Docker containers

A Docker container is a lightweight, standalone, and executable package that contains everything needed to run an application, including code, libraries, system tools, and runtime. Containers are isolated from each other and from the host system, which makes them an ideal tool for development, testing, and deployment.

Creating a Docker container

To create a Docker container, you need to write a Dockerfile, which is a simple text file that describes the application and its dependencies. The Dockerfile contains a set of instructions that Docker uses to build the container image. For example, to create a container for a Python web application, you can use the following Dockerfile:

FROM python:3.9-slim-buster
WORKDIR /app
COPY requirements.txt .
RUN pip install --no-cache-dir -r requirements.txt
COPY . .
CMD ["python", "app.py"]

In this Dockerfile, we specify the base image (Python 3.9), set the working directory, copy the requirements file, install the dependencies, copy the application code, and set the default command to run the application. Once you have written the Dockerfile, you can use the docker build command to build the container image:

$ docker build -t myapp:latest .

This command will read the Dockerfile and create an image named myapp with the tag latest. The . at the end of the command specifies the build context, which is the directory containing the Dockerfile and the application code.

To run the container, you can use the docker run command:

$ docker run -p 8080:8080 myapp:latest

This command will start a container from the myapp:latest image and map the container's port 8080 to the host's port 8080. You can now access the application by opening a web browser and navigating to http://localhost:8080.

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