Docker is a tool that is used to run software in a container. It’s a great way for developers and users to worry less about compatibility with an operating system and dependencies because the contained software should run identically on any system.
Docker is available for download and installation on Manjaro as well as most other distributions of Linux. After Docker is installed, you can use it to install software packages much the same way you would use your distro’s package manager to download an app. The difference of using Docker is that everything is more automated, with compatability and dependencies no longer being potential issues.
In this guide, we’ll show you how to install Docker on Manjaro Linux and get started with installing containerized software.
In this tutorial you will learn:
- How to install Docker
- How to run Docker without root
- How to search for a Docker image
- How to install a Docker image
- How to run a Docker image
- How to monitor Docker with various commands
| Category | Requirements, Conventions or Software Version Used |
|---|---|
| System | Manjaro Linux |
| Software | Docker |
| Other | Privileged access to your Linux system as root or via the sudo command. |
| Conventions |
# – requires given linux commands to be executed with root privileges either directly as a root user or by use of sudo command$ – requires given linux commands to be executed as a regular non-privileged user |
Install Docker
To get started installing Docker, the first thing you should do is open a terminal and make sure that Manjaro is up to date.
$ sudo pacman -Syu
Next, execute the following command to install Docker:
$ sudo pacman -S docker
You can also install the development version of Docker from the AUR, but it’s not recommended to use that release in a production environment.
Once installation is completed, start the Docker service and, optionally, enable it to run whenever the system is rebooted:
$ sudo systemctl start docker.service $ sudo systemctl enable docker.service
You can verify that Docker is installed and gather some information about the current version by entering this command:
$ sudo docker version
There is also a quick and easy way to see how many Docker containers are currently running and see some of Docker’s configured options by entering:
$ sudo docker info
Run Docker without root
By default, you’ll have to use sudo or login to root anytime you want to run a Docker command. This next step is optional, but if you’d prefer the ability to run Docker as your current user, add your account to the docker group with this command:
$ sudo usermod -aG docker $USER
You’ll need to reboot your system for those changes to take effect.
$ reboot
Searching for a Docker image
Now you’re ready to install images with Docker. If you already know the name of an image that you’d like to install, you can move on to the next section. If you need to search through Docker for the desired software, you can use the following command syntax:
$ docker search [name]
For example, let’s try searching for nginx, which is popular web server software.
$ docker search nginx
As you can see, there is one official image for nginx (indicated by the OFFICIAL column) simply called nginx. There are also other releases available, and you would have to read their descriptions to see what they do differently from the official image.
Install a Docker image
Once you know which image you’d like to install, you can use the following command to instruct Docker to download the desired software. Just as an example, we’ll install the hello-world package which can be used to make sure that Docker is able to download and run images successfully.
$ docker pull hello-world
The output in the screenshot above indicates that Docker was able to find and download the image we specified.
Running a Docker image
Now that the image is downloaded, run it with the following command:
$ docker run hello-world
Monitoring Docker
Docker gives us a lot of options to see what’s going on with our images, how many system resources they’re using, etc. The following commands come in handy for monitoring Docker and our installed images.
To see which Docker containers are running and check their current status, type:
$ docker container ls
To see a list of all the Docker images installed, type:
$ docker images
To see the current CPU, RAM, and network usage of running images, type:
$ docker stats
To see Docker’s network configuration, type:
$ docker network ls
Closing Thoughts
Docker is pretty easy to use on Manjaro. Like most new things, you just need to learn the command syntax that comes with it, which is very simple anyway. Now that Docker is up and running on your Manjaro system, you’ll be able to search for and install new container images as you please. Chances are that you’ll find this a lot more convenient than manually installing or building certain packages on your own.
