How to install Docker on Ubuntu 18.04

Docker is a container management service that allows developers to build applications, ship them into containers, and run them anywhere. Hence, you can create your own custom environments that can include a variety of Operating Systems and developing frameworks.

Docker has two versions:

• Docker CE: Community Edition
• Docker EE: Enterprise Edition

If the project you are working on is small scale, Docker CE will work just fine.

Prerequisites

Before installing Docker, you need to make sure that the following things are available on your system:

• Ubuntu 18.04 64-bit operating system.
• Your user account with sudo privileges.
• Command-line interface / terminal.

Step 1: Update Repositories

Before beginning, it’s a good idea to update the local database of your software to make sure that there is access to the latest revisions.

To do so, run the following command on the terminal:

sudo apt-get update

Step 2: Remove prior installations

Next, you need to make sure that your system does not have any prior Docker software installation that may be outdated. For that, run:

sudo apt-get remove docker docker-engine docker.io

Step 3: Install Docker

To install Docker on Ubuntu 18.04, run the following command in the terminal:

sudo apt install docker.io

Step 4: Start and automate Docker

In order for Docker to be up and running at system startup, run the following commands one by one:

sudo systemctl start docker

sudo systemctl enable docker

Step 5: Check version

To verify whether the installation has been successful, it is a good idea to verify the Docker version number installed. For that, run:

docker --version

The version number of the installed Docker software will be visible on the terminal.