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📌 Essential Docker Commands for Daily Operations & Deployment

This is a practical checklist I follow for daily Docker operations, image management, and frontend deployment.

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🔹 1. Daily Monitoring & Inspection

View running processes inside a container

docker top <container_name>

Example:

docker top inventory-frontend

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🔹 2. Build Frontend Image (Artifact Creation)

Build Docker image from frontend source

docker build -t inventory-frontend:prod1 ./frontend

This creates a versioned frontend image that can be reused across environments.

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🔹 3. Save Image as Artifact (For Transfer / Backup)

Export Docker image to a tar file

docker save inventory-frontend:prod1 -o inventory-frontend-prod1.tar

Useful for:

• Moving images between servers

• Offline deployments

• Audit backups

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🔹 4. Load Image on Target Server

Import image from tar file

docker load < inventory-frontend-prod1.tar

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🔹 5. Stop & Remove Existing Frontend Container

Stop running container

docker stop inventory-frontend

Remove container

docker rm inventory-frontend

This ensures the new image is used cleanly.

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🔹 6. Start Only Frontend Service Using Docker Compose

Bring up only the frontend service

docker compose -f docker-compose.prod.yml up -d frontend

✔ Backend and database remain untouched
✔ Safe for production updates

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🔹 7. Restart Container (If Required)

Restart a running container

docker restart <container_name>

Example:

docker restart inventory-frontend

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🔹 8. Remove Old / Unused Docker Images

Remove a specific image

docker rmi <image_name>

Example:

docker rmi inventory-frontend:prod1

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Remove all unused images (safe cleanup)

docker image prune

For aggressive cleanup (unused images only):

docker image prune -a

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🔹 9. Quick Daily Cleanup (Recommended)

docker ps
docker images
docker image prune

Keeps the system clean and avoids disk-space issues.

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🧠 Summary Workflow (Production-Safe)

1. Build image

2. Save as artifact

3. Load on server

4. Stop old container

5. Remove old container

6. Start frontend only

7. Clean unused images

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✅ Final Tip (Best Practice)

• Images are immutable → version them (prod1, prod2, etc.)

• Containers are disposable → remove & recreate

• Build React outside Docker → serve via Nginx

• Use docker-compose service targeting for safe updates