How to Install Docker on Ubuntu 22.04

Docker is an open-source platform designed to automate application deployment, scaling, and management using containers. Containers are lightweight and portable executable packages that contain all the necessary resources required to run an application. A container includes the application code, runtime, libraries, and dependencies that ensure consistency when running the application.

In this article, you are to install Docker on an Ubuntu 22.04 server, run a containerized application, and deploy it to a container registry

Prerequisites

Before you begin:

• Have an Ubuntu 22.04 server.

• Access the server using SSH as a non-root user with sudo privileges.

• Update the server.

• Create a Container Registry to store your Docker images. This article uses Vultr Container Registry as an example, but the commands can be adapted to any registry by switching to the appropriate registry-specific variables.

Install Docker

1. Update the server package index.

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   $ sudo apt update
   

2. Install all required dependency packages.

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   $ sudo apt install apt-transport-https ca-certificates curl software-properties-common -y
   

3. Add the Docker GPG key to your server's keyring.

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   $ sudo curl -fsSL https://download.docker.com/linux/ubuntu/gpg -o /etc/apt/keyrings/docker.asc
   

4. Add the latest Docker repository to your APT sources.

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   $ echo "deb [arch=$(dpkg --print-architecture) signed-by=/etc/apt/keyrings/docker.asc] https://download.docker.com/linux/ubuntu $(. /etc/os-release && echo "$VERSION_CODENAME") stable" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/docker.list > /dev/null
   

5. Update the server package index.

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   $ sudo apt update
   

6. Install Docker.

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   $ sudo apt-get install docker-ce docker-ce-cli containerd.io docker-buildx-plugin docker-compose-plugin
   

   The above command installs the latest Docker version with the following plugins:

   • docker-ce: Docker Engine Community Edition.
   • docker-ce-cli: Provides the Docker command line interface (CLI).
   • containerd.io: Container runtime for managing Docker container lifecycles.
   • docker-buildx-plugin: Enhances Docker's image-building for multi-platform support.
   • docker-compose-plugin: Manages multi-container Docker applications using YAML files.

7. View the installed Docker version on your server.

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   $ sudo docker --version
   

   Output:

   Docker version 28.0.4, build b8034c0

Manage the Docker System Service

1. Enable the system service to start automatically at boot time.

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   $ sudo systemctl enable docker
   

2. View the Docker service status and verify that it's running.

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   $ sudo systemctl status docker
   

   Output:

   ● docker.service - Docker Application Container Engine
        Loaded: loaded (/lib/systemd/system/docker.service; enabled; vendor preset: enabled)
        Active: active (running) since Sat 2025-04-05 19:55:43 UTC; 2min 32s ago
   TriggeredBy: ● docker.socket
          Docs: https://docs.docker.com
      Main PID: 4205 (dockerd)
         Tasks: 10
        Memory: 22.3M
        CGroup: /system.slice/docker.service
                └─4205 /usr/bin/dockerd -H fd:// --containerd=/run/containerd/containerd.sock

3. Run the following command to stop the Docker service.

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   $ sudo systemctl stop docker
   

4. Restart the Docker service.

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   $ sudo systemctl restart docker
   

Run a Containerized Application

Docker runs containerized applications using local or remote container images from registries such as Docker Hub. Follow the steps below to run a sample Nginx containerized application to test Docker on your server.

1. Pull the latest Nginx image from Docker Hub.

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   $ sudo docker pull nginx:latest
   

2. View all Docker images on the server and verify that the Nginx image is available.

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   $ sudo docker images
   

   Output:

   REPOSITORY   TAG       IMAGE ID       CREATED       SIZE
   nginx        latest    dde0cca083bc   2 weeks ago   188MB

3. Run a new Docker container using the image.

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   $ sudo docker run --name mynginx -d -p 80:80 nginx:latest
   

   The above command runs a new Docker container on the server using your Nginx image with the following values:

   • --name mynginx: Sets the container name to mynginx.
   • -d: Runs the container in detached mode, as a background process.
   • -p 80:80: Maps the host port 80 to the container port 80, allowing access via the host port.
   • nginx:latest: Specifies the Docker image to use for the container.

4. List all the running containers on the server and verify that the new container is up.

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   $ sudo docker ps
   

   Output:

   CONTAINER ID   IMAGE          COMMAND                  CREATED         STATUS         PORTS                               NAMES
   d79cad9ea8d2   nginx:latest   "/docker-entrypoint.…"   5 seconds ago   Up 4 seconds   0.0.0.0:80->80/tcp, :::80->80/tcp   mynewnginx

5. Allow the HTTP port 80 through the firewall to enable connections to the port.

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   $ sudo ufw allow 80/tcp
   

6. Access your server IP address using a web browser such as Chrome to test access to the Docker container.

   http://SERVER-IP

   

Deploy a Containerized Application to Vultr Container Registry

Docker supports public and private registries to build and deploy container images on your server. The Vultr Container Registry allows you to build Docker images, manage multiple versions, and distribute the images to different environments. Follow the steps below to tag and deploy your local Nginx image to the Vultr Container Registry using Docker.

1. Open the Vultr customer portal.

2. Access your Vultr Container Registry management panel and note the credentials to use when accessing the registry.

3. Access your server terminal session and run the following Docker command to login to the Vultr container registry. Replace https://sjc.vultrcr.com/samplecontainerregistry, example-user and apikey1234 with your actual registry details.

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   $ sudo docker login https://sjc.vultrcr.com/samplecontainerregistry -u example-user -p apikey1234
   

4. Tag your Nginx Docker image with your Vultr Container Registry.

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   $ sudo docker tag nginx:latest  sjc.vultrcr.com/samplecontainerregistry/mynginx:latest
   

5. View all Docker images on the server and verify that the new image is available.

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   $ sudo docker images
   

   Output:

   REPOSITORY                                              TAG       IMAGE ID       CREATED       SIZE
   nginx                                                   latest    dde0cca083bc   2 weeks ago   188MB
   sjc.vultrcr.com/samplecontainerregistry/mynginx         latest    dde0cca083bc   2 weeks ago   188MB    

6. Push the tagged image to your Vultr container registry.

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   $ sudo docker push sjc.vultrcr.com/samplecontainerregistry/mynginx:latest
   

7. Access your Vultr Container Registry management panel.

8. Navigate to the Repositories tab and verify that the new Docker image is available.

   

9. Run the following command to pull the image from the Vultr Container Registry.

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   $ sudo docker pull sjc.vultrcr.com/samplecontainerregistry/mynginx:latest
   

Conclusion

In this article, you installed Docker on Ubuntu 22.04, ran a containerized application, and deployed local images to the Vultr Container Registry. You can run multiple Docker images on your server and securely access them without directly interacting with the container environment.For more information, visit the Docker reference documentation.