Demo Docker Commands Part 1

In this lesson you’ll run your first Docker containers and explore Docker Hub — Docker’s central registry of prebuilt images you can use to create containers locally. Docker Hub hosts images for many purposes: base operating systems (Ubuntu, Alpine, Debian), web servers (NGINX), databases (Postgres, MySQL, MongoDB), machine learning frameworks (TensorFlow, PyTorch), and more. Choose an image and run it with docker run to create a container. Useful links:

Example terminal prompt used below:

ubuntu@docker-demo:~$

What you’ll see in this lesson

Pulling small base images (Alpine) and running short commands
Running a service image (NGINX) and mapping ports to access it from the host
Quick reference for common docker run flags

Image category	Use case	Example
Minimal OS	Fast pulls, small attack surface	`docker run alpine`
Web server	Host static sites or reverse proxy	`docker run --rm -p 8080:80 nginx`
Database	Run stateful services (use volumes for persistence)	`docker run --rm -e POSTGRES_PASSWORD=mysecret postgres`
ML frameworks	Experiment with models in isolated environments	`docker run --gpus all tensorflow/tensorflow:latest-gpu`

Try a minimal OS image: Alpine

Alpine Linux is a tiny distribution commonly used for base images. Its small size (a few MB) makes pulls fast and is ideal for lightweight containers. Run Alpine (no command specified):

ubuntu@docker-demo:~$ docker run alpine

If the image is not present locally, Docker pulls it first. Example summarized output when pulling:

Unable to find image 'alpine:latest' locally
latest: Pulling from library/alpine
Digest: sha256:5b10f432ef3da1b8d4c7eb6c487f2f5a8f096bc91145e68878dd4a5019afde1
Status: Downloaded newer image for alpine:latest

Note: Running docker run alpine with no foreground process typically exits immediately because the container has nothing to keep it alive. To run a short-lived command inside the container:

ubuntu@docker-demo:~$ docker run alpine sleep 10

This creates a container, runs sleep 10 inside it, and then the container exits after 10 seconds.

Containers remain running only while their main process runs. To explore a container interactively, start a shell with docker run -it --rm alpine sh. The --rm flag removes the container when it exits.

To inspect a file or output non-interactively and remove the container afterwards:

ubuntu@docker-demo:~$ docker run --rm alpine cat /etc/os-release

This prints the OS release info, then exits and removes the container.

Run a real application: NGINX

NGINX images are available in several variants (Alpine-based, slim, full) and tagged per version. Run the default NGINX image:

ubuntu@docker-demo:~$ docker run nginx

If the image isn’t local, Docker pulls required layers first. Example summarized startup logs:

Unable to find image 'nginx:latest' locally
latest: Pulling from library/nginx
Status: Downloaded newer image for nginx:latest
/docker-entrypoint.sh: /docker-entrypoint.d/ is not empty, will attempt to perform configuration
/docker-entrypoint.sh: Launching /docker-entrypoint.d/10-listen-on-ipv6-by-default.sh
/docker-entrypoint.sh: Configuration complete; ready for start up
2026/05/18 17:10:32 [notice] 1#1: using the "epoll" event method
2026/05/18 17:10:32 [notice] 1#1: nginx/1.31.0
2026/05/18 17:10:32 [notice] 1#1: start worker processes

By default the container listens on port 80 internally. To access the server from your host, publish the container port to a host port:

ubuntu@docker-demo:~$ docker run --rm -p 8080:80 nginx

Then open http://localhost:8080 (or the host IP and port) to see the NGINX welcome page.

When mapping container ports to host ports, be careful exposing services directly to public networks. For production use, secure your service, use firewalls, and control access. Avoid publishing unnecessary ports.

Quick reference: common docker run flags

Flag	Purpose	Example
`-it`	Interactive terminal (allocate TTY and keep STDIN open)	`docker run -it alpine sh`
`--rm`	Remove container after exit (useful for one-off commands)	`docker run --rm alpine cat /etc/os-release`
`-p host:container`	Publish container port to host	`docker run -p 8080:80 nginx`
`-e KEY=VALUE`	Set environment variable inside container	`docker run -e POSTGRES_PASSWORD=secret postgres`
`--name`	Assign a name to the container	`docker run --name my-nginx -p 8080:80 nginx`
`-v host:container`	Mount host directory or volume	`docker run -v /host/data:/data my-image`

Next steps

After this introduction, useful topics to learn next include:

Image tags and version pinning (use specific tags, not latest)
Persistent storage with volumes
Container networking and port management
Container lifecycle and process management

Introduction

Docker Commands

Docker Images

Docker Compose

Docker Engine, Storage

Docker Networking

Docker Registry

Docker on Mac & Windows

Container Orchestration - Docker Swarm & Kubernetes

Conclusion

Docker Run Commands

Demo Docker Commands Part 1

What you’ll see in this lesson

Try a minimal OS image: Alpine

Run a real application: NGINX

Quick reference: common docker run flags

Next steps

Watch Video

​What you’ll see in this lesson

​Try a minimal OS image: Alpine

​Run a real application: NGINX

​Quick reference: common docker run flags

​Next steps

Watch Video

What you’ll see in this lesson

Try a minimal OS image: Alpine

Run a real application: NGINX

Quick reference: common docker run flags

Next steps