🐳 Docker Practical Labs

A comprehensive hands-on Docker course designed for developers in live training sessions. This repository contains practical labs organized into 4 sessions, covering everything from Docker basics to CI/CD with GitHub Actions and production deployment.

Course Overview

Session	Topic	Duration	Description
Session 1	Docker Fundamentals	2 hours	Installation, architecture, images, containers
Session 2	Storage, Networking & Compose	2 hours	Volumes, networks, Docker Compose
Session 3	Multi-Stage Builds & Security	2 hours	Optimized builds, security best practices
Session 4	CI/CD & Production Deployment	2 hours	GitHub Actions, registries, production patterns

🎯 Learning Objectives

By completing this course, you will be able to:

• ✅ Install and configure Docker on various platforms
• ✅ Build and manage Docker images using Dockerfiles
• ✅ Run and manage containers with various options
• ✅ Implement data persistence with volumes and bind mounts
• ✅ Configure Docker networking for container communication
• ✅ Use Docker Compose for multi-container applications
• ✅ Create optimized images with multi-stage builds
• ✅ Apply security best practices
• ✅ Set up CI/CD pipelines with GitHub Actions
• ✅ Deploy containerized applications to production

📋 Prerequisites

• Basic command-line knowledge
• A computer with Linux, Windows, or macOS
• Administrative/sudo privileges
• Minimum 8GB RAM recommended
• 20GB free disk space

🚀 Getting Started

1. Clone this repository:

   git clone https://github.com/same7ammar/docker-practical-labs.git
   cd docker-practical-labs

2. Start with Session 1: Navigate to Session 1: Docker Fundamentals

3. Follow the labs sequentially: Each session builds upon the previous one

📁 Repository Structure

docker-practical-labs/
├── README.md                    # This file
├── sessions/
│   ├── session-1/              # Docker Fundamentals
│   │   └── README.md
│   ├── session-2/              # Storage, Networking & Compose
│   │   └── README.md
│   ├── session-3/              # Multi-Stage Builds & Security
│   │   └── README.md
│   └── session-4/              # CI/CD & Production Deployment
│       └── README.md
└── sample-apps/                # Sample applications for labs
    ├── python-flask/
    ├── node-express/
    ├── fullstack-app/
    └── microservices-demo/     # Complete microservices project

🛠️ Sample Applications

The sample-apps directory contains ready-to-use applications for the hands-on exercises:

• python-flask/ - Simple Python Flask web application
• node-express/ - Node.js Express REST API
• fullstack-app/ - Complete full-stack application with frontend, backend, and database
• microservices-demo/ - 🌟 Complete E-Commerce Microservices Platform

🌟 Microservices Demo Project

A production-ready microservices e-commerce platform demonstrating real-world Docker patterns:

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                              NGINX (Load Balancer)                      │
└─────────────────────────────────┬───────────────────────────────────────┘
                                  │
┌─────────────────────────────────▼───────────────────────────────────────┐
│                            API Gateway                                  │
└───────────┬─────────────────────┼─────────────────┬─────────────────────┘
            │                     │                 │
┌───────────▼───────┐   ┌─────────▼───────┐   ┌─────▼───────────┐
│   User Service    │   │ Product Service │   │  Order Service  │
│   + PostgreSQL    │   │   + PostgreSQL  │   │   + PostgreSQL  │
└───────────────────┘   └─────────────────┘   └─────────────────┘

Features:

• 🔌 API Gateway pattern with routing
• 🗃️ Database per service pattern
• 🔄 Service-to-service communication
• 🏥 Health checks for all services
• 📊 Production-ready Docker Compose
• 🌐 Web frontend dashboard

Quick Start:

cd sample-apps/microservices-demo
docker compose up -d --build
# Frontend: http://localhost
# API: http://localhost:3000

📖 Full Documentation

📚 Session Details

Session 1: Docker Fundamentals

• What is Docker and why use it
• Docker installation on various platforms
• Docker architecture
• Working with Docker images
• Container lifecycle management
• Writing Dockerfiles
• Building custom images

Session 2: Storage, Networking & Compose

• Docker storage types (volumes, bind mounts, tmpfs)
• Data persistence strategies
• Docker networking concepts
• Container communication
• Docker Compose fundamentals
• Multi-service applications

Session 3: Multi-Stage Builds & Security

• Multi-stage builds for optimized images
• Image optimization techniques
• Security best practices
• Running containers as non-root
• Vulnerability scanning
• Resource management

Session 4: CI/CD & Production Deployment

• GitHub Actions for Docker
• Automated image building and testing
• Docker registries (Docker Hub, GitHub Container Registry)
• Production deployment patterns
• Health checks and graceful shutdown
• Monitoring and logging basics

💡 Tips for Success

1. Practice hands-on: Don't just read - type the commands and experiment
2. Explore: Try variations of the exercises
3. Break things: Learn by making mistakes
4. Clean up: Use docker system prune regularly to free up space
5. Ask questions: Engage with your instructor during live sessions

🔧 Troubleshooting

Common Issues

Docker daemon not running:

sudo systemctl start docker

Permission denied:

sudo usermod -aG docker $USER
# Then log out and log back in

Port already in use:

docker ps  # Find the container using the port
docker stop <container_name>

Out of disk space:

docker system prune -a --volumes

📖 Additional Resources

• Official Docker Documentation
• Docker Hub
• Play with Docker
• Docker Cheat Sheet

📄 License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.

🤝 Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please feel free to submit a Pull Request.

---

Happy Dockerizing! 🐳