Vaibhav Parekh's Blog
Run any tool or technology you know in Docker.

Run any tool or technology you know in Docker.

Vaibhav Parekh's photo
Vaibhav Parekh
·

3 min read

Running tools or technologies in Docker is a straightforward process, thanks to the capabilities of containerization. Below is a simple example of how to run a popular tool, NGINX, in Docker. NGINX is a high-performance web server, reverse proxy, and load balancer that is widely used.

Step-by-Step Guide to Running NGINX in Docker

Prerequisites

  1. Docker Installed: Make sure Docker is installed on your machine. You can follow the official installation guide for your operating system.

  2. Basic Knowledge of Docker Commands: Familiarity with Docker commands will be helpful.

Step 1: Pull the NGINX Image

Open your terminal and run the following command to pull the official NGINX image from Docker Hub:

docker pull nginx

Step 2: Run the NGINX Container

Once the image is pulled, you can run it as a container. Use the following command to start an NGINX container and expose it on port 8080:

docker run --name my-nginx -p 8080:80 -d nginx

Explanation of the command:

  • --name my-nginx: Assigns a name to the container (my-nginx).

  • -p 8080:80: Maps port 80 of the NGINX container to port 8080 on the host machine.

  • -d: Runs the container in detached mode (in the background).

Step 3: Verify the Container is Running

You can check if the container is running using the following command:

docker ps

You should see an entry for my-nginx in the list of running containers.

Step 4: Access NGINX

Open a web browser and navigate to http://localhost:8080. You should see the default NGINX welcome page, which confirms that your NGINX server is running inside a Docker container.

Step 5: Stopping and Removing the Container

If you want to stop the NGINX container, you can run:

docker stop my-nginx

To remove the container completely:

docker rm my-nginx

Step 6: Customizing NGINX Configuration (Optional)

If you want to customize the NGINX configuration, you can create a custom configuration file and mount it to the container.

  1. Create a custom NGINX configuration file named nginx.conf:

     server {
     listen 80;
     location / {
         root   /usr/share/nginx/html;
         index  index.html index.htm;
     }
     location /api {
         proxy_pass http://api_backend;
     }
 }

  2. Run the container with the custom configuration:

     docker run --name my-nginx -p 8080:80 -v $(pwd)/nginx.conf:/etc/nginx/nginx.conf:ro -d nginx

Conclusion

Using Docker to run tools like NGINX simplifies the deployment and management of applications. You can easily pull images, run containers, and customize configurations, all while enjoying the isolation and consistency that Docker provides. Whether you're developing locally or deploying to production, Docker offers a powerful solution for managing your applications.

If you have a specific tool or technology in mind that you would like to see run in Docker, let me know!

LinuxDevopsDockerdocker images