Export Docker Run Commands
reddit / selfhosted

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FatalV0rt3x · 2023-10-12 11:24

I recently hit an issue with my server which caused me to format my
drive running Ubuntu, this caused me to lose my whole docker setup on
that system. As an idiot, I didn't have any redundancies in place for
such an event.

This lead me to have to re-set up each docker container I had
originally, thankfully the volumes were separate, so all I needed was
the compose files/run commands for each container, env var, and volume
mappings.

With everything setup again, this sent me down a rabbit hole, looking
to see if there was a way to back up my docker commands moving
forward. Looking online, I can't see anywhere that shown how you can
export your current docker containers as run commands for Linux.

I've now managed to create the below shell script, this will build the
docker "run" commands complete with env vars, volume mappings, ports,
IPs

    #!/bin/bash

    # Create the "docker_run" directory if it doesn't exist
    mkdir -p docker_run

    # Get a list of all running containers
    containers=$(docker ps -q)

    # Iterate over the containers and create individual sh files for
each "docker run" command
    for container_id in $containers; do
        # Get container information
        container_info=$(docker inspect $container_id)

        # Extract container name, image name, and environment
variables
        container_name=$(echo $container_info | jq -r '.[0].Name' |
cut -d "/" -f 2)
        image_name=$(echo $container_info | jq -r '.[0].Config.Image')

        # Extract and format environment variables
        env_vars=$(echo $container_info | jq -r '.[0].Config.Env |
.[]' | sed 's/^/-e /' | tr '\n' ' ')

        # Extract container port mappings
        port_mappings=$(echo $container_info | jq -r
'.[0].NetworkSettings.Ports | to_entries | .[] | .key + ":" +
.value[0].HostPort' | tr '\n' ' ')

        # Extract container IP address and network
        container_ip=$(echo $container_info | jq -r
'.[0].NetworkSettings.Networks | to_entries | .[] | .value.IPAddress')
        container_network=$(echo $container_info | jq -r
'.[0].NetworkSettings.Networks | keys[0]')

        # Extract and format volume information
        volumes=$(echo $container_info | jq -r '.[0].Mounts | .[] |
"-v " + .Source + ":" + .Destination' | tr '\n' ' ')

        # Create the "docker run" command with network, env vars,
ports, IP assignment, and volumes
        docker_run_command="docker run -d --name $container_name
--network $container_network --ip $container_ip $env_vars -p
$port_mappings $volumes $image_name"

        # Create a shell file with the run command
        sh_file_contents="#!/bin/bash\n\n$docker_run_command"
        echo -e "$sh_file_contents" > "docker_run/$container_name.sh"
        # Make the file executable
        chmod +x "docker_run/$container_name.sh"
    done

I don't know if this would be helpful for other, but it's certainly
helping me, so I thought I'd post it to see if others would like the
same.

This will create the "run" commands and store them in a directory
"docker\_run/{container\_name}.sh" so should you ever need to set up a
container again you would just need to run the .SH file and the
container would pick up from where it last left off.

I've personally set this up as a cronjob, to keep my files updated
regularly.

There are probably other ways to go about doing this, however this
seems to work for me.

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sk1nT7 · 2023-10-12 11:36

1. Use docker compose and neglect docker run commands.
2. Sync your compose files into a private git repository
3. Implement a 3-2-1 backup strategy
4. Profit

This tool is also a gem and can create compose files based on your
running containers:

https://github.com/Red5d/docker-autocompose

I've also a few compose examples here:

https://github.com/Haxxnet/Compose-Examples

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bklyngaucho · 2023-10-12 11:57

\^This is the way

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isleepbad · 2023-10-12 12:15

Why reinvent the wheel? Use infrastructure as code such as SALT,
Ansible or Terraform.

Back those up never worry about setting up infrastructure ever again.

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geo38 · 2023-10-12 12:36

A simpler way to recreate the docker run command for a container is
the runlike tool: https://hub.docker.com/r/assaflavie/runlike/

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paschty · 2023-10-12 14:12

You can use
[https://www.composerize.com/](https://www.composerize.com/) to
convert your run commands to to docker-compose files.

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CatoDomine · 2023-10-12 14:41

Useful script if you have a bunch of running containers that you used
`docker run` to start. I appreciate the work and the sharing.

However, this is not the best way to manage docker containers. As
others have mentioned, you really should be using `docker-compose`.
Keep your compose.yml files in version control.

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sk1nT7 · 2023-10-12 14:48

But it is quite limited and incomplete in my personal experience.

Not sure whether it became better but it worked for very easy docker
run commands only in the past.

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joecool42069 · 2023-10-12 15:48

Seems like an awful lot of work to avoid using docker-compose which
solves this problem.

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FatalV0rt3x · 2023-10-12 18:12

For me, docker-compose seems to take longer to set up a container vs
run commands. The time between running the docker-compose up command
and the container being ready is quite long, I don't know why but the
run commands seem quicker.

Totally agree though VC with compose files would be better for change
tacking and backup, plus I can easily pull them into portainer as
stacks.

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FatalV0rt3x · 2023-10-12 18:13

Docker autocompose looks pretty good. I usually have speed issues with
compose. Might be worth giving it another go.

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sk1nT7 · 2023-10-12 18:29

Speed issues?

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FatalV0rt3x · 2023-10-12 18:49

Yes, for some reason when using docker-compose on my server it takes
forever to spin up the container, using the run commands it completes
within a few seconds

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sk1nT7 · 2023-10-12 18:57

Hmm that's weird. Both will just pull the relevant images and then
start the containers. No real magic behind. May update your system.
The docker-compose command is deprecated. It's docker compose now.

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FatalV0rt3x · 2023-10-12 20:00

Yes, I'm aware, but this still has the same problem unfortunately

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FatalV0rt3x · 2023-10-12 20:01

Yes I'm aware, this still has the same issue unfortunately

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broetchenrackete · 2023-10-12 22:26

I agree that using docker compose is probably the way to go but there
is a tool doing exactly what you were looking for. Creating docker run
commands from running containers:

https://github.com/bcicen/docker-replay

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FatalV0rt3x · 2023-10-12 23:01

If only I'd known this before I'd built my shell script. Couldn't find
one when searching google

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Toastytodd4113113 · 2023-10-13 00:16

i use the it tools container. has a TON of useful tools