest version of Docker with apt-get
. The following example fetches information about available versions of all system packages, then updates Docker if a new version is available.
$ sudo apt-get update
$ sudo apt-get upgrade docker-engine
To uninstall the Docker package:
$ sudo apt-get purge docker-engine
To uninstall the Docker package and dependencies that are no longer needed:
$ sudo apt-get autoremove --purge docker-engine
Images, containers, volumes, or customized configuration files on your host are not automatically removed. To delete all images, containers, and volumes run the following command:
$ rm -rf /var/lib/docker
You must delete any customized configuration files manually.