{"id":24652,"date":"2023-10-10T05:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-10-10T03:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sii.pl\/blog\/?p=24652"},"modified":"2024-07-22T14:29:36","modified_gmt":"2024-07-22T12:29:36","slug":"windows-subsystem-for-linux-wsl-2-part-3-docker-installation-and-configuration","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sii.pl\/blog\/en\/windows-subsystem-for-linux-wsl-2-part-3-docker-installation-and-configuration\/","title":{"rendered":"Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL 2). Part 3: Docker installation and configuration"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In previous articles (Part 1.<\/a>, Part 2.)<\/a> I showed how to configure WSL itself and dev tools to work alongside. In this one, I\u2019ll present how to install and configure Docker<\/em> (with Docker Compose<\/em>) using WSL Linux distribution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Installation<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The installation process of Docker is well described on the documentation page. There are a few installation methods, but I\u2019ll focus on the one using an apt<\/em> repository<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Execute steps from Set up the repository<\/em> and then from Install Docker Engine<\/em> paragraphs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Post-install configuration<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In this part I\u2019ll describe how to configure Docker to use it as a non-privileged user and start the daemon automatically on the Linux OS startup.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Installation verification<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

When you try to execute the last step of the installation instruction in order to verify if Docker was installed successfully:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

sudo docker run hello-world<\/pre>\n\n\n\n
You\u2019ll encounter the following failure message:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
docker: Cannot connect to the Docker daemon at unix:\/\/\/var\/run\/docker.sock. Is the docker daemon running?.\r\nSee 'docker run --help'.\r<\/pre>\n\n\n\n
It\u2019s because Docker daemon is not running. You can verify it, by executing:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
service docker status<\/pre>\n\n\n\n
The output should be as follows:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
* Docker is not running<\/pre>\n\n\n\n
You can start the Docker daemon by executing:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
sudo service docker start<\/pre>\n\n\n\n
Having the Docker daemon started, it should be possible to run hello-world<\/em> example.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Using Docker as a non-privileged user<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
By default, sudo<\/em> must be used to use a docker<\/em> command. It\u2019s because docker<\/em> user group has been created, but it contains no users.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Execute the following command to add the current user to the docker<\/em> user group:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
sudo usermod -aG docker $USER<\/pre>\n\n\n\n
Now exit the WSL Linux distro and let it restart \u2013 wait until status will be stopped<\/em> by using:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
wsl -l -v<\/pre>\n\n\n\n
command in PowerShell<\/em>. If you don\u2019t want to wait for Linux stopping automatically (it should be about 30 s.), you can stop it manually:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
wsl --shutdown<\/pre>\n\n\n\n
Remember, that Docker is not configured yet to start automatically, so after logging in to your WSL Linux again, execute first:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
sudo service docker start<\/pre>\n\n\n\n
And after that try to run hello-world<\/em> example, but now \u2013 without using sudo<\/em>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
docker run hello-world<\/pre>\n\n\n\n
If you encountered the following error:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
WARNING: Error loading config file: \/home\/user\/.docker\/config.json -\r\nstat \/home\/user\/.docker\/config.json: permission denied\r<\/pre>\n\n\n\n
Refer to the documentation<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Starting Docker daemon automatically<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
So far, Docker<\/em> has been installed and now it can be used without sudo<\/em>, but it doesn\u2019t start automatically with the system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
systemd<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Many modern Linux distributions use systemd<\/em> to manage services. Debian<\/em> and Debian<\/em> based Linux distributions \u2013 like Ubuntu<\/em> are no exception for that. However, in case of WSL, there\u2019s
a lightweight Linux (for example Ubuntu<\/em>) distribution, that doesn\u2019t use systemd<\/em> (at least by default,\u00a0as it\u2019s possible to configure it to use systemd <\/em>from a certain Windows 10 and Windows 11 update).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If the only reason to enable systemd<\/em> in WSL Linux distribution is to start some services automatically, I would recommend not to do this that way. Check the interesting thread<\/a> explaining this topic further.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
WSL configuration<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Simple WSL configuration can be used for automatic service execution at the OS startup. The only thing to do is to edit the \/etc\/wsl.conf<\/em> file as described in this thread<\/a> \u2013 the same that was edited in order not to generate resolvConf<\/em> as described in the 1st article of this series<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Open the mentioned file with the chosen editor and admin privileges, for example, using nano<\/em>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
sudo nano \/etc\/wsl.conf<\/pre>\n\n\n\n
Add the following lines and save the file:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
[boot]\r\n  command=\"service docker start\"\r<\/pre>\n\n\n\n
In order to verify if new settings work properly, stop WSL Linux distro, and start it again. Check with the following command if Docker daemon is running:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
service docker status<\/pre>\n\n\n\n
The output should be as follows:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
* Docker is running<\/pre>\n\n\n\n
Configure logging driver<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Last but not least, remember to configure Docker logging driver, for example as described here<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Running database example<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
In this section I\u2019ll demonstrate how WSL can be used for running Docker containers. In this example MySQL database and that it is possible to easily work with such db from Windows host, the same way as it would have been installed natively on Windows.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Database configuration<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
In order to run database, docker compose<\/em> tool will be used. Let\u2019s begin with creating really simple compose file in the desired WSL Linux catalogue \u2013 for example the one as below (you can use Visual Studio Code<\/em> for that \ud83d\ude09):<\/p>\n\n\n\n
version: \u201c3.8\u201d\r\nservices:\r\n  mysql-db:\r\n    image: mysql:8.0.32\r\n    restart: always\r\n    environment:\r\n      MYSQL_DATABASE: \u201cmysql-test-db\u201d\r\n      MYSQL_USER: \u201ctest-user\u201d\r\n      MYSQL_PASSWORD: \u201ctest-password\u201d\r\n      MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD: \u201croot-password\u201d\r\n    ports:\r\n      - \u201c3306:3306\u201d\r\n    volumes:\r\n      - mysql-db-volume:\/var\/lib\/mysql\r\nvolumes:\r\n  mysql-db-volume:\r<\/pre>\n\n\n\n
Save the file, and execute command to run the db:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
docker compose -f mysql-compose.yml up<\/pre>\n\n\n\n
mysql-compose.yml is a docker-compose file name \u2013 change it regarding to your needs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
MySQL<\/em> database should be up and running now, and be available to connect on port 3306<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Connect to the database from Windows<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Having database up and running, it\u2019s time to establish a connection from Windows host.
For that purpose, I\u2019ll use application called DBeaver CE<\/em>. It\u2019s free universal tool, that can be used to connect and operate on different vendors databases, including the most popular, like MySQL<\/em>, PostgreSQL<\/em>, MariaDB<\/em>, Microsoft SQL Server<\/em>, etc. as well as to not relational dbs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Configuration is straightforward \u2013 just enter the data configured in docker compose file, for this example it would be:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Server Host: localhost\r\nPort: 3306\r\nDatabase: mysql-test-db\r\nUsername: test-user\r\nPassword: test-password\r<\/pre>\n\n\n\n
If you use Dbeaver<\/em>, you may encounter a connection problem, like Public Key Retrieval is not allowed<\/code>. In connection settings, Driver properties<\/em> tab, under User Properties<\/em> add those 2 properties with values, as described in this thread<\/a>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
useSSL: false\r\nallowPublicKeyRetrieval: true\r<\/pre>\n\n\n\n
That\u2019s all. MySQL db is running in Docker container under the WSL Linux, but it\u2019s possible to work with it from Windows host as it was installed there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Conclusion<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
In this article I showed how to install and configure Docker<\/em> to be used with WSL, as well as I presented on how it can be leveraged be example of using a database container.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This was the last part of three-series articles regarding the WSL configuration and usage. I believe, that I managed to show at least the most important aspects of WSL \u2013 how it can be configured and used in a daily development work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There\u2019s no doubt, this is an interesting tool that may be helpful \u2013 especially when working with Docker<\/em> containers. Would I recommend it to everybody who use Windows?<\/strong> I think, I wouldn\u2019t. You must remember that this tool is still under development \u2013 though quite stable and mature, there\u2019re at least few problems to solve in terms of the configuration of some applications to work with it properly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If I had to sum up \u2013 I would recommend it to all, who for some reason have any problems with working on Windows<\/strong> (for example previously used Linux for development, some tools don\u2019t work properly, etc.), and also for those who create multi-platform applications.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sources<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n