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Quick Common Docker Run Commands

· 9 min read
Linh Nguyen
Linh Nguyen
T-90MS Main Battle Tank
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A simple cheat sheet for some of the most common docker run commands. Suitable for development environments, but more tinkering is needed if you want to run production-grade containers.

warning

You will need to adjust the values of container names, environment variables, and other information yourself to suit your development needs.

Databases​

MySQL​

https://hub.docker.com/_/mysql

Create a local instance of MySQL, using the mysql:latest image with the following information:

Details

  • Container name: mysql

  • Root user: root

  • Password: 123456

  • Initial database: mydatabase

  • Exposed port: 3306

  • Volume: mysql-volume

docker run --detach --name mysql -p 3306:3306 -e MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD=123456 -e MYSQL_DATABASE=mydatabase -v mysql-volume:/var/lib/mysql mysql:latest

MariaDB​

https://hub.docker.com/_/mariadb

Create a local instance of MariaDB, using the mariadb:lts image, with the following information:

Details

  • Container name: mariadb

  • Root user: root

  • Password: 123456

  • Initial database: mydatabase

  • Exposed port: 3306

  • Volume: mariadb-volume

docker run --detach --name mariadb -e MARIADB_ROOT_PASSWORD=123456 -e MARIADB_DATABASE=mydatabase -p 3306:3306 -v mariadb-volume:/var/lib/mysql mariadb:lts

SQL Server​

https://hub.docker.com/r/microsoft/windows-server

Create a local instance of Microsoft SQL Server, using the mcr.microsoft.com/mssql/server:2025-latest image, with the following information:

Details

SQL Server requires complex password usage, so we cannot use the simple 123456 as our default SA password.

  • Container name: sqlserver

  • Root user: sa

  • Password: 123456Aa@

  • Initial database: master

  • Exposed port: 1433

  • Volume: sqlserver-volume

docker run --detach -e "ACCEPT_EULA=Y" -e "MSSQL_SA_PASSWORD=123456Aa@" -e "MSSQL_PID=Evaluation" -p 1433:1433 --name sqlserver --hostname sqlserver -v sqlserver-volume:/var/opt/mssql mcr.microsoft.com/mssql/server:2025-latest

PostgreSQL​

https://hub.docker.com/_/postgres

Create a local instance of PostgreSQL, using the postgres:alpine image, with the following information:

Details

  • Container name: postgresql

  • Root user: postgres

  • Password: 123456

  • Initial database: mydatabase

  • Exposed port: 5432

  • Volume: postgresql-volume

docker run --detach --name postgresql -e "POSTGRES_USER=postgres" -e "POSTGRES_PASSWORD=123456" -e "POSTGRES_DB=mydatabase" -p 5432:5432 -v postgresql-volume:/var/lib/postgresql/data postgres:alpine

Oracle Database​

https://hub.docker.com/r/gvenzl/oracle-free

Create a local instance of Oracle Database, using the gvenzl/oracle-free:slim-faststart image, with the following information:

Details

  • Container name: oracledb

  • Root user: SYSTEM

  • Password: 123456

  • Default schema: FREE

  • Exposed port: 1521

  • Volume: oracledb-volume

docker run --detach --name oracledb -e "ORACLE_PASSWORD=123456" -v oracledb-volume:/opt/oracle/oradata -p 1521:1521 gvenzl/oracle-free:slim-faststart

Message Queues/Brokers​

Apache Kafka (Without Zookeeper)​

https://hub.docker.com/r/bashj79/kafka-kraft

Create a local instance of Apache Kafka, using the bashj79/kafka-kraft:latest image, with the following information:

Details

  • Container name: kafka

  • Exposed port: 9092

docker run --detach --name kafka -p 9092:9092 bashj79/kafka-kraft

RabbitMQ​

https://hub.docker.com/_/rabbitmq

Create a local instance of RabbitMQ, using the rabbitmq:alpine image, with the following information:

Details

  • Container name: rabbitmq

  • Host name: rabbitmq-host

  • Username: rabbitmq

  • Password: 123456

  • Exposed ports: 5672 and 15672 (bind to 8080)

docker run --detach --name rabbitmq --hostname rabbitmq-host -e RABBITMQ_DEFAULT_USER=rabbitmq -e RABBITMQ_DEFAULT_PASS=123456 -p 5672:5672 -p 8080:15672 rabbitmq:alpine

Redis​

https://hub.docker.com/_/redis

Create a local instance of Redis, using the redis:alpine image, with the following information:

Details

  • Container name: redis

  • Exposed port: 6379

  • Password: 123456 (use redis-cli and type auth 123456 to access Redis on the command line interface)

  • Volume: redis-volume

docker run --detach --name redis -v redis-volume:/data -p 6379:6379 redis:alpine redis-server --requirepass 123456 --save 60 1 --loglevel warning

Keycloak​

https://quay.io/repository/keycloak/keycloak

Without External Database​

Create a local instance of Keycloak, using the quay.io/keycloak/keycloak:latest image, with the following information:

Details

  • Container name: keycloak

  • Credentials:

    • Admin username: admin

    • Admin password: 123456

    • Visit localhost:8080 and use admin/123456 as username and password to log in

  • Exposed ports: 8080 and 9000 (for health check and metrics)
docker run --name keycloak --detach -p 8080:8080 -p 9000:9000 -e KC_BOOTSTRAP_ADMIN_USERNAME=admin -e KC_BOOTSTRAP_ADMIN_PASSWORD=123456 -e KC_HEALTH_ENABLED=true -e KC_METRICS_ENABLED=true quay.io/keycloak/keycloak:latest start-dev

With External Database​

With an external database, you need additional environment variables:

Details

  • KC_DB: The vendor of the external database. Supported values are mariadb (MariaDB), mssql (SQL Server), mysql (MySQL), oracle (Oracle Database), and postgres (PostgreSQL).

  • KC_DB_URL_HOST: The hostname of the chosen database vendor

  • KC_DB_URL_PORT: The port number of the chosen database vendor (by default, 3306 for MySQL/MariaDB, 1433 for SQL Server, 5432 for PostgreSQL, and 1521 for Oracle Database)

  • KC_DB_DATABASE: The database schema to be used. Sometimes you need to provide KC_DB_SCHEMA as well.

  • KC_DB_USERNAME: The username

  • KC_DB_PASSWORD: The password

Example​

Suppose you want to connect to an external PostgreSQL database (often on the same network) with the hostname postgres and credentials keycloak/123456. This will be your new docker run command:

docker run --name keycloak --detach -p 8080:8080 -p 9000:9000 -e KC_BOOTSTRAP_ADMIN_USERNAME=admin -e KC_BOOTSTRAP_ADMIN_PASSWORD=123456 -e KC_HEALTH_ENABLED=true -e KC_METRICS_ENABLED=true -e KC_DB=postgres -e KC_DB_URL_HOST=postgres -e KC_DB_URL_PORT=5432 -e KC_DB_DATABASE=keycloak -e KC_DB_USERNAME=keycloak -e KC_DB_PASSWORD=123456 quay.io/keycloak/keycloak:latest start-dev

You can see this demo repository for better usage of Keycloak with external PostgreSQL.

Docker Compose for Quick-Start Testing​

If you want to create a Keycloak composition bundled with an external PostgreSQL database as the datasource (with persistent volume), consider creating a docker-compose.yaml file like this:

Details
services:
  postgresql:
    container_name: postgresql
    image: postgres:alpine
    environment:
      POSTGRES_USER: postgres
      POSTGRES_PASSWORD: 123456
      POSTGRES_DB: keycloak
    ports:
      - "5432:5432"
    volumes:
      - postgresql-volume:/var/lib/postgresql/data
    healthcheck:
      test: ["CMD-SHELL", "pg_isready -U postgres"]
      interval: 10s
      timeout: 5s
      retries: 5
    networks:
      - keycloak-network
  keycloak:
    container_name: keycloak
    image: quay.io/keycloak/keycloak:latest
    command: start-dev
    environment:
      KC_BOOTSTRAP_ADMIN_USERNAME: admin
      KC_BOOTSTRAP_ADMIN_PASSWORD: 123456
      KC_HEALTH_ENABLED: true
      KC_METRICS_ENABLED: true
      KC_DB: postgres
      KC_DB_URL_HOST: postgresql
      KC_DB_URL_PORT: 5432
      KC_DB_DATABASE: keycloak
      KC_DB_USERNAME: postgres
      KC_DB_PASSWORD: 123456
    ports:
      - "8080:8080"
      - "9000:9000"
    depends_on:
      postgresql:
        condition: service_healthy
    networks:
      - keycloak-network
volumes:
  postgresql-volume:
networks:
  keycloak-network:
    driver: bridge

This configuration starts a composition of two containers: one for Keycloak and another for the PostgreSQL instance. It includes a health check for PostgreSQL to ensure that Keycloak only starts when the database is fully operational.

Connection info (the same as ones defined in the section above):

  • Container name: keycloak

  • Credentials:

    • Admin username: admin

    • Admin password: 123456

  • Exposed ports: 8080 and 9000 (for health check and metrics)

  • Visit localhost:8080 and use admin/123456 as username and password to log in

You can check this sample repository for a complete guide on how to start a Keycloak container bundled with a support PostgreSQL instance.

MinIO​

MinIO is now source distributed only (meaning no more Docker image update).

I will be working on alternative options for MinIO as S3-compatible object storage services.

Elasticsearch​

https://www.elastic.co/docs/deploy-manage/deploy/self-managed/install-elasticsearch-docker-basic

Create a local instance of Elasticsearch, using the docker.elastic.co/elasticsearch/elasticsearch-wolfi:9.1.5 image, with the following information:

Details

  • Container name: elasticsearch

  • Exposed ports: 9200 and 9300

  • Volume: elasticsearc-volume

  • Credentials: either no credentials, or elastic/123456 (see the command line below)

  • Limiting memory usage to 2 GB

With credentials:​

docker run --name elasticsearch --detach -e "xpack.security.enabled=true" -e "discovery.type=single-node" -e "ELASTIC_PASSWORD=123456" -p 9200:9200 -p 9300:9300 -m 2GB -v elasticsearch-volume:/usr/share/elasticsearch/data docker.elastic.co/elasticsearch/elasticsearch-wolfi:9.1.5

Without credentials:​

docker run --name elasticsearch --detach -e "xpack.security.enabled=false" -e "discovery.type=single-node" -p 9200:9200 -p 9300:9300 -m 2GB -v elasticsearch-volume:/usr/share/elasticsearch/data docker.elastic.co/elasticsearch/elasticsearch-wolfi:9.1.5

(to be updated)