Name: Docker Context: A game changer for developers | Abhishek S. posted on the topic | LinkedIn
Uploaded: 2025-11-04T14:40:00.759Z
Duration: 6 min 15 s
Channel: Abhishek S.
Description: Most developers don’t even know this #Docker feature exists. It's called Docker Context. If you ever switch between environments, clusters, or machines, this is the tool that will actually make your Docker workflow productive. I broke it down in a short video. No buzzwords, just how it works and why it matters. It will worth two minutes of your time.

Abhishek S.

6mo

Most developers don’t even know this #Docker feature exists. It's called Docker Context. If you ever switch between environments, clusters, or machines, this is the tool that will actually make your Docker workflow productive. I broke it down in a short video. No buzzwords, just how it works and why it matters. It will worth two minutes of your time.

Transcript

I believe docker context is the least discussed topic in the tech community. Even those who are using Docker for eyes don't really know about it. O let's discuss it. Docker context allow you to manage multiple docker servers at one place. Imagine a scenario like you are at your office, you have your own environment at your home, you have your home lab, you have on your environment a docker install on your machine. It's has its own environment. How can you manage it? OK, it becomes really difficult or messy I would say. So let me just show you workflow how it can look like when you are managing multiple docker containers. First, I have one on my machine now at my work. Days I will switch to my back end, so I have a configuration under SSH and. Back in server this is the IP, this is the keys and I will recommend you should be using this format because every time you don't have to type username and password. So I can just do back end. So now I will as such into my back end and there I will try to run server docker pods, docker containers, not pots. So I'm confusing terms OK, so I can do docker PS, docker images, whatever I want to do I will do it now exit OK. But what about front end? What about staging, testing production, right? It get complicated over the time when you have multiple environments where you're managing Docker containers at multiple places. And that's what Docker contacts results. So we can manage all, we can centralize all this Docker containers running in different places at central. At centralized place which is our own docker CLI and let me just show you how can we do that O. First you can create docker context. First we can see by doing Alice like the default context is a Unix socket and it's our own local docker D server running our own machine while on Unix socket. But for the demonstration purpose we will use it for over as such for our back end server. Let me just show you how you can create a contest context create. And from what I remember, we can name it back and whatever you like and talk. Then you have to specify the host and that's why I mentioned that. That's what I mentioned, that we should always use this configuration file, otherwise I have to specify here. Like username, passwords and stuff like that. So that's why maintenances such config, it's easier. Now I can just create this contest. The context is created now to run under any command, any contest. So just to show you a demonstration. I don't have any images installed on my system. Let's switch to the context. To switch context you can use context. There are other ways. Let me let me just show you this one context. Images. Let's see. And we have engine X image which is downloaded on my. Uh, remote server, not on my whole system, so let's give it a shot. OK, let's copy the IP address first as the search config. Let's open this and we can go to browser. There's nothing running on this IP addresses, so let's start the engine X server. There again I'm showing I don't have any images. So again what we can do is I will specify the back end as a context. Now I can say run tag D tag I will expose the port 8080. Not like 80 and 80 and we can do engine X. And let's see. Uh, let's refresh the IP address. If it started. Yeah, we can see and in the next started. From our host machine we controlled our remote docker server. So if I do docker PS minus a, there's nothing, but if I come to my, uh, this remote server, my back end, I can do docker. Docker piece and as you can see it's running Ingenix OI controlled it from my host system. Now there are other ways you can switch contacts like docker context. Context he use back end and I some OK, it's kind of referred whatever you prefer. And the reason I don't use it because once you switch the context, you will forget it. So every time you have to do Alice, OK. And now as you can see, I'm still part of Docker default contest, but I can switch contest. This star means what is your default contest or your current context? By default it's default. You can switch to back end. So you don't have to type this tag tag context. Otherwise all the command will going to be same. And again, the reason I don't use it because you will forget it. Sometimes you wanna test something on your post system and you end up running something on your production. For that particular reason I avoid it. At the end, it's up to you, by the way. Uh, just a little story. I I got to know about Docker containers a few years back because of Docker Desktop. OK, this. Piece of software. So Docker Desktop creates its own context for some reason. And when I was doing Docker, it wasn't showing any of images that I downloaded or installed. Then I found out that there's a concept of. Context, which is also a concept in Kubernetes but for Docker. That's all It's really helpful. I think you should try it and it's OK. One thing Docker is a really modular architecture, so you don't really have to use SSH. You can use it over HTTP with TLS or you can use own CNI like Docker Cloud. They have their own connectors so you can use them as well. So it's a really modular architecture. Also, not just that you can use remote shortcut server of a system if you want to. That's all I wanted to say I usually. For SSH, because I already have configured everything because at your working place you will have a success to the machines if you're working as a DevOps or. I don't know what. That's all. That's all I have.

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