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Docker & Containers from Scratch
Go from zero to confidently containerizing, running, and shipping real applications with Docker.
CREATED BY
B
Bhavya Z. [PLACEHOLDER] ★ 5.0
Senior Software Engineer at PayFriend | 8+ years of experience
About this Path
Built for developers and ops engineers who have never touched Docker but need containers as a core skill. You will progress from understanding Linux namespaces to writing production-ready Dockerfiles, composing multi-service stacks, and pushing images to a registry. By the end you can containerize any application and hand it off to a CI pipeline or Kubernetes cluster.
Path Overview
Beginner LevelCertificate of CompletionAbout 28 hours to completeEnglish language14+ curated videosLearn online at your own pace5 modules with resourcesGamified & interactive
Path Curriculum
VMs vs Containers vs Bare Metal
Understand the isolation trade-offs and when containers beat VMs.
Linux Namespaces and cgroups
See how pid, net, mnt namespaces and cgroups create container boundaries.
Docker Architecture: daemon, client, containerd
Trace a docker run command through daemon, shim, and runc.
Installing Docker and Running Your First Container
Set up Docker Desktop or Docker Engine and run hello-world and nginx.
Dockerfile Instruction Deep Dive
Master FROM, RUN, COPY, ADD, ENV, ARG, ENTRYPOINT, CMD, and HEALTHCHECK.
Layer Caching and Build Optimization
Order instructions to maximize cache hits and shrink build times.
Multi-Stage Builds for Production
Strip dev dependencies and compiler toolchains from the final image.
Tagging, Versioning, and Image Best Practices
Use semantic tags, pin base image digests, and avoid latest in production.
Container Lifecycle: create, start, stop, rm
Manage containers with flags for detach, port mapping, and restart policies.
Volumes and Bind Mounts
Persist data and share host paths safely without leaking permissions.
Networking Modes: bridge, host, overlay
Wire containers together with user-defined bridge networks and DNS.
Debugging with exec, logs, and inspect
Shell into running containers and parse inspect output to fix issues fast.
Writing a docker-compose.yml from Scratch
Define services, images, ports, environment variables, and depends_on.
Compose Volumes, Networks, and Secrets
Isolate service data and inject credentials without hardcoding.
Override Files for Dev vs Prod Environments
Use docker-compose.override.yml to keep local and CI configs separate.
Pushing to Docker Hub and Private Registries
Authenticate, tag correctly, and push to ECR or GitHub Container Registry.
Scanning Images with Trivy
Run Trivy in CI to block critical CVEs before images reach production.
Least-Privilege Dockerfiles: non-root users and read-only fs
Add USER directive and --read-only flag to harden containers.
From Compose to Kubernetes: What Changes
Map Compose concepts to Pods, Deployments, Services, and ConfigMaps.
What you'll learn
- ✓Explain how Linux namespaces and cgroups power container isolation at the kernel level.
- ✓Write multi-stage Dockerfiles that produce minimal, secure production images.
- ✓Run, inspect, and debug containers using docker CLI, docker logs, and docker exec.
- ✓Compose multi-service applications with Docker Compose including volumes and networks.
- ✓Push and pull images from Docker Hub and a private registry such as AWS ECR or GitHub Container Registry.
- ✓Apply image scanning with Trivy and enforce least-privilege best practices in Dockerfiles.