Getting Boot2Docker Going on OS X

Table of Contents

• Introduction
• Prerequisites
• Video
• Makefile Code
• Quick Install Using Makefile
• Step by Step Install
• Testing

Introduction

Interested in getting Docker going on OS X? Wondering how all that magic works? Tired of wandering around in tunnels when things go bad with the install?

This guide will walk you through installing boot2docker, virtualbox, and docker on your Mac/OSX based machine using brew and cask.

Alternately, you can just head on over to the boot2docker site and use their installer if you are feeling lucky. Please note that this author has had a better overall experience with boot2docker by doing the installation through the brew and cask methods.

It does not do to leave a live dragon out of your calculations, if you live near him. - J.R.R. Tolkien

Prerequisites

1. You need an OSX based machine.
2. A terminal shell open. To open a term, from Spotlight type 'term' and hit enter.
3. You need to have Homebrew installed. Instructions below.
4. You need to have Cask installed. Instructions below.
5. You need to have VirtualBox installed. Instructions below.

Video Walkthrough

Here's another great video where I type a bit and then talk a bit. Also, I'm not the only wizard with a hat.

Checkout the Code

You can checkout the code, if you want to call it that, by doing the following:

git clone https://github.com/kordless/boot2docker-ing.git

Change into the directory:

cd boot2docker-ing

Admire the Makefile:

brew-cask:
	brew install caskroom/cask/brew-cask

brew-install:
	curl -s https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/master/install > tmp; ruby tmp; rm tmp

brew-boot2docker:
	brew install boot2docker

brew-virtualbox:
	brew cask install virtualbox

hard-stop:
	boot2docker delete

hard-up: hard-stop up

up: shellinit
	boot2docker up

shellinit:
	boot2docker shellinit 1>tmp; . ./tmp; rm ./tmp

install: brew-install brew-cask brew-virtualbox brew-boot2docker brew-virtualbox hard-up

That's it for the 'code'.

Quick Install

I'm skeptical this will work first run for you, but you can try it if you are reasonably sure you don't have brew, virtualbox or docker installed:

make install

If that fusses at you, we should take it one step at a time.

One Step at a Time Install

Let's start by installing brew, an OS X package manager.

Install Brew

Start out by checking if you have brew installed:

superman:boot2docker-ing kord$ brew -v
Homebrew 0.9.5

If you don't have brew installed, Homebrew is best installed by doing:

ruby -e "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/master/install)"

If you do have it installed, go ahead and update it:

brew update

Now we have brew installed and updated, we need to install VirtualBox.

Install Cask

Cask is a workflow based installer for applications running on OS X. You can install it using brew:

brew install caskroom/cask/brew-cask

Today was the first time I used it, and it's pretty slick.

Install VirtualBox

Now you can install VirtualBox with one line:

brew cask install virtualbox

Simple!

Boot2Docker

Boot2Docker is what we are here to install, so it's good we are at this step. Let's install it:

brew install boot2docker

A bit of wizardry later, a beer appears. 🍺

Now let's initialize the VM and start it:

boot2docker -v init
boot2docker up

If you get errors fussing about a missing port, see this issue on Github and try the following:

unset DYLD_LIBRARY_PATH
unset LD_LIBRARY_PATH

..and then rerun things (again, only if init failed):

boot2docker delete
boot2docker -v init
boot2docker up

If boot2docker up succeeds, you'll see something along these lines:

superman:boot2docker-ing kord$ boot2docker up
Waiting for VM and Docker daemon to start...
.......................ooooooooooooooooo
Started.
Writing /Users/kord/.boot2docker/certs/boot2docker-vm/ca.pem
Writing /Users/kord/.boot2docker/certs/boot2docker-vm/cert.pem	
Writing /Users/kord/.boot2docker/certs/boot2docker-vm/key.pem
Your environment variables are already set correctly.

One last thing you can test is connecting to the instance:

superman:boot2docker-ing kord$ boot2docker ssh
                        ##        .
                  ## ## ##       ==
               ## ## ## ##      ===
           /""""""""""""""""\___/ ===
      ~~~ {~~ ~~~~ ~~~ ~~~~ ~~ ~ /  ===- ~~~
           \______ o          __/
             \    \        __/
              \____\______/
 _                 _   ____     _            _
| |__   ___   ___ | |_|___ \ __| | ___   ___| | _____ _ __
| '_ \ / _ \ / _ \| __| __) / _` |/ _ \ / __| |/ / _ \ '__|
| |_) | (_) | (_) | |_ / __/ (_| | (_) | (__|   <  __/ |
|_.__/ \___/ \___/ \__|_____\__,_|\___/ \___|_|\_\___|_|
Boot2Docker version 1.5.0, build master : a66bce5 - Tue Feb 10 23:31:27 UTC 2015
Docker version 1.5.0, build a8a31ef
docker@boot2docker:~$

Finally, set boot2docker to automatically start after rebooting your machine:

ln -sfv /usr/local/opt/boot2docker/*.plist ~/Library/LaunchAgents

Testing

Check Docker Works

Docker should have been installed with boot2docker, so let's try it out:

docker version

You should get back something like this:

superman:boot2docker-ing kord$ docker version
Client version: 1.4.1
Client API version: 1.16
Go version (client): go1.3.3
Git commit (client): 5bc2ff8
OS/Arch (client): darwin/amd64
Server version: 1.5.0
Server API version: 1.17
Go version (server): go1.4.1
Git commit (server): a8a31ef

If something goes wrong, it looks like this:

superman:boot2docker-ing kord$ docker version
Client version: 1.4.1
Client API version: 1.16
Go version (client): go1.3.3
Git commit (client): 5bc2ff8
OS/Arch (client): darwin/amd64
FATA[0000] An error occurred trying to connect: Get https:///var/run/docker.sock/v1.16/version: dial unix /var/run/docker.sock: no such file or directory

You can double check you have the correct environment variables set by doing the following:

$(boot2docker shellinit)

Here's the output:

superman:boot2docker-ing kord$ $(boot2docker shellinit)
Writing /Users/kord/.boot2docker/certs/boot2docker-vm/ca.pem
Writing /Users/kord/.boot2docker/certs/boot2docker-vm/cert.pem
Writing /Users/kord/.boot2docker/certs/boot2docker-vm/key.pem

If boot2docker crashes, which happens from time to time:

superman:boot2docker-ing kord$ $(boot2docker shellinit)
error in run: VM "boot2docker-vm" is not running.

Doing a hard restart will help (again, only do this if something is wrong):

boot2docker restart
$(boot2docker shellinit)

Test Run a Container

Let's try to use docker:

docker run hello-world

Here's the expected output:

superman:boot2docker-ing kord$ docker run hello-world
Unable to find image 'hello-world:latest' locally
511136ea3c5a: Pull complete
31cbccb51277: Pull complete
e45a5af57b00: Pull complete
hello-world:latest: The image you are pulling has been verified. Important: image verification is a tech preview feature and should not be relied on to provide security.
Status: Downloaded newer image for hello-world:latest
Hello from Docker.
This message shows that your installation appears to be working correctly.

To generate this message, Docker took the following steps:
 1. The Docker client contacted the Docker daemon.
 2. The Docker daemon pulled the "hello-world" image from the Docker Hub.
    (Assuming it was not already locally available.)
 3. The Docker daemon created a new container from that image which runs the
    executable that produces the output you are currently reading.
 4. The Docker daemon streamed that output to the Docker client, which sent it
    to your terminal.

To try something more ambitious, you can run an Ubuntu container with:
 $ docker run -it ubuntu bash

For more examples and ideas, visit:
 http://docs.docker.com/userguide/
superman:boot2docker-ing kord$

That's about it! Open an issue if find an error or do a pull request and add some stuff!

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