Docker Interview Questions and Answers
1. What is Docker?
Docker is an open-source containerization platform. It is used to automate the deployment of any
application, using lightweight, portable containers.
2. What are Docker’s most notable features?
Docker’s most essential features include:
Application agility
Developer productivity
Easy modeling
Operational efficiencies
Placement and affinity
Version control
3. Why should anyone use Docker? What does it offer?
Docker gives users many incentives for adoption, such as:
An efficient and easy initial set up experience
The means to describe an application lifecycle in detail
Simple configuration and smooth interaction with Docker Compose
Complete and well-detailed documentation
Ability to run on a PC or enterprise IT system with equal ease
4. What about the opposite? Does Docker have any downsides?
Docker isn’t perfect. It comes with its share of drawbacks, including:
Lacks a storage option
Monitoring options are less than ideal
You can’t automatically reschedule inactive nodes
Automatic horizontal scaling set up is complicated
5. Name and explain the various Docker components.
The three main Docker components are:
1. Docker Client. Performs Docker build pull and run operations to open up
communication with the Docker Host. The Docker command then employs Docker API
to call any queries to run.
2. Docker Host. Contains Docker daemon, containers, and associated images. The Docker
daemon establishes a connection with the Registry. The stored images are the type of
metadata dedicated to containerized applications.
3. Registry. This is where Docker images are stored. There are two of them, a public
registry and a private one. Docker Hub and Docker Cloud are two public registries
available for use by anyone.
6. What is a container?
Containers are deployed applications bundled with all necessary dependencies and configuration
files. All of the elements share the same OS kernel. Since the container isn’t tied to any one IT
infrastructure, it can run on a different system or the cloud.
7. Explain virtualization.
Virtualization is the means of employing software (such as Hypervisor) to create a virtual
version of a resource such as a server, data storage, or application. Virtualization lets you divide
a system into a series of separate sections, each one acting as a distinct individual system. The
virtual environment is called a virtual machine.
8. What’s the difference between virtualization and containerization?
Virtualization is an abstract version of a physical machine, while containerization is the abstract
version of an application.
9. Last simple question…Describe a Docker container’s lifecycle.
Although there are several different ways of describing the steps in a Docker container’s
lifecycle, the following is the most common:
1. Create container
2. Run container
3. Pause container
4. Unpause container
5. Start container
6. Stop container
7. Restart container
8. Kill container
9. Destroy container
We will next look at the intermediate-level docker interview questions and answers.
Exclusive Intermediate Interview Questions on Docker
10. Name the essential Docker commands and what they do.
The most critical Docker commands are:
Build. Builds a Docker image file
Commit. Creates a new image from container changes
Create. Creates a new container
Dockerd. Launches Docker daemon
Kill. Kills a container
11. What are Docker object labels?
Labels are the mechanism for applying metadata to Docker objects such as containers, images,
local daemons, networks, volumes, and nodes.
12. How do you find stored Docker volumes?
Use the command: /var/lib/docker/volumes
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13. How do you check the versions of Docker Client and Server?
This command gives you all the information you need: $ docker version
14. Show how you would create a container from an image.
To create a container, you pull an image from the Docker repository and run it using the
following command: $ docker run -it -d <image_name>
15. How about a command to stop the container?
Use the following command: $ sudo docker stop container name
16. How would you list all of the containers currently running?
Use the command: $ docker ps
17. What’s involved in scaling a Docker container?
Docker containers have the potential to be scaled to any level needed. Thanks to the platform’s
flexibility, you can have anything from a few hundred to a few thousand, to millions of
containers, providing they all have continual, unconstrained access to the required memory and
OS.
18. What do you know about the Docker system prune?
It’s a command used to remove all stopped containers, unused networks, build caches, and
dangling images. Prune is one of the most useful commands in Docker. The syntax is: $ docker
system prune
We will next look into the advanced level docker interview questions and answers.
Advanced Docker Interview Questions for Experienced
Professionals
19. List some of the more advanced Docker commands and what they do.
Some advanced commands include:
Docker info. Displays system-wide information regarding the Docker installation
Docker pull. Downloads an image
Docker stats. Provides you with container information
Docker images. Lists downloaded images
20. Can you lose data stored in a container?
Any data stored in a container remains there unless you delete the container.
21. What platforms can you run Docker on?
The Linux platforms are:
ArchLinux
CentOS 6+
CRUX 3.0+
Fedora 19/20+
Gentoo
openSUSE 12.3+
RHEL 6.5+
Ubuntu 12.04, 13.04 et al
Docker can also run on the following cloud-based platforms:
Amazon EC2
Amazon ECS
Google Compute Engine
Microsoft Azure
Rackspace
22. Which is the best method for removing a container: the command “stop
container” followed by the command “remove the container,” the rm command
by itself?
Stop the container first, then remove it. Here’s how:
$ docker stop <coontainer_id>
$ docker rm -f <container_id>
23. Can a container restart on its own?
Since the default flag -reset is set to false, a container cannot restart by itself.
24. How do Docker daemon and the Docker client communicate with each other?
You use a combination of Rest API, socket.IO, and TCP to facilitate communication.
25. Can you implement continuous development (CD) and continuous integration
(CI) in Docker?
Yes, you can. You can run Jenkins on Docker and use Docker Compose to run integration tests.
26. Finally, how do you create a Docker swarm?
Use the following command: docker swarm init –advertise-addr <manager IP>
