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ced4568andClaude Sonnet 5 682ef2de47 feat(root04): author Containers & Docker
Adds all 8 ROOT 04 modules (why containers exist, images & containers, Docker CLI, container
networking, container storage, Dockerfile & image build, Docker Compose, containers →
Kubernetes) — 43 activities, using the nested Docker Engine Phase 6D built and tested. Modules
1, 2, and 8 are conceptual (no lab by design) — the honest bridge module (M8) explicitly names
what Kubernetes adds beyond what this course already taught, without re-teaching Kubernetes
itself.

Adds 5 new hands-on Docker scenarios plus 2 MCQs, all against the real nested Docker Engine:
docker-cli-basics (run/exec/inspect a real container), docker-container-networking (a genuine
"works internally, unreachable from host" port-publishing failure, diagnosed and fixed by
recreating the container with the correct `-p` flag), docker-container-storage (a real
destroy/recreate cycle proving named-volume persistence, not just described), docker-build-image
(a real Dockerfile, a real build, a real custom image run), and docker-compose-multiservice (a
real two-service Compose application with a real published port). All tested end-to-end via the
real scenario-validation API, including negative tests.

Wires rootnode-containers-assessment (2 required + 4 random-draw scenarios) using the existing
Phase 3B assessment engine.

This completes the entire ROOT_ Foundations sequence (ROOT 01-04) — see
docs/PHASE6E_ROOT_FOUNDATIONS_COMPLETION.md.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Sonnet 5 <[email protected]>
2026-08-26 17:08:14 -05:00

2.4 KiB

Docker CLI

The commands you'll use constantly

Module 2 introduced pull/run/stop/rm conceptually. This module adds the rest of the everyday toolkit — and every one of them maps directly to a Linux concept you already have from ROOT 01.

docker ps — what's running right now

$ docker ps
CONTAINER ID   IMAGE          STATUS         NAMES
a1b2c3d4e5f6   nginx:alpine   Up 2 minutes   web

This is the container-level equivalent of ROOT 02's ps aux — "what's actually running." Add -a to see stopped containers too, not just running ones.

docker logs — what has it been saying?

$ docker logs web

The container-level equivalent of reading a service's log file from ROOT 02 — except Docker captures a container's stdout/stderr automatically, so there's no config needed to find WHERE the logs live, unlike a traditional service.

docker exec — run a NEW command inside an ALREADY-running container

$ docker exec web sh -c 'cat /etc/nginx/nginx.conf'

Different from docker run, which creates a brand-new container — exec reaches INTO an existing, running one, exactly like ROOT 01's ps/inspection commands but scoped to one specific container's process namespace.

docker inspect — the full, detailed truth about a container

$ docker inspect web --format '{{.State.Running}}'
true

Returns a large JSON document with everything Docker knows about a container — --format lets you extract just the one field you care about, rather than reading the whole thing.

docker stop vs docker rm

docker stop gracefully stops a running container (sends SIGTERM, then SIGKILL after a grace period — literally ROOT 01's process-signals lesson, applied to a container's main process). docker rm deletes a STOPPED container entirely — docker rm -f combines both (force-stop then remove) in one step.

Instructor Notes

Lesson goal: Explicitly map every Docker CLI command back to the equivalent ROOT 01/02 Linux concept students already have — this is a translation exercise, not new material.

Approximate timing: 15 minutes read; 10 minutes live.

Common misconception to watch for: confusing docker run (creates a new container) with docker exec (runs a command in an existing one) — a very common early mixup.

Demo idea: run docker exec against a container, then immediately docker run the same image again, and compare docker ps before/after to show the difference concretely.