docker error: /var/run/docker.sock: no such file or directory

Question

I am new to docker. I have a shell script that loads data into impala and I want a docker file that runs builds an image and run the container. I am on mac, installed boot2docker and have the DOCKER_HOST env set up.

bash-3.2$ docker info
Containers: 0
Images: 0
Storage Driver: aufs
Root Dir: /mnt/sda1/var/lib/docker/aufs
Dirs: 0
Execution Driver: native-0.2
Kernel Version: 3.15.3-tinycore64
Debug mode (server): true
Debug mode (client): false
Fds: 10
Goroutines: 10
EventsListeners: 0
Init Path: /usr/local/bin/docker
Sockets: [unix:///var/run/docker.sock tcp://0.0.0.0:2375]

I am trying to just installed a pre-built image using:

sudo docker pull busybox

I get this error:

sudo docker pull busybox 2014/08/18 17:56:19 Post http:///var/run/docker.sock/images/create?fromImage=busybox&tag=: dial unix /var/run/docker.sock: no such file or directory

Is something wrong with my docker setup?

When I do a docker pull busybox, It pulls the image and download is complete.

bash-3.2$ docker pull busybox
Pulling repository busybox
a9eb17255234: Download complete 
fd5373b3d938: Download complete 
d200959a3e91: Download complete 
37fca75d01ff: Download complete 
511136ea3c5a: Download complete 
42eed7f1bf2a: Download complete 
c120b7cab0b0: Download complete 
f06b02872d52: Download complete 
120e218dd395: Download complete 
1f5049b3536e: Download complete 
bash-3.2$ docker run busybox /bin/echo Hello Doctor
Hello Doctor

Am I missing something?

Answer 1

You don't need to run any docker commands as sudo when you're using boot2docker as every command passed into the boot2docker VM runs as root by default.

You're seeing the error when you're running as sudo because sudo doesn't have the DOCKER_HOST env set, only your user does.

You can confirm this by doing a:

$ env

Then a

$ sudo env

And looking for DOCKER_HOST in each output.

As for having a docker file that runs your script, something like this might work for you:

Dockerfile

FROM busybox

# Copy your script into the docker image
ADD /path/to/your/script.sh /usr/local/bin/script.sh

# Run your script
CMD /usr/local/bin/script.sh

Then you can run:

docker build -t your-image-name:your-tag .

This will build your docker image, which you can see by doing a:

docker images

Then, to run your container, you can do a:

docker run your-image-name:your-tag

This run command will start a container from the image you created with your Dockerfile and your build command and then it will finish once your script.sh has finished executing.

Answer 2

You can quickly setup your environment using shellinit

At your command prompt execute:

$(boot2docker shellinit)  

That will populate and export the environment variables and initialize other features.

Answer 3

docker pull will fail if docker service is not running. Make sure it is running by

:~$ ps aux | grep docker
root     18745  1.7  0.9 284104 13976 ?   Ssl  21:19   0:01 /usr/bin/docker -d

If it is not running, you can start it by

sudo service docker start

For Ubuntu 15 and above use

sudo systemctl start docker