DockerFile
The Docker File
In this assignment you will learn the basics of working with Dockerfiles. We can use these files to automate the process outlined in the Docker Starter Assignment.
This assignment is not complete at this time. At this point work only on the Create Micros section.
Do your work for this assignment in a branch called week02. (Or, at the least, be sure you have a week02 branch and that it contains the code I ask you to create in this assignment.)
Your Docker Hub Name
In the code found in this assignment you are going to need to know your name on the Docker Hub. You created this name when you first logged into the Docker Hub. If you have forgotten the name, you can always find it by logging into the Docker Hub and going to its home page.
IMAGE: To get your docker hub name, log into docker and go to the home directory. As you can see, my Docker Hub name is charliecalvert.
NOTE: At the beginning of a quarter, some students realize that they have forgotten how to log into an online resource such as Docker Hub that they used in a previous quarter. To avoid these problems, I keep track of usernames and passwords in Lastpass. This utility has saved me untold hours over the years. I consider it an essential resource and a safe way to track usernames and passwords. I believe another highly rated product is called 1password, but I have never used it and hence can’t provide help to students who choose it. You can also save passwords to your Chrome or Firefox account, but I’m sure you can see why that is not as useful as working with a tool that runs in all browsers.
Simple Example
We use Dockerfiles to save in a single place the multiple steps we might use to create a Docker image. Here is a very simple example Dockerfile that creates an image based on the official Docker Hub ubuntu image:
FROM ubuntu
RUN echo 'File content' > /tmp/TempFile
Save this file into your repo under this name:
week02-docker-simple/Dockerfile
The first line in the file pulls down the ubuntu image from the Docker Hub and creates a local copy. After creating the local image the second line in the file runs a command inside the image which creates a small text file in the tmp directory with the words File content inside it. (This is the same thing we did in class, but now we are automating the process.)
After creating the Dockerfile, you can use it to create an image. For instance, you can run it from the week02-docker-simple directory like this:
docker image build -t <YOUR-DOCKER-HUB-NAME>/simple-text .
In my case, this might look a bit like this:
docker image build -t charliecalvert/simple-text .
After creating the image, we can build a container based on it. This container will hold an instance of Ubuntu.
Create Container
The following command creates a container based on our image. Note that the command gives our container a name and runs it:
docker container run -name simple-text -it charliecalvert/simple-text
At this point you should be able to navigate into the Docker container’s /tmp directory and view the file you created:
$ docker container run --name simple-text -it charliecalvert/simple-text
root@2b00769cc093:/# cd tmp/
root@2b00769cc093:/tmp# ll
total 12
drwxrwxrwt 1 root root 4096 Sep 1 22:36 ./
drwxr-xr-x 1 root root 4096 Sep 1 22:39 ../
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 13 Sep 1 22:36 TempFile
root@2b00769cc093:/tmp# cat TempFile
File content
root@2b00769cc093:/tmp#
As you can see, by default you are logged in as root in our new ubuntu container. This means you are the admin and have full rights in the instance. There are no other users. In particular, there is no bcuser account. I mention this only because I create a bcuser account in the VirtualBox VMs that I give to my students at the beginning of the quarter.
Push your results
You can push your finished image to the Docker Hub with a command like this, but use your Docker username rather than mine:
docker push charliecalvert/simple-text
Turn in this URL as part of your assignment.
Create Micros
Create a week02-micros directory.
mkdir week02-micros
cd week02-micros
In week02-micros create an elf-express app called qux:
elf-express qux
cd qux
npm i
Open qux in WebStorm.
In package.json replace nodemon with node.
In bin/www change the port to 30027.
var port = normalizePort(process.env.ELF_REST_BASICS_PORT || '30027');
Also, we should probably put this at the bottom of ./bashrc if it is not there already:
export ELF_REST_BASICS_PORT=30027
In week02-micros/qux/routes/index.js edit the home route to include your last name and create a new endpoint called /you-rang:
router.get('/', function(req, res) {
'use strict';
res.render('index', {
title: 'Qux-YourLastName'
});
});
router.get('/you-rang', (request, response) => {
response.send({
result: 'qux you rang',
server: 'qux',
directory: __dirname,
hostname: process.env.HOSTNAME,
home: process.env.HOME
});
});
Create this Dockerfile in the week02-micros directory. It uses the official Node image from DockerHub:
FROM node:latest
RUN mkdir -p /usr/src/app
WORKDIR /usr/src/app
COPY qux/package.json .
RUN npm install
COPY qux .
EXPOSE 30027
RUN node_modules/.bin/webpack
CMD [ "npm", "start" ]
Here is useful little script called build that I put in the week02-micros directory:
#!/usr/bin/env bash
docker image build -t charliecalvert/micro-qux .
docker container run --name micro-qux -d -p 30027:30027 charliecalvert/micro-qux
docker exec -it micro-qux /bin/bash
Don’t forget to make it executable: chmod +x build.
When running the script, ignore the warnings about fsevents and the notice to commit package-lock.json.
After running this go to localhost:30027. It should look like this:
| If localhost doesn’t work, try the actual IP address. You can get it with **ip addr | grep inet**. For instance: |
192.168.2.12:30027
To see /you-rang go to http://localhost:30027/you-rang
The output should look something like this:
{
"result":"qux you rang",
"server":"qux",
"directory":"/usr/src/app/routes",
"hostname":"29d539f34da5",
"home":"/root"
}
Note that this information is from inside the container. To see it while in the container, run env.
Troubleshoot
If your code doesn’t work, try this:
docker logs <containter-name>
For instance:
docker logs micro-qux
That should show the output that would normally appear at the bash prompt.
The following rather cryptic error can mean there is no Dockerfile (note case) in the current directory:
unable to prepare context: unable to evaluate symlinks in Dockerfile path
Since errors do happen, I created a second script called week02-micros/reset. Or perhaps you might call it delete-container-and-image or just start-over-from-scratch. I used it a lot when developing the Dockerfile because it allowed me to try a run and check the results. If I wasn’t happy or felt the Dockerfile was not yet complete, then I could make some adjustments to the Dockerfile, delete my image and container, and start over by running an updated copy of the Dockerfile. Here is the script:
#!/usr/bin/env bash
docker container stop micro-qux
docker container rm micro-qux
docker image rm charliecalvert/micro-qux:latest
Notice that in these scripts I’m giving the container a name. Specifically, I’m calling it micro-qux. By giving it a known name I’m able to remove (delete) it with stop script if I want to start over.
Push your results
You can push your finished image to the Docker Hub with a command like this, but use your Docker username rather than mine:
docker push charliecalvert/micros-qux
Turn in this URL as part of your assignment.
Turn it in
Point me to your image on the Docker Hub. It should look something like this:
https://hub.docker.com/r/lastname/micros-qux/
NOTE: Don’t give me a URL that begins cloud.docker.com. If you are looking directly at a particular image on the Docker site, you will see that the URL has changed from hub.docker.com to cloud.docker.com. You will also see a button that says Public View. Select that button to easily find the URLs and docker pull statements I’m looking for in this and similar assignments.
Give me the command to get your image:
docker pull lastname/micros-qux
Give me at least one screenshot of you processing a docker file. Be sure your copy of the Dockerfile and associated scripts are in a week02-micros folder of your repository if they are not there already. (If you need to copy this from elsewhere, copy the Docker folder recursively (cp -r) into your repository.) Please give me:
- repo url (This is your isit320-lastname-2017 repo.)
- Directory name
- Branch
Make sure you include both your build and reset scripts when you push your code (not your docker image) to GitHub. Remember: we push the Docker image to the DockerHub and our DockerFile and associated scripts to GitHub.
Docker Daemon Logs
Not very useful so far, but:
sudo journalctl -fu docker.service
Remember, this is useful:
docker logs <containter-name>
For instance:
docker logs micro-qux