Docker Cleanup Commands: Keep Your System Clean and Fast

 

Docker Cleanup Commands: Keep Your System Clean and Fast

Docker is a powerful tool that can help you easily manage your containerized applications. However, if you use Docker regularly, you might notice that your system can quickly become cluttered with unused containers, images, volumes, and networks. This can slow down your system and take up valuable disk space. Fortunately, Docker provides several cleanup commands that can help you keep your system clean and fast. In this post, we'll explore some of these commands.

Prerequisites

Before we dive into the cleanup commands, it's important to understand some of the basic Docker concepts. Specifically, you should be familiar with the following:

• Containers: A container is a lightweight, standalone, and executable package that contains everything needed to run an application. It includes the application code, runtime, libraries, and system tools.
• Images: An image is a read-only template that contains instructions for creating a Docker container. It includes the application code, runtime, libraries, and system tools.
• Volumes: A volume is a Docker-managed directory that can be mounted into one or more containers. It can be used to persist data and share it between containers.
• Networks: A network is a Docker-managed network that can be used to connect containers together.

Cleanup Commands

Now that you have a basic understanding of Docker concepts, let's explore some of the cleanup commands you can use to keep your system clean and fast.

Remove Stopped Containers

When you start a container, Docker creates a new container instance. When the container is stopped, the container instance is no longer needed, but the container remains on your system. Over time, these stopped containers can take up a significant amount of disk space. You can remove all stopped containers using the following command:

docker container prune

Remove Dangling Images

Docker images are created when you build a container. Over time, you might accumulate many images that are no longer needed. These are called dangling images. You can remove all dangling images using the following command:

                    docker image prune

Remove Unused Volumes

Volumes can be used to persist data between containers. However, if you create a volume and never use it, it can take up valuable disk space. You can remove all unused volumes using the following command:

                    docker volume prune

Remove Unused Networks

Similar to volumes, networks can be created and never used. If you have unused networks, they can take up valuable resources. You can remove all unused networks using the following command:

                    Docker network prune

 

Remove all

Remove all unused containers, networks, images (both dangling and unreferenced), and optionally, volumes.

For example uses of this command, refer to the examples section below.

docker system prune

 

Options

Name, shorthand	Default	Description
--all , -a		Remove all unused images not just dangling ones
--filter		Provide filter values (e.g. label=<key>=<value>)
--force , -f		Do not prompt for confirmation
--volumes		Prune volumes

 

By default, volumes are not removed to prevent important data from being deleted if there is currently no container using the volume. Use the --volumes flag when running the command to prune volumes as well:

 

$ docker system prune -a --volumes

Conclusion

Using Docker cleanup commands can help you keep your system clean and fast. By removing unused containers, images, volumes, and networks, you can free up valuable disk space and speed up your system. These commands are easy to use and can be run regularly to keep your system clean.