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Learn Docker

Package an application with everything it needs to run

Learn Docker in the order that actually makes sense: the problem it solves, the four concepts everything else is built on, your first real Dockerfile, and the six mistakes every beginner makes.

Chapters
7
Total time
~95 min
Level
Beginner

The curriculum

Written to be read in order. Each chapter assumes the one before it.

  1. What Docker actually solvesBefore any installation, understand the problem Docker was built for. Once you see why "works on my machine" happens, every design decision in Docker stops looking arbitrary.4 min read
  2. Installing Docker and proving it worksInstall Docker on macOS, Linux or Windows, then run the three commands that verify the daemon, the networking and the filesystem all work — before you waste time debugging a broken install.3 min read
  3. The four concepts everything else is built onImages, containers, volumes and networks. Learn these four and the rest of Docker becomes predictable — including the commands you have not read about yet.4 min read
  4. Your first real Dockerfile, line by lineContainerise a working Node API from scratch. Every instruction is explained, and the final image is one you would actually be willing to deploy.4 min read
  5. The commands you will actually runDocker has hundreds of flags and you need about fifteen. Here is the working set, plus the Compose file that replaces most of them during development.4 min read
  6. The six mistakes everybody makesEvery one of these has cost a real team real hours. They are not exotic — they are the default behaviours of Docker meeting reasonable assumptions that happen to be wrong.4 min read
  7. When it breaks — a diagnostic pathA repeatable order for debugging Docker problems, and what the most common error messages actually mean, rather than what they appear to say.4 min read

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