How to Install Docker on CentOS 8 and Deploy Nginx Containers – A Complete Step‑by‑Step Guide

Introduction

The author needed a fresh Linux server environment based on Docker and compiled a verified operation manual for others facing similar requirements.

Docker Installation on Linux (CentOS 8 / TencentOS Server)

Remove Existing Docker Packages

If Docker is already installed, run the following command to remove old versions:

yum remove docker \
docker-client \
docker-client-latest \
docker-common \
docker-latest \
docker-latest-logrotate \
docker-logrotate \
docker-engine

Add Docker Repository Mirror

Network issues often affect the official Docker mirror, so a Tencent Cloud mirror is used for servers on Tencent Cloud:

dnf config-manager --add-repo=https://mirrors.cloud.tencent.com/docker-ce/linux/centos/docker-ce.repo

Use dnf (the Dandified Yum) for package management; yum can still be used on older systems.

Install Docker Packages

Install required dependencies first:

yum install yum-utils device-mapper-persistent-data lvm2

Optionally list available Docker versions: yum list docker-ce --showduplicates | sort -r Install Docker CE, CLI, and containerd:

yum install docker-ce docker-ce-cli containerd.io

Verify the installation:

docker version

Start Docker Service

# Enable Docker to start on boot
systemctl enable docker
# Start Docker now
systemctl start docker

Confirm the daemon is running with a test container:

docker run hello-world

Docker User Group Management

To avoid using root for Docker commands, create a dedicated docker group and add the target user:

sudo groupadd docker
sudo usermod -aG docker username
newgrp docker

Verify the user belongs to the group: groups username After re‑login, the user can run Docker commands without sudo.

Deploying Nginx with Docker

Pull and Prepare the Image

docker search nginx
docker pull nginx:latest

Extract the default configuration from a temporary container:

# Run a temporary container
docker run -d --name nginx nginx
# List containers to get the ID if needed
docker container ls
# Create local directories
mkdir conf html
# Copy config files from the container
docker cp nginx:/etc/nginx/nginx.conf $PWD/conf
docker cp nginx:/etc/nginx/conf.d $PWD/conf
# Stop and remove the temporary container
docker container stop nginx
docker container rm nginx

Run the Official Nginx Container with Volumes

docker run -d -p 80:80 \
       -p 443:443 \
       --name nginx \
       -v /home/worker/nginx/html:/usr/share/nginx/html \
       -v /home/worker/nginx/conf/nginx.conf:/etc/nginx/nginx.conf \
       -v /home/worker/nginx/conf/conf.d:/etc/nginx/conf.d \
       -v /home/worker/nginx/logs:/var/log/nginx \
       nginx

-d

: run container in background -p 80:80 and -p 443:443: map host ports to container ports --name: assign a name to the container -v: bind‑mount host directories/files into the container

Both HTTP (80) and HTTPS (443) ports should be mapped to avoid service interruptions when switching protocols.

Simple Nginx Configuration Example

server {
    listen 443 ssl;
    server_name www.xxx.com; # domain with a valid certificate
    ssl_certificate     /etc/nginx/conf.d/certs/xxxx.pem;
    ssl_certificate_key /etc/nginx/conf.d/certs/xxxx.key;
    ssl_session_timeout 5m;
    ssl_protocols TLSv1 TLSv1.1 TLSv1.2;
    ssl_ciphers ALL:!ADH:!EXPORT56:RC4+RSA:+HIGH:+MEDIUM:+LOW:+SSLv2:+EXP;
    ssl_prefer_server_ciphers on;
    location / {
        root  /usr/share/nginx/html/admin;
        index  index.html index.htm;
    }
    location /admin {
        alias   /usr/share/nginx/html/admin;
        index  index.html index.htm;
    }
    location /s {
        proxy_pass http://127.0.0.1:8080/;
    }
}

The ssl_certificate and ssl_certificate_key files are typically placed under /etc/nginx/conf.d on the host, allowing easy replacement without rebuilding the image.

Conclusion

The guide covered changing the repository source on CentOS 8, installing and starting Docker, configuring a dedicated Docker user group, and deploying an Nginx container with a basic HTTPS configuration, providing a ready‑to‑use reference for similar server setups.