Like for example if I use command docker run -it alpine /bin/sh
it starts a terminal after which I can install packages and all. Now when I use exit
command it goes back to the terminal. (main one)
So how can I access the same container again?
When I run that command again, I get a fresh alpine.
Please help
The container lives as long as the specified run command process is still running. When you specify to run /bin/sh
, once you exit, the sh process will die and so will you container.
If you want to keep your container running, you have to keep the process inside running. For your case (I am not sure what you want to acheive, I assume you are just testing), the following will keep it running
docker run -d --name alpine alpine tail -f /dev/null
Then you can sh
into the container using
docker exec -it alpine sh
You should use docker start
, which allows you to start a stopped container. If you didn't name your container, you'll need to get it's name/id using docker ps
.
For example,
$docker ps
CONTAINER ID IMAGE COMMAND
4c01db0b339c alpine bash
$docker start -i -a 4c01db0b339c
Pull an image
docker image pull alpine
See that image is there
docker image ls OR just docker images
see what is inside the alpine
docker run alpine ls -al
Now your question is how to stay with the shell
docker container run -it alpine /bin/sh
You are inside shell script command line. Some distribution may have bash shell.
docker exec -it 5f4 sh
/ # (<-- you can run linux command here!)
At this point, you can use command line of alpine and do
ls -al
type exit to come out-
You can run it in detached mode and it will keep running.
With exec command we can login again
docker container run -it -d alpine /bin/sh
verify that it is UP and copy the FIRST 2 -3 digits of the container ID
docker container ls
login with exec command
docker exec -it <CONTAINER ID or just 2-3 digits> sh
You will need to STOP otherwise it will keep running.
docker stop <CONTAINER ID>
Run Alpine in background
$ docker run --name alpy -dit alpine
$ docker ps
Attach to Alpine
$ docker attach alpy
What you should do is below
docker run -d --name myalpine alpine tail -f /dev/null
This would make sure that your container doesn't die. Now whenever you need to install packages inside you just get inside the container using sh
docker exec -it myalpine /bin/sh
If for some reason your container dies, you can still start it again using
docker start myalpine