Docker allows us to create and share software using Docker images. The docker container can always run it for you. Now you will have the question, what is this Docker Container?
Docker containers are the running instances of the Docker images that hold the entire package needed to run the application. In this tutorial, we are going to learn how to stop and restart a docker container forcefully. By using some Docker commands, you can achieve this. In order to stop a Docker container, we need to have one and start it. Let's know how to create a Docker Container.
How to create and run a Docker container from the Docker image?
We will use the Busybox image to create our container, this image will allow us to run some Linux commands
inside the container, we are going to create.
Run the following command in your terminal -
docker run busybox
This command will check whether you have this image locally or not. If you don't have the image you can download it from the Docker hub.
You can use other commands instead of run command-
# get busybox image from dockerhub
docker pull busybox
# create a new container from the this image
docker create busybox
Now, we have the Docker image on our local computer. Let's create a new Docker container by using the Busybox docker image.
We will use the Ping command so that the container will run constantly.
docker create busybox ping google.com
the above command will create a new container which will return the container id, the container id will look like this - 8ccb2a811121333a8be38ed25195000522c76e596a10f21c6991c819076afc8f
Use the following command to start the container, it will run constantly.
docker start 8ccb2a811121333a8be38ed25195000522c76e596a10f21c6991c819076afc8f
Alright, our container is running, but you won't see any output of this command because the container is running in the background.
To check if the docker container is running, try the following command -
docker ps
the output of this command will look like this -
CONTAINER ID IMAGE COMMAND CREATED STATUS PORTS NAMES
8ccb2a811121 busybox "ping google.com" 2 minutes ago Up About a minute unruffled_almeid
Now is the part where we will stop this running container.
How to stop the running Docker Container?
Docker stop command is used to stop the container we run. This command sends a SIGTERM signal to the running container process but this stop command takes some time to actually stop the container.
Syntax -
docker stop <container-id>
Let's stop the running container using the stop command, write the following command in your terminal -
docker stop 8ccb2a811121
You can check whether the container is still running or not using the docker ps command we have used already.
We can also stop the container using the kill command.
How to kill a docker container?
Docker kill commands instantly stop the container without taking any time. It is similar to the docker stop command, it just sends a SIGKILL signal to the running container process.
Syntax -
docker kill <container-id>
Run the kill command and your running container will be stopped immediately.
How to restart the Docker Container?
If you want to restart your container that is already stopped then you can use the docker start command to restart the container. Just like we used it when we created our container.
There is a docker restart command which can be used to restart the container which is already running in the background.
Syntax -
docker restart <container-id>
Conclusion
Docker containers are the running instances of Docker images that hold the entire package needed to run an application.
In this tutorial, we learned how to stop and restart a Docker container using Docker commands. We also learned how to create and run a Docker container from a Docker image. By using the docker stop command, we can stop a running container by sending a SIGTERM signal to the running container process. Similarly, the docker kill command can be used to stop the container instantly by sending a SIGKILL signal. To restart a stopped container, we can use the docker start command, and for a running container, we can use the docker restart command.
Understanding these commands will help you manage Docker containers effectively. Now you know everything about how to stop or restart a docker container, best of Luck!
Frequently Asked Questions
1. How do I stop a Docker container?
To stop a Docker container, you can use the "docker stop" command followed by the container ID or name. If you want to stop the container immediately without giving it a chance to clean up, you can use the "docker kill" command instead.
2. How do I restart a Docker container?
To restart a stopped Docker container, you can use the "docker start" command followed by the container ID or name. If you want to restart a running container, you can use the "docker restart" command instead.
3. How do I remove a Docker container?
To remove a Docker container, you can use the "docker rm" command followed by the container ID or name. If you want to remove a running container, you'll need to stop it first using the "docker stop" command.
4. How can I access a Docker container's terminal or shell?
You can access a Docker container's terminal or shell using the "docker exec" command followed by the container ID or name and the command to run inside the container.
