Comprehensive Guide to Docker Containers, Images, Networks, and Registry

This article introduces Linux containers, explaining how they isolate processes and provide portable, lightweight environments for development, testing, and production.

It walks through installing Docker, configuring repositories, and using basic Docker commands to run, inspect, and manage containers and images, including examples with Nginx, CentOS, and custom Dockerfiles.

Advanced sections cover container networking options (bridge, host, none, container, macvlan), volume handling, and Docker Compose for multi‑service applications, with a complete docker-compose.yml example for WordPress and MySQL.

The guide also explains how to set up a private Docker registry, secure it with basic authentication, and push/pull images, followed by instructions for deploying Harbor as an enterprise‑grade registry.

Additional topics include using HAProxy to load‑balance Docker containers, managing container lifecycles, and best practices for building and maintaining Docker images.