Docker Interface

The Docker package on a Synology diskstation provides a powerful graphical user interface (GUI) with an integrated terminal to execute commands inside a container.

This GUI is similar to Kitematic which is now part of the Docker toolbox. Sometimes it can be useful to use the Docker command line instead of a GUI. This can de done with a Secure Shell (SSH).

For Windows we can use the free PuTTY SSH and Telnet client.

We must enter the IP address of the disk-station in the local network and the port number for the SSH service. The default port number is 22.

To access the disk-station with an SSH client, we must first enable the SSH service in the Synology terminal configuration.

At the first access PuTTY displays a popup-window with a security alert.

Click Yes to trust the new key.

To enter the Docker system in the Synology disk-station manager we must enter the command

sudo su -

The user password must be entered a second time to confirm.

We are now logged-in as root in the Synology OS and can enter docker commands. A simple command to show the list of all local stored Docker images is

docker images

The same list can be viewed with the GUI.

On Mac computers a SSH client is integrated in the native terminal. To start enter the command

ssh -l <user-name> -p <port-number> <IP-address>

OS X displays also a security alert at the first visit, but without a simple Yes button to trust the service. After settingt the correct key we can also login to the disk-station with the Mac terminal and run linux or docker commands.

By entering cd /, followed by ls, we can view the content of the disk-station at root.

In the next lesson we will get details about Docker images and introduce Docker volumes and shared folders.