Description

I have several docker images I have pulled down and running in several containers on my server. As images update I destroy the old containers, remove the old images, and bring up the new images in a new container. Instead of running the following as root:
[bash]
docker ps
CONTAINER ID IMAGE COMMAND CREATED STATUS PORTS NAMES
9ff50d7099b1 zaphinath/apirecisphere:latest "/nodejs/bin/npm sta 46 hours ago Up 46 hours 8080/tcp, 0.0.0.0:9800->9800/tcp gloomy_albattani
f2104cfaab88 zaphinath/apivietnamdocs:latest "java -Djava.securit 2 days ago Up 2 days 0.0.0.0:9700->8080/tcp romantic_davinci
[/bash]
You then have to find the container id and execute the following to enter the container if you ever need to debug something.

[bash]
docker exec -it <docker_id> bash
[/bash]




There is a much easier way to accomplish this. I have a folder called bin in my home directory that contains lots of quick execution scripts and I have one for each of my docker containers. This allows me to access them when I need.
[bash]
#!/bin/bash
docker exec -it `docker ps | grep recisphere | awk ‘{print $1}’` bash
[/bash]

Notes

This does not work as an alias because when the .bashrc loads the docker container id is loaded when the bashrc file loads. If the image updates you would have to reload the bashrc source to make an alias work. Having a small bash executables is a good alternative.