Master Docker: Install, Accelerate Images, and Manage Containers on Linux, Windows, and macOS

This article provides a comprehensive guide to Docker images, covering installation on various operating systems, configuring image accelerators, and managing Docker images.

Install Docker

CentOS

Docker requires a kernel version higher than 3.10. Check the kernel version with: uname -r Update packages and remove old Docker versions:

sudo yum update

sudo yum remove docker docker-common docker-selinux docker-engine

Install required utilities:

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

Set YUM repository

Official repo:

sudo yum-config-manager --add-repo https://download.docker.com/linux/centos/docker-ce.repo

Aliyun repo:

sudo yum-config-manager --add-repo http://mirrors.aliyun.com/docker-ce/linux/centos/docker-ce.repo

Tsinghua repo:

sudo yum-config-manager --add-repo https://mirrors.tuna.tsinghua.edu.cn/docker-ce/linux/centos/docker-ce.repo

Install Docker

sudo yum install docker-ce

List available versions and install a specific one:

yum list docker-ce --showduplicates | sort -r
sudo yum install docker-ce-<version>.ce

Start Docker and enable on boot:

sudo systemctl start docker
sudo systemctl enable docker

Verify installation:

docker version

Ubuntu

System requirements

Docker CE supports Ubuntu 14.04 (Trusty), 16.04 (Xenial), and 17.10 (Artful). LTS versions are recommended for production.

Remove old versions

sudo apt-get remove docker \
    docker-engine \
    docker.io

Automatic installation script

curl -fsSL get.docker.com -o get-docker.sh
sudo sh get-docker.sh --mirror AzureChinaCloud

Start Docker:

sudo systemctl enable docker
sudo systemctl start docker

Docker Image Accelerator

To speed up image pulls in China, configure a registry mirror such as Docker's official China mirror, Alibaba Cloud, or DaoCloud. Example using Alibaba Cloud:

DOCKER_OPTS="--registry-mirror=https://xxxxxxxx.mirror.aliyuncs.com"

For systemd‑based systems, create /etc/docker/daemon.json:

{
  "registry-mirrors": [
    "https://xxxxxxxx.mirror.aliyuncs.com"
  ]
}

Restart Docker and verify with:

docker info

Docker Images

Pulling images

Use docker pull [options] [registry/][repository][:tag]. Example: docker pull ubuntu:16.04 The command shows layer IDs and the image digest.

Running containers

Run an interactive Bash shell from an image: docker run -it --rm ubuntu:16.04 bash Explanation of flags: -i (interactive), -t (tty), --rm (remove container after exit).

Listing images

Show downloaded images: docker image ls Columns include repository, tag, image ID, creation time, and size.

Dangling images

Images without a repository or tag appear as <none>. List them with: docker image ls -f dangling=true Remove them with:

docker image prune

Intermediate images

Use -a to list all images, including intermediate layers.

Filtering and formatting

Filter by repository, tag, or label, and format output with --format or -q for IDs only.

Removing images

Delete by ID, name, or digest:

docker image rm 501   # short ID
docker image rm centos # repository:tag
docker image rm node@sha256:...

When an image has multiple tags, Docker first un‑tags it; the image is deleted only after all tags are removed and no containers depend on it.

Important notes for CentOS/RHEL

CentOS/RHEL lack native UnionFS drivers, so Docker defaults to the devicemapper driver with loop‑lvm, which has performance and stability drawbacks. Configuring direct‑lvm for devicemapper is recommended.