05. Managing Containers with Docker on Portenta X8

Overview

Docker is a platform full of applications, called containers. Containers are isolated solutions, thus they don't have to depend on your environment. Making them portable and consistent throughout development, testing, and production.

You can download, install, use, and share applications in the form of containers. You can find all the available container images on the hub.docker.com page.

In this tutorial, we will go through the steps of how to install, run and remove Docker's official Hello-World image

Goals

• Learn how to list installed and active containers
• Learn how to install a container
• Learn how to run a container manually
• Learn how to uninstall a container

Hardware and Software Requirements

• Arduino® Portenta X8
• USB-C® cable (either USB-C® to USB-A or USB-C® to USB-C®)
• Wi-Fi® Access Point with Internet Access
• ADB: Check how to connect to your Portenta X8
• Arduino IDE 1.8.10+, Arduino IDE 2, or Arduino Web Editor

Make sure to have the Portenta X8 with the latest image as well as the bootloader. Please check how to flash your Portenta X8 to have the latest version.

Using Docker

The Portenta X8 provides Docker CLI by default. The following command will help you verify if it is installed correctly:

Copy
1docker -v

To use this tool, you will need to connect to your device first. Check how to connect using adb/ssh.

You can check Docker's reference documentation, which covers all the features of the tool in depth at docs.docker.com.

The following steps will show how to install, run and uninstall the "Hello World" container.

To avoid a lack of permissions while launching

adb shell

newgrp - docker

The previous command and other important info about Linux on your Portenta are described in the Portenta X8 User Manual.

How to Install a Container

First, you will need to search for "Hello World" container image. The container image can be found within the Docker hub, where you will be able to find a variety of readily-available container images. It will be used to verify docker is working as intended with the Portenta X8.

The following command must be used to pull the

hello-world

Copy
1docker pull hello-world

Run The Installed Container

This is the command to begin the container instance.

Copy
1docker run hello-world

To be able to see an active container with

docker ps -a

docker run

Listing The Installed Packages

The following command will display the active containers and will show the

hello-world

STATUS

Copy
1docker ps -a

The list of available images, including installed

hello-world

Copy
1docker images

How to Uninstall A Container

You will need to obtain an assigned

CONTAINER ID

rm

Copy
1docker container rm <CONTAINER ID>

For this example, the command

docker ps -a

CONTAINER ID

hello-world

c44ba77b65cb

STATUS

Granted that this is the case, you will need to stop the container and verify with

STATUS

Copy
1docker stop <CONTAINER ID>

Every time the image is re-installed or re-ran, the

CONTAINER ID

Using the

docker ps -a

hello-world

The same goes for the images if you would like to free some space. The removal command will now be as follows using

IMAGE ID

Copy
1docker rmi <IMAGE ID>

If you run

docker images

hello-world

Conclusion

In this tutorial, you have learned how to use Docker with Portenta X8. You have learned to download an image, manage, and deploy the container, and ultimately run on Portenta X8. You have also learned to remove the image and the container to control Portenta X8's available resources.

Next Steps

• Now that you have the base of the workflow to use Docker, go to its docs page and make sure you understand all the features.
• Look for a container image from Docker hub, install it and make your own application out of it.
• Create a container to run your custom-made application. For this, it may interest you Deploy a Custom Container with Portenta X8 Manager tutorial.