DevOps Software Development

Docker Fundamentals

Build, run, ship, and troubleshoot containers with practical confidence

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Quick Course Facts
18
Self-paced, Online, Lessons
18
Videos and/or Narrated Presentations
6.4
Approximate Hours of Course Media
About the Docker Fundamentals Course

Docker Fundamentals is a practical online course for developers, IT professionals, and aspiring DevOps engineers who want to understand how containers work and how to use them in real projects. You will learn to build, run, ship, and troubleshoot containers with practical confidence while developing skills that support modern software delivery.

Build Practical Docker Skills For DevOps Workflows

  • Learn the core Docker concepts behind images, containers, registries, and the Docker Engine.
  • Practice essential command-line workflows for running, inspecting, managing, and cleaning up containers.
  • Build Docker images with Dockerfiles, layers, cache, environment variables, and application configuration.
  • Use Docker Compose, volumes, networking, registries, and troubleshooting techniques for real application stacks.

Docker Fundamentals teaches the container skills needed to support modern DevOps, application delivery, and local development workflows.

This course starts with the foundations of what Docker solves, how containers differ from traditional environments, and how the Docker toolchain fits into everyday development. You will install Docker, tour the command-line workflow, and learn the relationship between images, containers, registries, and the Docker Engine.

From there, you will run containers from the command line, inspect logs and processes, understand exit codes, publish ports, and manage the full container lifecycle. The course then moves into building images with Dockerfiles, using build cache effectively, managing build context, and configuring containers with commands, entrypoints, environment variables, and arguments.

You will also work with volumes, bind mounts, container networking, service discovery, Docker Hub, private registries, and Docker Compose for multi-container applications. By containerizing a web app with a database and debugging failed builds and broken containers, you will gain the practical confidence to build, run, ship, and troubleshoot containers in real DevOps scenarios. After completing Docker Fundamentals, you will be able to use Docker with clarity, troubleshoot common issues, and contribute more effectively to modern software delivery workflows.

Course Lessons

Full lesson breakdown

Lessons are organized by topic area and each includes descriptive copy for search visibility and student clarity.

Foundations

3 lessons

Lesson 1: What Docker Solves and How Containers Work

20 min Preview
This lesson explains the practical problem Docker solves: making software run consistently across laptops, test environments, and production systems. Learners will connect common deployment failures t…

Lesson 2: Installing Docker and Touring the Toolchain

18 min
In this lesson, learners install Docker using the right path for their operating system and verify that the Docker CLI can communicate with a running Docker engine. The focus is not on advanced contai…

Lesson 3: Images, Containers, Registries, and the Docker Engine

21 min
This lesson establishes the mental model behind Docker: images are packaged filesystem templates, containers are running or stopped instances of those images, registries are distribution systems for i…

Core Container Workflow

4 lessons

Lesson 4: Running Your First Containers from the Command Line

20 min
In this lesson, learners run real containers from the command line and learn the core rhythm of Docker usage: pull an image, start a container, inspect what happened, read logs, stop it, remove it, an…

Lesson 5: Inspecting Containers, Logs, Processes, and Exit Codes

19 min
In this lesson, learners build a practical inspection routine for containers that are running, stopped, healthy, unhealthy, or failing at startup. The focus is on reading container state with docker p…

Lesson 6: Ports, Publishing, and Accessing Containerized Services

18 min
In this lesson, students learn how Docker connects containerized services to the outside world. The focus is the practical difference between a service listening inside a container, an exposed port in…

Lesson 7: Container Lifecycle: Start, Stop, Restart, Remove, and Prune

17 min
This lesson teaches the practical lifecycle commands you use every day after a container exists: starting, stopping, restarting, removing, and pruning. Learners will distinguish between a container th…

Building Images

3 lessons

Lesson 8: Writing Your First Dockerfile

22 min
In this lesson, Professor Victor Zane walks learners through writing a first practical Dockerfile: choosing a base image, copying application files, installing dependencies, setting a working director…

Lesson 9: Image Layers, Build Cache, and Build Context

21 min
In this lesson, learners examine what Docker images are made of and how Docker turns a Dockerfile into reusable image layers. The focus is practical: how instruction order affects rebuild speed, how c…

Lesson 10: Commands, Entrypoints, Environment Variables, and Arguments

23 min
This lesson explains how Docker decides what process runs inside a container, how image authors set defaults with CMD and ENTRYPOINT , and how operators override those defaults at runtime. Learners wi…

Data and State

1 lesson

Lesson 11: Working with Volumes and Bind Mounts

22 min
This lesson explains how Docker handles data that must survive beyond a container lifecycle. Learners compare anonymous volumes, named volumes, and bind mounts, then practice choosing the right storag…

Networking

1 lesson

Lesson 12: Container Networking and Service Discovery

23 min
This lesson explains how Docker containers communicate with each other, with the host machine, and with external networks. Learners will work through the default bridge network, user-defined bridge ne…

Distribution

1 lesson

Lesson 13: Tagging Images and Using Docker Hub or Private Registries

19 min
This lesson explains how Docker image names, tags, repositories, and registries fit together when distributing container images. Learners practice tagging local images for Docker Hub or a private regi…

Application Stacks

2 lessons

Lesson 14: Docker Compose for Multi-Container Applications

24 min
In this lesson, students learn how Docker Compose turns a group of related containers into a repeatable application stack. The focus is practical: defining services, connecting them on a default netwo…

Lesson 15: Compose Files: Services, Networks, Volumes, and Environment

24 min
Compose files turn several Docker commands into one readable application definition. In this lesson, you will learn how to describe services, connect them with networks, persist data with volumes, and…

Applied Docker

1 lesson

Lesson 16: Containerizing a Web App with a Database

25 min
In this applied lesson, Professor Victor Zane walks learners through containerizing a small web application that depends on a database. The focus is not only on building an app image, but on wiring se…

Troubleshooting

1 lesson

Lesson 17: Debugging Failed Builds and Broken Containers

22 min
In this lesson, Professor Victor Zane teaches a practical troubleshooting workflow for Docker builds that fail and containers that start incorrectly, crash, hang, or behave differently than expected. …

Best Practices

1 lesson

Lesson 18: Image Size, Security Basics, and Production Readiness

24 min
In this lesson, Professor Victor Zane shows how to make Docker images smaller, safer, and more ready for production use without turning the Dockerfile into a science project. The focus is on practical…
About Your Instructor
Professor Victor Zane

Professor Victor Zane

Professor Victor Zane guides this AI-built Virversity course with a clear, practical teaching style.