Docker Cookbook

8.1 Accessing Public Clouds to Run Docker
Problem
You need access to a public cloud to run Docker in cloud instances. You have never
used a public cloud and need to quick walk-through to get you started.
232 | Chapter 8: Docker in the Cloud

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Solution
If you do not already have access, create an account on your public cloud provider of
choice:
• For GCE, you can start with a 
free trial
. You need a Google account. You can then
log in to the 
console
.
• For Azure, you can start with a 
free trial
.
• For AWS, you can have access to a 
free tier
. Once you create an account, you can
log in to the 
console
.
Log into the web console of the provider that you want to use and go through the
launch instance wizard. Make sure you can start an instance that you can connect to
via 
ssh
. 
Figure 8-2
shows the AWS console, 
Figure 8-3
 shows the GCE console, and
Figure 8-4
shows the Azure console.
Figure 8-2. AWS console
Figure 8-3. GCE console
8.1 Accessing Public Clouds to Run Docker | 233

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Figure 8-4. Azure console
Discussion
If you are not familiar with one of these clouds and have not com‐
pleted this setup, you will not be able to follow the recipes in this
chapter. However, a complete step-by-step walk-through of using
these clouds is beyond the scope of this cookbook.
These instructions are not Docker-specific. Once you create an
account on one of these clouds, you will have access to any of the
cloud services provided.
On AWS, the recipes in this chapter will use the 
Elastic Compute Cloud
 (EC2) ser‐
vice. To start instances, you need to become familiar with four basic principles:
• AWS 
API keys
to use with the AWS command-line interface (CLI)
• SSH key 
pairs
 to connect to your instances via 
ssh
•
Security groups
 to control traffic to and from EC2 instances