Docker Swarm Cheat-Sheet

Original Docker swarm cheat-sheet

Docker swarm is cluster environment for docker containers. Swarm is created with number of machines running docker daemons. Collectively they are managed by one master node to run clustered environment for containers!

In this article we are listing out all the currently available docker swarm commands in a very short overview. This is cheat sheet you can glance through to brush or your swarm knowledge or quick reference for any swarm management command. We are covering most used or useful switches with the below commands. There are more switches available for each command and you can get them with –help

Read all docker or containerization related articles here from KernelTalk’s archives.

Docker Swarm at DigitalOcean

This set of command is used mainly to start, manage swarm cluster as a whole. For node management within cluster we have different set of commands following this section.

docker swarm init : Initiate swam cluster

• –advertise-addr : Advertised address on which swarm lives
• –autolock : Locks manager and display key which will be needed to unlock stopped manager
• –force-new-cluster : Create new cluster from backup and dont attempt to connect to old known nodes

docker swarm join-token : Lists join security token to join another node in swarm as worker or manager

• –quite : Only display token. By default it displays complete command to be used along with token.
• –rotate : Rotate (change) token for security reasons.

docker swarm join : Join already running swarm as a worker or manager

• –token : Security token to join swarm
• –availability : Mark node’s status as active/drain/pause after joining

docker swarm leave : Leave swarm. To be run from node itself

• -f : Leave forcefully ignoring all warnings.

docker swarm unlock : Unlocks swarm by providing key after manager restarts

docker swarm unlock-key : Display swarm unlock key

• -q : Only display token.
• –rotate : Rotate (change) token for security reasons.

docker swarm update : Updates swarm configurations

• –autolock : true/false. Turns on or off locking if not done while initiating.

Node is a server participating in Docker swarm. Node can either be worker or manager in swarm. Manager node has ability to manage swarm nodes and services along with serving workloads. Worker nodes can only serve workloads.

docker node ls : Lists nodes in swarm

• -q : Only display node Ids
• –format : Format output using GO format
• –filter : Apply filters to output

docker node ps : Display tasks running on nodes

Above all switches applies here too.

docker node promote : Promote node to manager role

docker node demote : Demote node from manager to worker role

docker node rm : Remove node from swarm. Run from manager node.

• -f : Force remove

docker node inspect : Detailed information about node

• –format :Format output using GO format
• –pretty : Print in human readable friendly format

docker node update : Update node configs

• –role : worker/manager. Update node role
• –availability : active/pause/drain. Set node state.

With stacks it is possible to manage application composed by a group of services.

docker stack deploy : Deploy new stack in the cluster (also accept up)

• -c, –compose-file strings : Path to a Compose file, or “-” to read from stdin
• –prune : Prune services that are no longer referenced
• –with-registry-auth : Send registry authentication details to Swarm agents

docker stack ls : List stacks

docker stack ps : Lists services task of stacks

• –filter, –format and -q (quiet) switches which we saw above are supported with this command.

docker stack rm : Remove stack (also accept remove and down)

docker stack services : List the services in the stack

• –filter, –format and -q (quiet) switches which we saw above are supported with this command.

Docker service is used to create and spawn workloads to swarm nodes.

docker service create : Start new service in Docker swarm

Switches of docker container run command like -i (interactive), -t (pseud terminal), -d (detached), -p (publish port) etc supported here.

docker service ls : List services

• –filter, –format and -q (quiet) switches which we saw above are supported with this command.

docker service ps : Lists tasks of services

• –filter, –format and -q (quiet) switches which we saw above are supported with this command.

docker service logs : Display logs of service or tasks

docker service rm : Remove service

• -f : Force remove

docker service update : Update service config

Most of the parameters defined in service create command can be updated here.

docker service rollback : Revert back changes done in service config.

docker service scale : Scale one or more replicated services.

servicename=number format

docker service inspect : Detailed in formation about service.