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Frequently asked questions |
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FAQs |
Looking for popular FAQs on Docker for Mac? Check out the Docker Knowledge Hub for knowledge base articles, FAQs, technical support for various subscription levels, and more.
Q: How do I get the stable or beta version of Docker for Mac?
A: Use the download links for the channels given in the topic Download Docker for Mac.
This topic also has more information about the two channels.
Q: What is the difference between the stable and beta versions of Docker for Mac?
A: Two different download channels are available for Docker for Mac:
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The stable channel provides a general availability release-ready installer for a fully baked and tested, more reliable app. The stable version of Docker for Mac comes with the latest released version of Docker Engine. The release schedule is synched with Docker Engine releases and hotfixes.
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The beta channel provides an installer with new features we are working on, but is not necessarily fully tested. It comes with the experimental version of Docker Engine. Bugs, crashes and issues are more likely to occur with the beta app, but you get a chance to preview new functionality, experiment, and provide feedback as the apps evolve. Releases are typically more frequent than for stable, often one or more per month.
Q: Can I switch back and forth between stable and beta versions of Docker for Mac?
A: Yes, you can switch between versions to try out the betas to see what's new, then go back to stable for other work. However, you can have only one app installed at a time. Switching back and forth between stable and beta apps can destabilize your development environment, particularly in cases where you switch from a newer (beta) channel to older (stable).
For example, containers created with a newer beta version of Docker for Mac may not work after you switch back to stable because they may have been created leveraging beta features that aren't in stable yet. Just keep this in mind as you create and work with beta containers, perhaps in the spirit of a playground space where you are prepared to troubleshoot or start over.
To safely switch between beta and stable versions be sure to save images and export the containers you need, then uninstall the current version before installing another. The workflow is described in more detail below.
Do the following each time:
-
Use
docker saveto save any images you want to keep. (See save in the Docker Engine command line reference.) -
Use
docker exportto export containers you want to keep. (See export in the Docker Engine command line reference.) -
Uninstall the current app (whether stable or beta).
-
Install a different version of the app (stable or beta).
Docker.app is Docker for Mac, a bundle of Docker client, and Docker
Engine. Docker.app uses the macOS
Hypervisor.framework (part of macOS 10.10 Yosemite and higher)
to run containers, meaning that no separate VirtualBox is required.
Everything is fair game. We'd like your impressions on the download-install process, startup, functionality available, the GUI, usefulness of the app, command line integration, and so on. Tell us about problems, what you like, or functionality you'd like to see added.
We are especially interested in getting feedback on the new swarm mode described in Docker Swarm. A good place to start is the tutorial.
You can find the list of frequent issues in Logs and Troubleshooting.
If you do not find a solution in Troubleshooting, browse issues on Docker for Mac issues on GitHub or create a new one. You can also create new issues based on diagnostics. To learn more, see Diagnose problems, send feedback, and create GitHub issues.
Docker for Mac forum provides discussion threads as well, and you can create discussion topics there, but we recommend using the GitHub issues over the forums for better tracking and response.
Yes, you can use Docker for Mac to test single-node features of swarm mode introduced with Docker Engine 1.12, including initializing a swarm with a single node, creating services, and scaling services. Docker “Moby” on Hyperkit will serve as the single swarm node. You can also use Docker Machine, which comes with Docker for Mac, to create and experiment a multi-node swarm. Check out the tutorial at Get started with swarm mode.
You might need to provide the location of the remote API for Docker clients and development tools.
On Docker for Mac, clients can connect to the Docker Engine through a Unix socket: unix:///var/run/docker.sock.
See also Docker Remote API and Docker for Mac forums topic Using pycharm Docker plugin...
If you are working with applications like Apache Maven that expect settings for DOCKER_HOST and DOCKER_CERT_PATH environment variables, specify these to connect to Docker instances through Unix sockets. For example:
export DOCKER_HOST=unix:///var/run/docker.sock
The Mac has a changing IP address (or none if you have no network access). Our current recommendation is to attach an unused IP to the lo0 interface on the Mac so that containers can connect to this address.
For a full explanation and examples, see I want to connect from a container to a service on the host under Known Limitations, Use Cases, and Workarounds in the Networking topic.
Our current recommendation is to publish a port, or to connect from another container. Note that this is what you have to do even on Linux if the container is on an overlay network, not a bridge network, as these are not routed.
For a full explanation and examples, see I want to connect to a container from the Mac under Known Limitations, Use Cases, and Workarounds in the Networking topic.
Starting with Docker for Mac Beta 27 Release Notes (2016-09-28 1.12.2-rc1-beta27) and follow-on Beta releases, all trusted certificate authorities (CAs) (root or intermediate) are supported. (Note: Custom CA certificates are not yet supported on stable releases.)
Docker for Mac creates a certificate bundle of all user-trusted CAs based on the Mac Keychain, and appends it to Moby trusted certificates. So if an enterprise SSL certificate is trusted by the user on the host, it will be trusted by Docker for Mac.
Note that you need a Mac that supports hardware virtualization, which is most non ancient ones; i.e., use macOS 10.10.3+ or 10.11 (macOS Yosemite or macOS El Capitan). See also "What to know before you install" in Getting Started.
No, you can use these side by side. Docker Toolbox leverages a Docker daemon installed using docker-machine in a machine called default. Running eval $(docker-machine env default) in a shell sets DOCKER environment variables locally to connect to the default machine using Engine from Toolbox. To check whether Toolbox DOCKER environment variables are set, run env | grep DOCKER.
To make the client talk to the Docker for Mac Engine, run the command unset ${!DOCKER_*} to unset all DOCKER environment variables in the current shell. (Now, env | grep DOCKER should return no output.) You can have multiple command line shells open, some set to talk to Engine from Toolbox and others set to talk to Docker for Mac. The same applies to docker-compose.
You might decide that you do not need Toolbox now that you have Docker for Mac, and want to uninstall it. For details on how to perform a clean uninstall of Toolbox on the Mac, see How to uninstall Toolbox in the Toolbox Mac topics.
HyperKit is a hypervisor built on top of the Hypervisor.framework in macOS 10.10 Yosemite and higher. It runs entirely in userspace and has no other dependencies.
We use HyperKit to eliminate the need for other VM products, such as Oracle Virtualbox or VMWare Fusion.
It is thinner than VirtualBox and VMWare fusion, and the version we include is tailor made for Docker workloads on the Mac.
The privileged helper process com.docker.vmnetd is started by launchd and runs in the background. The process will not
consume any resources unless Docker.app connects to it, so it's safe to ignore.
Unfortunately it is not possible to pass through a USB device (or a serial port) to a container. For use cases requiring this, we recommend the use of Docker Toolbox.