# Docker run reference Docker runs processes in isolated containers. A container is a process which runs on a host. The host may be local or remote. When an operator executes `docker run`, the container process that runs is isolated in that it has its own file system, its own networking, and its own isolated process tree separate from the host. This page details how to use the `docker run` command to define the container's resources at runtime. ## General form The basic `docker run` command takes this form: $ docker run [OPTIONS] IMAGE[:TAG|@DIGEST] [COMMAND] [ARG...] The `docker run` command must specify an [*IMAGE*](/reference/glossary/#image) to derive the container from. An image developer can define image defaults related to: * detached or foreground running * container identification * network settings * runtime constraints on CPU and memory * privileges and LXC configuration With the `docker run [OPTIONS]` an operator can add to or override the image defaults set by a developer. And, additionally, operators can override nearly all the defaults set by the Docker runtime itself. The operator's ability to override image and Docker runtime defaults is why [*run*](/reference/commandline/cli/run/) has more options than any other `docker` command. To learn how to interpret the types of `[OPTIONS]`, see [*Option types*](/reference/commandline/cli/#option-types). > **Note**: Depending on your Docker system configuration, you may be > required to preface the `docker run` command with `sudo`. To avoid > having to use `sudo` with the `docker` command, your system > administrator can create a Unix group called `docker` and add users to > it. For more information about this configuration, refer to the Docker > installation documentation for your operating system. ## Operator exclusive options Only the operator (the person executing `docker run`) can set the following options. - [Detached vs foreground](#detached-vs-foreground) - [Detached (-d)](#detached-d) - [Foreground](#foreground) - [Container identification](#container-identification) - [Name (--name)](#name-name) - [PID equivalent](#pid-equivalent) - [IPC settings (--ipc)](#ipc-settings-ipc) - [Network settings](#network-settings) - [Restart policies (--restart)](#restart-policies-restart) - [Clean up (--rm)](#clean-up-rm) - [Runtime constraints on resources](#runtime-constraints-on-resources) - [Runtime privilege, Linux capabilities, and LXC configuration](#runtime-privilege-linux-capabilities-and-lxc-configuration) ## Detached vs foreground When starting a Docker container, you must first decide if you want to run the container in the background in a "detached" mode or in the default foreground mode: -d=false: Detached mode: Run container in the background, print new container id ### Detached (-d) To start a container in detached mode, you use `-d=true` or just `-d` option. By design, containers started in detached mode exit when the root process used to run the container exits. A container in detached mode cannot be automatically removed when it stops, this means you cannot use the `--rm` option with `-d` option. Do not pass a `service x start` command to a detached container. For example, this command attempts to start the `nginx` service. $ docker run -d -p 80:80 my_image service nginx start This succeeds in starting the `nginx` service inside the container. However, it fails the detached container paradigm in that, the root process (`service nginx start`) returns and the detached container stops as designed. As a result, the `nginx` service is started but could not be used. Instead, to start a process such as the `nginx` web server do the following: $ docker run -d -p 80:80 my_image nginx -g 'daemon off;' To do input/output with a detached container use network connections or shared volumes. These are required because the container is no longer listening to the command line where `docker run` was run. To reattach to a detached container, use `docker` [*attach*](/reference/commandline/attach) command. ### Foreground In foreground mode (the default when `-d` is not specified), `docker run` can start the process in the container and attach the console to the process's standard input, output, and standard error. It can even pretend to be a TTY (this is what most command line executables expect) and pass along signals. All of that is configurable: -a=[] : Attach to `STDIN`, `STDOUT` and/or `STDERR` -t=false : Allocate a pseudo-tty --sig-proxy=true: Proxify all received signal to the process (non-TTY mode only) -i=false : Keep STDIN open even if not attached If you do not specify `-a` then Docker will [attach all standard streams]( https://github.com/docker/docker/blob/ 75a7f4d90cde0295bcfb7213004abce8d4779b75/commands.go#L1797). You can specify to which of the three standard streams (`STDIN`, `STDOUT`, `STDERR`) you'd like to connect instead, as in: $ docker run -a stdin -a stdout -i -t ubuntu /bin/bash For interactive processes (like a shell), you must use `-i -t` together in order to allocate a tty for the container process. `-i -t` is often written `-it` as you'll see in later examples. Specifying `-t` is forbidden when the client standard output is redirected or piped, such as in: `echo test | docker run -i busybox cat`. >**Note**: A process running as PID 1 inside a container is treated >specially by Linux: it ignores any signal with the default action. >So, the process will not terminate on `SIGINT` or `SIGTERM` unless it is >coded to do so. ## Container identification ### Name (--name) The operator can identify a container in three ways: - UUID long identifier ("f78375b1c487e03c9438c729345e54db9d20cfa2ac1fc3494b6eb60872e74778") - UUID short identifier ("f78375b1c487") - Name ("evil_ptolemy") The UUID identifiers come from the Docker daemon, and if you do not assign a name to the container with `--name` then the daemon will also generate a random string name too. The name can become a handy way to add meaning to a container since you can use this name when defining [*links*](/userguide/dockerlinks) (or any other place you need to identify a container). This works for both background and foreground Docker containers. ### PID equivalent Finally, to help with automation, you can have Docker write the container ID out to a file of your choosing. This is similar to how some programs might write out their process ID to a file (you've seen them as PID files): --cidfile="": Write the container ID to the file ### Image[:tag] While not strictly a means of identifying a container, you can specify a version of an image you'd like to run the container with by adding `image[:tag]` to the command. For example, `docker run ubuntu:14.04`. ### Image[@digest] Images using the v2 or later image format have a content-addressable identifier called a digest. As long as the input used to generate the image is unchanged, the digest value is predictable and referenceable. ## PID settings (--pid) --pid="" : Set the PID (Process) Namespace mode for the container, 'host': use the host's PID namespace inside the container By default, all containers have the PID namespace enabled. PID namespace provides separation of processes. The PID Namespace removes the view of the system processes, and allows process ids to be reused including pid 1. In certain cases you want your container to share the host's process namespace, basically allowing processes within the container to see all of the processes on the system. For example, you could build a container with debugging tools like `strace` or `gdb`, but want to use these tools when debugging processes within the container. $ docker run --pid=host rhel7 strace -p 1234 This command would allow you to use `strace` inside the container on pid 1234 on the host. ## UTS settings (--uts) --uts="" : Set the UTS namespace mode for the container, 'host': use the host's UTS namespace inside the container The UTS namespace is for setting the hostname and the domain that is visible to running processes in that namespace. By default, all containers, including those with `--net=host`, have their own UTS namespace. The `host` setting will result in the container using the same UTS namespace as the host. You may wish to share the UTS namespace with the host if you would like the hostname of the container to change as the hostname of the host changes. A more advanced use case would be changing the host's hostname from a container. > **Note**: `--uts="host"` gives the container full access to change the > hostname of the host and is therefore considered insecure. ## IPC settings (--ipc) --ipc="" : Set the IPC mode for the container, 'container:': reuses another container's IPC namespace 'host': use the host's IPC namespace inside the container By default, all containers have the IPC namespace enabled. IPC (POSIX/SysV IPC) namespace provides separation of named shared memory segments, semaphores and message queues. Shared memory segments are used to accelerate inter-process communication at memory speed, rather than through pipes or through the network stack. Shared memory is commonly used by databases and custom-built (typically C/OpenMPI, C++/using boost libraries) high performance applications for scientific computing and financial services industries. If these types of applications are broken into multiple containers, you might need to share the IPC mechanisms of the containers. ## Network settings --dns=[] : Set custom dns servers for the container --net="bridge" : Connects a container to a network 'bridge': creates a new network stack for the container on the docker bridge 'none': no networking for this container 'container:': reuses another container network stack 'host': use the host network stack inside the container 'NETWORK': connects the container to user-created network using `docker network create` command --add-host="" : Add a line to /etc/hosts (host:IP) --mac-address="" : Sets the container's Ethernet device's MAC address By default, all containers have networking enabled and they can make any outgoing connections. The operator can completely disable networking with `docker run --net none` which disables all incoming and outgoing networking. In cases like this, you would perform I/O through files or `STDIN` and `STDOUT` only. Publishing ports and linking to other containers will not work when `--net` is anything other than the default (bridge). Your container will use the same DNS servers as the host by default, but you can override this with `--dns`. By default, the MAC address is generated using the IP address allocated to the container. You can set the container's MAC address explicitly by providing a MAC address via the `--mac-address` parameter (format:`12:34:56:78:9a:bc`). Supported networks :

Network	Description
none	No networking in the container.
bridge (default)	Connect the container to the bridge via veth interfaces.
host	Use the host's network stack inside the container.
container:<name|id>	Use the network stack of another container, specified via its *name* or *id*.
NETWORK	Connects the container to a user created network (using `docker network create` command)

#### Network: none With the network is `none` a container will not have access to any external routes. The container will still have a `loopback` interface enabled in the container but it does not have any routes to external traffic. #### Network: bridge With the network set to `bridge` a container will use docker's default networking setup. A bridge is setup on the host, commonly named `docker0`, and a pair of `veth` interfaces will be created for the container. One side of the `veth` pair will remain on the host attached to the bridge while the other side of the pair will be placed inside the container's namespaces in addition to the `loopback` interface. An IP address will be allocated for containers on the bridge's network and traffic will be routed though this bridge to the container. #### Network: host With the network set to `host` a container will share the host's network stack and all interfaces from the host will be available to the container. The container's hostname will match the hostname on the host system. Note that `--add-host` `--hostname` `--dns` `--dns-search` `--dns-opt` and `--mac-address` are invalid in `host` netmode. Compared to the default `bridge` mode, the `host` mode gives *significantly* better networking performance since it uses the host's native networking stack whereas the bridge has to go through one level of virtualization through the docker daemon. It is recommended to run containers in this mode when their networking performance is critical, for example, a production Load Balancer or a High Performance Web Server. > **Note**: `--net="host"` gives the container full access to local system > services such as D-bus and is therefore considered insecure. #### Network: container With the network set to `container` a container will share the network stack of another container. The other container's name must be provided in the format of `--net container:`. Note that `--add-host` `--hostname` `--dns` `--dns-search` `--dns-opt` and `--mac-address` are invalid in `container` netmode, and `--publish` `--publish-all` `--expose` are also invalid in `container` netmode. Example running a Redis container with Redis binding to `localhost` then running the `redis-cli` command and connecting to the Redis server over the `localhost` interface. $ docker run -d --name redis example/redis --bind 127.0.0.1 $ # use the redis container's network stack to access localhost $ docker run --rm -it --net container:redis example/redis-cli -h 127.0.0.1 #### Network: User-Created NETWORK In addition to all the above special networks, user can create a network using their favorite network driver or external plugin. The driver used to create the network takes care of all the network plumbing requirements for the container connected to that network. Example creating a network using the inbuilt overlay network driver and running a container in the created network ``` $ docker network create -d overlay multi-host-network $ docker run --net=multi-host-network -itd --name=container3 busybox ``` ### Managing /etc/hosts Your container will have lines in `/etc/hosts` which define the hostname of the container itself as well as `localhost` and a few other common things. The `--add-host` flag can be used to add additional lines to `/etc/hosts`. $ docker run -it --add-host db-static:86.75.30.9 ubuntu cat /etc/hosts 172.17.0.22 09d03f76bf2c fe00::0 ip6-localnet ff00::0 ip6-mcastprefix ff02::1 ip6-allnodes ff02::2 ip6-allrouters 127.0.0.1 localhost ::1 localhost ip6-localhost ip6-loopback 86.75.30.9 db-static ## Restart policies (--restart) Using the `--restart` flag on Docker run you can specify a restart policy for how a container should or should not be restarted on exit. When a restart policy is active on a container, it will be shown as either `Up` or `Restarting` in [`docker ps`](/reference/commandline/ps). It can also be useful to use [`docker events`](/reference/commandline/events) to see the restart policy in effect. Docker supports the following restart policies:

Policy	Result
no	Do not automatically restart the container when it exits. This is the default.
on-failure[:max-retries]	Restart only if the container exits with a non-zero exit status. Optionally, limit the number of restart retries the Docker daemon attempts.
always	Always restart the container regardless of the exit status. When you specify always, the Docker daemon will try to restart the container indefinitely. The container will also always start on daemon startup, regardless of the current state of the container.
unless-stopped	Always restart the container regardless of the exit status, but do not start it on daemon startup if the container has been put to a stopped state before.

An ever increasing delay (double the previous delay, starting at 100 milliseconds) is added before each restart to prevent flooding the server. This means the daemon will wait for 100 ms, then 200 ms, 400, 800, 1600, and so on until either the `on-failure` limit is hit, or when you `docker stop` or `docker rm -f` the container. If a container is successfully restarted (the container is started and runs for at least 10 seconds), the delay is reset to its default value of 100 ms. You can specify the maximum amount of times Docker will try to restart the container when using the **on-failure** policy. The default is that Docker will try forever to restart the container. The number of (attempted) restarts for a container can be obtained via [`docker inspect`]( /reference/commandline/inspect). For example, to get the number of restarts for container "my-container"; $ docker inspect -f "{{ .RestartCount }}" my-container # 2 Or, to get the last time the container was (re)started; $ docker inspect -f "{{ .State.StartedAt }}" my-container # 2015-03-04T23:47:07.691840179Z You cannot set any restart policy in combination with ["clean up (--rm)"](#clean-up-rm). Setting both `--restart` and `--rm` results in an error. ### Examples $ docker run --restart=always redis This will run the `redis` container with a restart policy of **always** so that if the container exits, Docker will restart it. $ docker run --restart=on-failure:10 redis This will run the `redis` container with a restart policy of **on-failure** and a maximum restart count of 10. If the `redis` container exits with a non-zero exit status more than 10 times in a row Docker will abort trying to restart the container. Providing a maximum restart limit is only valid for the **on-failure** policy. ## Clean up (--rm) By default a container's file system persists even after the container exits. This makes debugging a lot easier (since you can inspect the final state) and you retain all your data by default. But if you are running short-term **foreground** processes, these container file systems can really pile up. If instead you'd like Docker to **automatically clean up the container and remove the file system when the container exits**, you can add the `--rm` flag: --rm=false: Automatically remove the container when it exits (incompatible with -d) > **Note**: When you set the `--rm` flag, Docker also removes the volumes associated with the container when the container is removed. This is similar to running `docker rm -v my-container`. ## Security configuration --security-opt="label:user:USER" : Set the label user for the container --security-opt="label:role:ROLE" : Set the label role for the container --security-opt="label:type:TYPE" : Set the label type for the container --security-opt="label:level:LEVEL" : Set the label level for the container --security-opt="label:disable" : Turn off label confinement for the container --security-opt="apparmor:PROFILE" : Set the apparmor profile to be applied to the container You can override the default labeling scheme for each container by specifying the `--security-opt` flag. For example, you can specify the MCS/MLS level, a requirement for MLS systems. Specifying the level in the following command allows you to share the same content between containers. $ docker run --security-opt label:level:s0:c100,c200 -i -t fedora bash An MLS example might be: $ docker run --security-opt label:level:TopSecret -i -t rhel7 bash To disable the security labeling for this container versus running with the `--permissive` flag, use the following command: $ docker run --security-opt label:disable -i -t fedora bash If you want a tighter security policy on the processes within a container, you can specify an alternate type for the container. You could run a container that is only allowed to listen on Apache ports by executing the following command: $ docker run --security-opt label:type:svirt_apache_t -i -t centos bash > **Note**: You would have to write policy defining a `svirt_apache_t` type. ## Specifying custom cgroups Using the `--cgroup-parent` flag, you can pass a specific cgroup to run a container in. This allows you to create and manage cgroups on their own. You can define custom resources for those cgroups and put containers under a common parent group. ## Runtime constraints on resources The operator can also adjust the performance parameters of the container: | Option | Description | |----------------------------|---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | `-m`, `--memory="" ` | Memory limit (format: `[]`, where unit = b, k, m or g) | | `--memory-swap=""` | Total memory limit (memory + swap, format: `[]`, where unit = b, k, m or g) | | `--memory-reservation=""` | Memory soft limit (format: `[]`, where unit = b, k, m or g) | | `--kernel-memory=""` | Kernel memory limit (format: `[]`, where unit = b, k, m or g) | | `-c`, `--cpu-shares=0` | CPU shares (relative weight) | | `--cpu-period=0` | Limit the CPU CFS (Completely Fair Scheduler) period | | `--cpuset-cpus="" ` | CPUs in which to allow execution (0-3, 0,1) | | `--cpuset-mems=""` | Memory nodes (MEMs) in which to allow execution (0-3, 0,1). Only effective on NUMA systems. | | `--cpu-quota=0` | Limit the CPU CFS (Completely Fair Scheduler) quota | | `--blkio-weight=0` | Block IO weight (relative weight) accepts a weight value between 10 and 1000. | | `--oom-kill-disable=false` | Whether to disable OOM Killer for the container or not. | | `--memory-swappiness="" ` | Tune a container's memory swappiness behavior. Accepts an integer between 0 and 100. | ### User memory constraints We have four ways to set user memory usage:

Option	Result
memory=inf, memory-swap=inf (default)	There is no memory limit for the container. The container can use as much memory as needed.
memory=L<inf, memory-swap=inf	(specify memory and set memory-swap as -1) The container is not allowed to use more than L bytes of memory, but can use as much swap as is needed (if the host supports swap memory).
memory=L<inf, memory-swap=2*L	(specify memory without memory-swap) The container is not allowed to use more than L bytes of memory, swap *plus* memory usage is double of that.
memory=L<inf, memory-swap=S<inf, L<=S	(specify both memory and memory-swap) The container is not allowed to use more than L bytes of memory, swap *plus* memory usage is limited by S.

Examples: $ docker run -ti ubuntu:14.04 /bin/bash We set nothing about memory, this means the processes in the container can use as much memory and swap memory as they need. $ docker run -ti -m 300M --memory-swap -1 ubuntu:14.04 /bin/bash We set memory limit and disabled swap memory limit, this means the processes in the container can use 300M memory and as much swap memory as they need (if the host supports swap memory). $ docker run -ti -m 300M ubuntu:14.04 /bin/bash We set memory limit only, this means the processes in the container can use 300M memory and 300M swap memory, by default, the total virtual memory size (--memory-swap) will be set as double of memory, in this case, memory + swap would be 2*300M, so processes can use 300M swap memory as well. $ docker run -ti -m 300M --memory-swap 1G ubuntu:14.04 /bin/bash We set both memory and swap memory, so the processes in the container can use 300M memory and 700M swap memory. Memory reservation is a kind of memory soft limit that allows for greater sharing of memory. Under normal circumstances, containers can use as much of the memory as needed and are constrained only by the hard limits set with the `-m`/`--memory` option. When memory reservation is set, Docker detects memory contention or low memory and forces containers to restrict their consumption to a reservation limit. Always set the memory reservation value below the hard limit, otherwise the hard limit takes precedence. A reservation of 0 is the same as setting no reservation. By default (without reservation set), memory reservation is the same as the hard memory limit. Memory reservation is a soft-limit feature and does not guarantee the limit won't be exceeded. Instead, the feature attempts to ensure that, when memory is heavily contended for, memory is allocated based on the reservation hints/setup. The following example limits the memory (`-m`) to 500M and sets the memory reservation to 200M. ```bash $ docker run -ti -m 500M --memory-reservation 200M ubuntu:14.04 /bin/bash ``` Under this configuration, when the container consumes memory more than 200M and less than 500M, the next system memory reclaim attempts to shrink container memory below 200M. The following example set memory reservation to 1G without a hard memory limit. ```bash $ docker run -ti --memory-reservation 1G ubuntu:14.04 /bin/bash ``` The container can use as much memory as it needs. The memory reservation setting ensures the container doesn't consume too much memory for long time, because every memory reclaim shrinks the container's consumption to the reservation. By default, kernel kills processes in a container if an out-of-memory (OOM) error occurs. To change this behaviour, use the `--oom-kill-disable` option. Only disable the OOM killer on containers where you have also set the `-m/--memory` option. If the `-m` flag is not set, this can result in the host running out of memory and require killing the host's system processes to free memory. The following example limits the memory to 100M and disables the OOM killer for this container: $ docker run -ti -m 100M --oom-kill-disable ubuntu:14.04 /bin/bash The following example, illustrates a dangerous way to use the flag: $ docker run -ti --oom-kill-disable ubuntu:14.04 /bin/bash The container has unlimited memory which can cause the host to run out memory and require killing system processes to free memory. ### Kernel memory constraints Kernel memory is fundamentally different than user memory as kernel memory can't be swapped out. The inability to swap makes it possible for the container to block system services by consuming too much kernel memory. Kernel memory includes： - stack pages - slab pages - sockets memory pressure - tcp memory pressure You can setup kernel memory limit to constrain these kinds of memory. For example, every process consumes some stack pages. By limiting kernel memory, you can prevent new processes from being created when the kernel memory usage is too high. Kernel memory is never completely independent of user memory. Instead, you limit kernel memory in the context of the user memory limit. Assume "U" is the user memory limit and "K" the kernel limit. There are three possible ways to set limits:

Option	Result
U != 0, K = inf (default)	This is the standard memory limitation mechanism already present before using kernel memory. Kernel memory is completely ignored.
U != 0, K < U	Kernel memory is a subset of the user memory. This setup is useful in deployments where the total amount of memory per-cgroup is overcommitted. Overcommitting kernel memory limits is definitely not recommended, since the box can still run out of non-reclaimable memory. In this case, the you can configure K so that the sum of all groups is never greater than the total memory. Then, freely set U at the expense of the system's service quality.
U != 0, K > U	Since kernel memory charges are also fed to the user counter and reclamation is triggered for the container for both kinds of memory. This configuration gives the admin a unified view of memory. It is also useful for people who just want to track kernel memory usage.

Examples: $ docker run -ti -m 500M --kernel-memory 50M ubuntu:14.04 /bin/bash We set memory and kernel memory, so the processes in the container can use 500M memory in total, in this 500M memory, it can be 50M kernel memory tops. $ docker run -ti --kernel-memory 50M ubuntu:14.04 /bin/bash We set kernel memory without **-m**, so the processes in the container can use as much memory as they want, but they can only use 50M kernel memory. ### Swappiness constraint By default, a container's kernel can swap out a percentage of anonymous pages. To set this percentage for a container, specify a `--memory-swappiness` value between 0 and 100. A value of 0 turns off anonymous page swapping. A value of 100 sets all anonymous pages as swappable. By default, if you are not using `--memory-swappiness`, memory swappiness value will be inherited from the parent. For example, you can set: $ docker run -ti --memory-swappiness=0 ubuntu:14.04 /bin/bash Setting the `--memory-swappiness` option is helpful when you want to retain the container's working set and to avoid swapping performance penalties. ### CPU share constraint By default, all containers get the same proportion of CPU cycles. This proportion can be modified by changing the container's CPU share weighting relative to the weighting of all other running containers. To modify the proportion from the default of 1024, use the `-c` or `--cpu-shares` flag to set the weighting to 2 or higher. If 0 is set, the system will ignore the value and use the default of 1024. The proportion will only apply when CPU-intensive processes are running. When tasks in one container are idle, other containers can use the left-over CPU time. The actual amount of CPU time will vary depending on the number of containers running on the system. For example, consider three containers, one has a cpu-share of 1024 and two others have a cpu-share setting of 512. When processes in all three containers attempt to use 100% of CPU, the first container would receive 50% of the total CPU time. If you add a fourth container with a cpu-share of 1024, the first container only gets 33% of the CPU. The remaining containers receive 16.5%, 16.5% and 33% of the CPU. On a multi-core system, the shares of CPU time are distributed over all CPU cores. Even if a container is limited to less than 100% of CPU time, it can use 100% of each individual CPU core. For example, consider a system with more than three cores. If you start one container `{C0}` with `-c=512` running one process, and another container `{C1}` with `-c=1024` running two processes, this can result in the following division of CPU shares: PID container CPU CPU share 100 {C0} 0 100% of CPU0 101 {C1} 1 100% of CPU1 102 {C1} 2 100% of CPU2 ### CPU period constraint The default CPU CFS (Completely Fair Scheduler) period is 100ms. We can use `--cpu-period` to set the period of CPUs to limit the container's CPU usage. And usually `--cpu-period` should work with `--cpu-quota`. Examples: $ docker run -ti --cpu-period=50000 --cpu-quota=25000 ubuntu:14.04 /bin/bash If there is 1 CPU, this means the container can get 50% CPU worth of run-time every 50ms. For more information, see the [CFS documentation on bandwidth limiting](https://www.kernel.org/doc/Documentation/scheduler/sched-bwc.txt). ### Cpuset constraint We can set cpus in which to allow execution for containers. Examples: $ docker run -ti --cpuset-cpus="1,3" ubuntu:14.04 /bin/bash This means processes in container can be executed on cpu 1 and cpu 3. $ docker run -ti --cpuset-cpus="0-2" ubuntu:14.04 /bin/bash This means processes in container can be executed on cpu 0, cpu 1 and cpu 2. We can set mems in which to allow execution for containers. Only effective on NUMA systems. Examples: $ docker run -ti --cpuset-mems="1,3" ubuntu:14.04 /bin/bash This example restricts the processes in the container to only use memory from memory nodes 1 and 3. $ docker run -ti --cpuset-mems="0-2" ubuntu:14.04 /bin/bash This example restricts the processes in the container to only use memory from memory nodes 0, 1 and 2. ### CPU quota constraint The `--cpu-quota` flag limits the container's CPU usage. The default 0 value allows the container to take 100% of a CPU resource (1 CPU). The CFS (Completely Fair Scheduler) handles resource allocation for executing processes and is default Linux Scheduler used by the kernel. Set this value to 50000 to limit the container to 50% of a CPU resource. For multiple CPUs, adjust the `--cpu-quota` as necessary. For more information, see the [CFS documentation on bandwidth limiting](https://www.kernel.org/doc/Documentation/scheduler/sched-bwc.txt). ### Block IO bandwidth (Blkio) constraint By default, all containers get the same proportion of block IO bandwidth (blkio). This proportion is 500. To modify this proportion, change the container's blkio weight relative to the weighting of all other running containers using the `--blkio-weight` flag. The `--blkio-weight` flag can set the weighting to a value between 10 to 1000. For example, the commands below create two containers with different blkio weight: $ docker run -ti --name c1 --blkio-weight 300 ubuntu:14.04 /bin/bash $ docker run -ti --name c2 --blkio-weight 600 ubuntu:14.04 /bin/bash If you do block IO in the two containers at the same time, by, for example: $ time dd if=/mnt/zerofile of=test.out bs=1M count=1024 oflag=direct You'll find that the proportion of time is the same as the proportion of blkio weights of the two containers. > **Note:** The blkio weight setting is only available for direct IO. Buffered IO > is not currently supported. ## Additional groups --group-add: Add Linux capabilities By default, the docker container process runs with the supplementary groups looked up for the specified user. If one wants to add more to that list of groups, then one can use this flag: $ docker run -ti --rm --group-add audio --group-add dbus --group-add 777 busybox id uid=0(root) gid=0(root) groups=10(wheel),29(audio),81(dbus),777 ## Runtime privilege, Linux capabilities, and LXC configuration --cap-add: Add Linux capabilities --cap-drop: Drop Linux capabilities --privileged=false: Give extended privileges to this container --device=[]: Allows you to run devices inside the container without the --privileged flag. --lxc-conf=[]: Add custom lxc options By default, Docker containers are "unprivileged" and cannot, for example, run a Docker daemon inside a Docker container. This is because by default a container is not allowed to access any devices, but a "privileged" container is given access to all devices (see [lxc-template.go]( https://github.com/docker/docker/blob/master/daemon/execdriver/lxc/lxc_template.go) and documentation on [cgroups devices]( https://www.kernel.org/doc/Documentation/cgroups/devices.txt)). When the operator executes `docker run --privileged`, Docker will enable to access to all devices on the host as well as set some configuration in AppArmor or SELinux to allow the container nearly all the same access to the host as processes running outside containers on the host. Additional information about running with `--privileged` is available on the [Docker Blog](http://blog.docker.com/2013/09/docker-can-now-run-within-docker/). If you want to limit access to a specific device or devices you can use the `--device` flag. It allows you to specify one or more devices that will be accessible within the container. $ docker run --device=/dev/snd:/dev/snd ... By default, the container will be able to `read`, `write`, and `mknod` these devices. This can be overridden using a third `:rwm` set of options to each `--device` flag: $ docker run --device=/dev/sda:/dev/xvdc --rm -it ubuntu fdisk /dev/xvdc Command (m for help): q $ docker run --device=/dev/sda:/dev/xvdc:r --rm -it ubuntu fdisk /dev/xvdc You will not be able to write the partition table. Command (m for help): q $ docker run --device=/dev/sda:/dev/xvdc:w --rm -it ubuntu fdisk /dev/xvdc crash.... $ docker run --device=/dev/sda:/dev/xvdc:m --rm -it ubuntu fdisk /dev/xvdc fdisk: unable to open /dev/xvdc: Operation not permitted In addition to `--privileged`, the operator can have fine grain control over the capabilities using `--cap-add` and `--cap-drop`. By default, Docker has a default list of capabilities that are kept. The following table lists the Linux capability options which can be added or dropped. | Capability Key | Capability Description | | -------------- | ---------------------- | | SETPCAP | Modify process capabilities. | | SYS_MODULE| Load and unload kernel modules. | | SYS_RAWIO | Perform I/O port operations (iopl(2) and ioperm(2)). | | SYS_PACCT | Use acct(2), switch process accounting on or off. | | SYS_ADMIN | Perform a range of system administration operations. | | SYS_NICE | Raise process nice value (nice(2), setpriority(2)) and change the nice value for arbitrary processes. | | SYS_RESOURCE | Override resource Limits. | | SYS_TIME | Set system clock (settimeofday(2), stime(2), adjtimex(2)); set real-time (hardware) clock. | | SYS_TTY_CONFIG | Use vhangup(2); employ various privileged ioctl(2) operations on virtual terminals. | | MKNOD | Create special files using mknod(2). | | AUDIT_WRITE | Write records to kernel auditing log. | | AUDIT_CONTROL | Enable and disable kernel auditing; change auditing filter rules; retrieve auditing status and filtering rules. | | MAC_OVERRIDE | Allow MAC configuration or state changes. Implemented for the Smack LSM. | | MAC_ADMIN | Override Mandatory Access Control (MAC). Implemented for the Smack Linux Security Module (LSM). | | NET_ADMIN | Perform various network-related operations. | | SYSLOG | Perform privileged syslog(2) operations. | | CHOWN | Make arbitrary changes to file UIDs and GIDs (see chown(2)). | | NET_RAW | Use RAW and PACKET sockets. | | DAC_OVERRIDE | Bypass file read, write, and execute permission checks. | | FOWNER | Bypass permission checks on operations that normally require the file system UID of the process to match the UID of the file. | | DAC_READ_SEARCH | Bypass file read permission checks and directory read and execute permission checks. | | FSETID | Don't clear set-user-ID and set-group-ID permission bits when a file is modified. | | KILL | Bypass permission checks for sending signals. | | SETGID | Make arbitrary manipulations of process GIDs and supplementary GID list. | | SETUID | Make arbitrary manipulations of process UIDs. | | LINUX_IMMUTABLE | Set the FS_APPEND_FL and FS_IMMUTABLE_FL i-node flags. | | NET_BIND_SERVICE | Bind a socket to internet domain privileged ports (port numbers less than 1024). | | NET_BROADCAST | Make socket broadcasts, and listen to multicasts. | | IPC_LOCK | Lock memory (mlock(2), mlockall(2), mmap(2), shmctl(2)). | | IPC_OWNER | Bypass permission checks for operations on System V IPC objects. | | SYS_CHROOT | Use chroot(2), change root directory. | | SYS_PTRACE | Trace arbitrary processes using ptrace(2). | | SYS_BOOT | Use reboot(2) and kexec_load(2), reboot and load a new kernel for later execution. | | LEASE | Establish leases on arbitrary files (see fcntl(2)). | | SETFCAP | Set file capabilities.| | WAKE_ALARM | Trigger something that will wake up the system. | | BLOCK_SUSPEND | Employ features that can block system suspend. | Further reference information is available on the [capabilities(7) - Linux man page](http://linux.die.net/man/7/capabilities) Both flags support the value `ALL`, so if the operator wants to have all capabilities but `MKNOD` they could use: $ docker run --cap-add=ALL --cap-drop=MKNOD ... For interacting with the network stack, instead of using `--privileged` they should use `--cap-add=NET_ADMIN` to modify the network interfaces. $ docker run -t -i --rm ubuntu:14.04 ip link add dummy0 type dummy RTNETLINK answers: Operation not permitted $ docker run -t -i --rm --cap-add=NET_ADMIN ubuntu:14.04 ip link add dummy0 type dummy To mount a FUSE based filesystem, you need to combine both `--cap-add` and `--device`: $ docker run --rm -it --cap-add SYS_ADMIN sshfs sshfs sven@10.10.10.20:/home/sven /mnt fuse: failed to open /dev/fuse: Operation not permitted $ docker run --rm -it --device /dev/fuse sshfs sshfs sven@10.10.10.20:/home/sven /mnt fusermount: mount failed: Operation not permitted $ docker run --rm -it --cap-add SYS_ADMIN --device /dev/fuse sshfs # sshfs sven@10.10.10.20:/home/sven /mnt The authenticity of host '10.10.10.20 (10.10.10.20)' can't be established. ECDSA key fingerprint is 25:34:85:75:25:b0:17:46:05:19:04:93:b5:dd:5f:c6. Are you sure you want to continue connecting (yes/no)? yes sven@10.10.10.20's password: root@30aa0cfaf1b5:/# ls -la /mnt/src/docker total 1516 drwxrwxr-x 1 1000 1000 4096 Dec 4 06:08 . drwxrwxr-x 1 1000 1000 4096 Dec 4 11:46 .. -rw-rw-r-- 1 1000 1000 16 Oct 8 00:09 .dockerignore -rwxrwxr-x 1 1000 1000 464 Oct 8 00:09 .drone.yml drwxrwxr-x 1 1000 1000 4096 Dec 4 06:11 .git -rw-rw-r-- 1 1000 1000 461 Dec 4 06:08 .gitignore .... If the Docker daemon was started using the `lxc` exec-driver (`docker daemon --exec-driver=lxc`) then the operator can also specify LXC options using one or more `--lxc-conf` parameters. These can be new parameters or override existing parameters from the [lxc-template.go]( https://github.com/docker/docker/blob/master/daemon/execdriver/lxc/lxc_template.go). Note that in the future, a given host's docker daemon may not use LXC, so this is an implementation-specific configuration meant for operators already familiar with using LXC directly. > **Note:** > If you use `--lxc-conf` to modify a container's configuration which is also > managed by the Docker daemon, then the Docker daemon will not know about this > modification, and you will need to manage any conflicts yourself. For example, > you can use `--lxc-conf` to set a container's IP address, but this will not be > reflected in the `/etc/hosts` file. ## Logging drivers (--log-driver) The container can have a different logging driver than the Docker daemon. Use the `--log-driver=VALUE` with the `docker run` command to configure the container's logging driver. The following options are supported: | `none` | Disables any logging for the container. `docker logs` won't be available with this driver. | |-------------|-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | `json-file` | Default logging driver for Docker. Writes JSON messages to file. No logging options are supported for this driver. | | `syslog` | Syslog logging driver for Docker. Writes log messages to syslog. | | `journald` | Journald logging driver for Docker. Writes log messages to `journald`. | | `gelf` | Graylog Extended Log Format (GELF) logging driver for Docker. Writes log messages to a GELF endpoint likeGraylog or Logstash. | | `fluentd` | Fluentd logging driver for Docker. Writes log messages to `fluentd` (forward input). | | `awslogs` | Amazon CloudWatch Logs logging driver for Docker. Writes log messages to Amazon CloudWatch Logs | The `docker logs` command is available only for the `json-file` and `journald` logging drivers. For detailed information on working with logging drivers, see [Configure a logging driver](/reference/logging/overview/). ## Overriding Dockerfile image defaults When a developer builds an image from a [*Dockerfile*](/reference/builder) or when she commits it, the developer can set a number of default parameters that take effect when the image starts up as a container. Four of the Dockerfile commands cannot be overridden at runtime: `FROM`, `MAINTAINER`, `RUN`, and `ADD`. Everything else has a corresponding override in `docker run`. We'll go through what the developer might have set in each Dockerfile instruction and how the operator can override that setting. - [CMD (Default Command or Options)](#cmd-default-command-or-options) - [ENTRYPOINT (Default Command to Execute at Runtime)]( #entrypoint-default-command-to-execute-at-runtime) - [EXPOSE (Incoming Ports)](#expose-incoming-ports) - [ENV (Environment Variables)](#env-environment-variables) - [VOLUME (Shared Filesystems)](#volume-shared-filesystems) - [USER](#user) - [WORKDIR](#workdir) ### CMD (default command or options) Recall the optional `COMMAND` in the Docker commandline: $ docker run [OPTIONS] IMAGE[:TAG|@DIGEST] [COMMAND] [ARG...] This command is optional because the person who created the `IMAGE` may have already provided a default `COMMAND` using the Dockerfile `CMD` instruction. As the operator (the person running a container from the image), you can override that `CMD` instruction just by specifying a new `COMMAND`. If the image also specifies an `ENTRYPOINT` then the `CMD` or `COMMAND` get appended as arguments to the `ENTRYPOINT`. ### ENTRYPOINT (default command to execute at runtime) --entrypoint="": Overwrite the default entrypoint set by the image The `ENTRYPOINT` of an image is similar to a `COMMAND` because it specifies what executable to run when the container starts, but it is (purposely) more difficult to override. The `ENTRYPOINT` gives a container its default nature or behavior, so that when you set an `ENTRYPOINT` you can run the container *as if it were that binary*, complete with default options, and you can pass in more options via the `COMMAND`. But, sometimes an operator may want to run something else inside the container, so you can override the default `ENTRYPOINT` at runtime by using a string to specify the new `ENTRYPOINT`. Here is an example of how to run a shell in a container that has been set up to automatically run something else (like `/usr/bin/redis-server`): $ docker run -i -t --entrypoint /bin/bash example/redis or two examples of how to pass more parameters to that ENTRYPOINT: $ docker run -i -t --entrypoint /bin/bash example/redis -c ls -l $ docker run -i -t --entrypoint /usr/bin/redis-cli example/redis --help ### EXPOSE (incoming ports) The following `run` command options work with container networking: --expose=[]: Expose a port or a range of ports inside the container. These are additional to those exposed by the `EXPOSE` instruction -P=false : Publish all exposed ports to the host interfaces -p=[] : Publish a container᾿s port or a range of ports to the host format: ip:hostPort:containerPort | ip::containerPort | hostPort:containerPort | containerPort Both hostPort and containerPort can be specified as a range of ports. When specifying ranges for both, the number of container ports in the range must match the number of host ports in the range, for example: -p 1234-1236:1234-1236/tcp When specifying a range for hostPort only, the containerPort must not be a range. In this case the container port is published somewhere within the specified hostPort range. (e.g., `-p 1234-1236:1234/tcp`) (use 'docker port' to see the actual mapping) --link="" : Add link to another container (:alias or ) With the exception of the `EXPOSE` directive, an image developer hasn't got much control over networking. The `EXPOSE` instruction defines the initial incoming ports that provide services. These ports are available to processes inside the container. An operator can use the `--expose` option to add to the exposed ports. To expose a container's internal port, an operator can start the container with the `-P` or `-p` flag. The exposed port is accessible on the host and the ports are available to any client that can reach the host. The `-P` option publishes all the ports to the host interfaces. Docker binds each exposed port to a random port on the host. The range of ports are within an *ephemeral port range* defined by `/proc/sys/net/ipv4/ip_local_port_range`. Use the `-p` flag to explicitly map a single port or range of ports. The port number inside the container (where the service listens) does not need to match the port number exposed on the outside of the container (where clients connect). For example, inside the container an HTTP service is listening on port 80 (and so the image developer specifies `EXPOSE 80` in the Dockerfile). At runtime, the port might be bound to 42800 on the host. To find the mapping between the host ports and the exposed ports, use `docker port`. If the operator uses `--link` when starting a new client container, then the client container can access the exposed port via a private networking interface. Docker will set some environment variables in the client container to help indicate which interface and port to use. For more information on linking, see [the guide on linking container together](/userguide/dockerlinks/) ### ENV (environment variables) When a new container is created, Docker will set the following environment variables automatically:

Variable	Value
HOME	Set based on the value of USER
HOSTNAME	The hostname associated with the container
PATH	Includes popular directories, such as : /usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/bin
TERM	xterm if the container is allocated a pseudo-TTY

The container may also include environment variables defined as a result of the container being linked with another container. See the [*Container Links*](/userguide/dockerlinks/#connect-with-the-linking-system) section for more details. Additionally, the operator can **set any environment variable** in the container by using one or more `-e` flags, even overriding those mentioned above, or already defined by the developer with a Dockerfile `ENV`: $ docker run -e "deep=purple" --rm ubuntu /bin/bash -c export declare -x HOME="/" declare -x HOSTNAME="85bc26a0e200" declare -x OLDPWD declare -x PATH="/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/bin" declare -x PWD="/" declare -x SHLVL="1" declare -x container="lxc" declare -x deep="purple" Similarly the operator can set the **hostname** with `-h`. `--link :alias` also sets environment variables, using the *alias* string to define environment variables within the container that give the IP and PORT information for connecting to the service container. Let's imagine we have a container running Redis: # Start the service container, named redis-name $ docker run -d --name redis-name dockerfiles/redis 4241164edf6f5aca5b0e9e4c9eccd899b0b8080c64c0cd26efe02166c73208f3 # The redis-name container exposed port 6379 $ docker ps CONTAINER ID IMAGE COMMAND CREATED STATUS PORTS NAMES 4241164edf6f $ dockerfiles/redis:latest /redis-stable/src/re 5 seconds ago Up 4 seconds 6379/tcp redis-name # Note that there are no public ports exposed since we didn᾿t use -p or -P $ docker port 4241164edf6f 6379 2014/01/25 00:55:38 Error: No public port '6379' published for 4241164edf6f Yet we can get information about the Redis container's exposed ports with `--link`. Choose an alias that will form a valid environment variable! $ docker run --rm --link redis-name:redis_alias --entrypoint /bin/bash dockerfiles/redis -c export declare -x HOME="/" declare -x HOSTNAME="acda7f7b1cdc" declare -x OLDPWD declare -x PATH="/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/bin" declare -x PWD="/" declare -x REDIS_ALIAS_NAME="/distracted_wright/redis" declare -x REDIS_ALIAS_PORT="tcp://172.17.0.32:6379" declare -x REDIS_ALIAS_PORT_6379_TCP="tcp://172.17.0.32:6379" declare -x REDIS_ALIAS_PORT_6379_TCP_ADDR="172.17.0.32" declare -x REDIS_ALIAS_PORT_6379_TCP_PORT="6379" declare -x REDIS_ALIAS_PORT_6379_TCP_PROTO="tcp" declare -x SHLVL="1" declare -x container="lxc" And we can use that information to connect from another container as a client: $ docker run -i -t --rm --link redis-name:redis_alias --entrypoint /bin/bash dockerfiles/redis -c '/redis-stable/src/redis-cli -h $REDIS_ALIAS_PORT_6379_TCP_ADDR -p $REDIS_ALIAS_PORT_6379_TCP_PORT' 172.17.0.32:6379> Docker will also map the private IP address to the alias of a linked container by inserting an entry into `/etc/hosts`. You can use this mechanism to communicate with a linked container by its alias: $ docker run -d --name servicename busybox sleep 30 $ docker run -i -t --link servicename:servicealias busybox ping -c 1 servicealias If you restart the source container (`servicename` in this case), the recipient container's `/etc/hosts` entry will be automatically updated. > **Note**: > Unlike host entries in the `/etc/hosts` file, IP addresses stored in the > environment variables are not automatically updated if the source container is > restarted. We recommend using the host entries in `/etc/hosts` to resolve the > IP address of linked containers. ### VOLUME (shared filesystems) -v=[]: Create a bind mount with: [host-dir:]container-dir[:], where options are comma delimited and selected from [rw|ro] and [z|Z]. If 'host-dir' is missing, then docker creates a new volume. If neither 'rw' or 'ro' is specified then the volume is mounted in read-write mode. --volumes-from="": Mount all volumes from the given container(s) > **Note**: > The auto-creation of the host path has been [*deprecated*](/misc/deprecated/#auto-creating-missing-host-paths-for-bind-mounts). The volumes commands are complex enough to have their own documentation in section [*Managing data in containers*](/userguide/dockervolumes). A developer can define one or more `VOLUME`'s associated with an image, but only the operator can give access from one container to another (or from a container to a volume mounted on the host). The `container-dir` must always be an absolute path such as `/src/docs`. The `host-dir` can either be an absolute path or a `name` value. If you supply an absolute path for the `host-dir`, Docker bind-mounts to the path you specify. If you supply a `name`, Docker creates a named volume by that `name`. A `name` value must start with start with an alphanumeric character, followed by `a-z0-9`, `_` (underscore), `.` (period) or `-` (hyphen). An absolute path starts with a `/` (forward slash). For example, you can specify either `/foo` or `foo` for a `host-dir` value. If you supply the `/foo` value, Docker creates a bind-mount. If you supply the `foo` specification, Docker creates a named volume. ### USER `root` (id = 0) is the default user within a container. The image developer can create additional users. Those users are accessible by name. When passing a numeric ID, the user does not have to exist in the container. The developer can set a default user to run the first process with the Dockerfile `USER` instruction. When starting a container, the operator can override the `USER` instruction by passing the `-u` option. -u="": Username or UID > **Note:** if you pass a numeric uid, it must be in the range of 0-2147483647. ### WORKDIR The default working directory for running binaries within a container is the root directory (`/`), but the developer can set a different default with the Dockerfile `WORKDIR` command. The operator can override this with: -w="": Working directory inside the container