Install Docker on Linux (Ubuntu, Debian and RHEL) to Manage Containers

To finish, refresh the package indexes and install the components required by Docker Engine, including the build tools and Docker Compose plugin.

sudo apt update
sudo apt install -y docker-ce docker-ce-cli containerd.io docker-buildx-plugin docker-compose-plugin

The procedures described for Ubuntu and Debian also work on WSL (Windows Subsystem for Linux).

Install Docker on Rocky Linux and RHEL distributions

If you use an RHEL- or Rocky Linux-based distribution, the procedure is slightly different because it uses the DNF package manager. Start by removing any existing or conflicting container software to ensure a clean installation.

sudo dnf remove docker docker-client docker-client-latest docker-common docker-latest docker-latest-logrotate docker-logrotate docker-engine podman runc

Once the environment is clean, install the repository-management plugin and configure Docker’s official repository to access recent engine versions.

sudo dnf -y install dnf-plugins-core
sudo dnf config-manager --add-repo https://download.docker.com/linux/rhel/docker-ce.repo

Finally, install Docker Engine and its plugins, then enable and start the service so that it launches automatically with the system.

sudo dnf install -y docker-ce docker-ce-cli containerd.io docker-buildx-plugin docker-compose-plugin
sudo systemctl start docker
sudo systemctl enable docker

Configure Docker on Linux after installation

Docker commands require superuser privileges by default. You can make everyday use easier by adding your account to the Docker group.

sudo usermod -aG docker $USER

After this change, refresh your permissions by running newgrp docker or by closing your current session and signing in again. Remember that membership of this group gives your user privileges equivalent to the system administrator. For stronger isolation, consider rootless mode.

Configure the Docker daemon for production

To stop log files from filling your storage unnecessarily, customize the Docker daemon. Create or edit /etc/docker/daemon.json with the following content to limit log size and file count.

{
  "log-driver": "json-file",
  "log-opts": {
    "max-size": "10m",
    "max-file": "3"
  }
}

After saving the file, restart the Docker service to apply the new limits immediately.

sudo systemctl restart docker

Make sure Docker is configured correctly

After installation, verify that the environment works. Run the official test container to validate the configuration immediately.

docker run hello-world

If the terminal displays “Hello from Docker!”, your Docker engine is installed and working. If there is a connection problem, check the service status to identify the cause.

systemctl status docker

You can also use a more detailed inspection command to view the daemon status, allocated resources and storage drivers currently used by the system.

docker info