Docker Tutorial Series, Part 8: Docker Remote API

In the last post, as part of our on-going Docker Tutorial Series, we discussed Docker Hub and Docker Registry API. In today’s post, let’s delve into Docker Remote API.

Docker Remote API

Docker Remote API is a REST API that replaces the remote command-line interface — rcli. For the purpose of this tutorial, we have used cURL which is a command-line tool that handles url manipulations. It helps make requests, get and send data, and retrieve information.

List docker containers – Get the Docker container list using the following command:

GET /containers/json

Create a new container – A new container can be created using:

POST /containers/create 

Inspect Container- The command used to return low-level information about a container with the id is:

GET /containers/(id)/json

Process List – To obtain the list of processes running inside a container, use:

GET /containers/(id)/top

Container Logs – Collect stdout and stderr logs from the container using:

GET /containers/(id)/logs

Export Container – Use the following command to export the contents of the container:

GET /containers/(id)/export

Start a container – Use Docker command:

POST /containers/(id)/start

Stop a container – Use Docker command:

POST /containers/(id)/stop

Restart a Container – Use Docker command:

POST /containers/(id)/restart

Kill a container – Use Docker command:

POST /containers/(id)/kill

Now that we’ve taken you on the next leg of this Docker API journey, watch out for the continuation of this post to learn about Docker Remote API commands for Images. It’s all part of our on-going Docker Tutorial Series that you can find here every Thursday.