# docker_container – manage docker containers

- Synopsis
- Requirements
- Parameters
- Notes
- Examples
- Return Values
- Status

## Synopsis

- Manage the life cycle of docker containers.
- Supports check mode. Run with `--check` and `--diff` to view config difference and list of actions to be taken.

## Requirements

The below requirements are needed on the host that executes this module.

- Docker API >= 1.20
- Docker SDK for Python: Please note that the docker-py Python module has been superseded by docker (see here for details). For Python 2.6, `docker-py` must be used. Otherwise, it is recommended to install the `docker` Python module. Note that both modules should not be installed at the same time. Also note that when both modules are installed and one of them is uninstalled, the other might no longer function and a reinstall of it is required.
- Docker SDK for Python >= 1.8.0 (use docker-py for Python 2.6)

## Parameters

Parameter | Choices/Defaults | Comments
--- | --- | ---

api_version
string

Default:
"auto"

The version of the Docker API running on the Docker Host.
Defaults to the latest version of the API supported by Docker SDK for Python and the docker daemon.
If the value is not specified in the task, the value of environment variable `DOCKER_API_VERSION` will be used instead. If the environment variable is not set, the default value will be used.
aliases: docker_api_version

auto_remove
boolean
added in 2.4

Choices:
- no ←
- yes

Enable auto-removal of the container on daemon side when the container's process exits.

blkio_weight integer |  | Block IO (relative weight), between 10 and 1000.
ca_cert path |  | Use a CA certificate when performing server verification by providing the path to a CA certificate file. If the value is not specified in the task and the environment variable `DOCKER_CERT_PATH` is set, the file `ca.pem` from the directory specified in the environment variable `DOCKER_CERT_PATH` will be used. aliases: tls_ca_cert, cacert_path
cap_drop list / elements=string added in 2.7 |  | List of capabilities to drop from the container.
capabilities list / elements=string |  | List of capabilities to add to the container.

cleanup
boolean

Choices:
- no ←
- yes

Use with detach=false to remove the container after successful execution.

client_cert path |  | Path to the client's TLS certificate file. If the value is not specified in the task and the environment variable `DOCKER_CERT_PATH` is set, the file `cert.pem` from the directory specified in the environment variable `DOCKER_CERT_PATH` will be used. aliases: tls_client_cert, cert_path
client_key path |  | Path to the client's TLS key file. If the value is not specified in the task and the environment variable `DOCKER_CERT_PATH` is set, the file `key.pem` from the directory specified in the environment variable `DOCKER_CERT_PATH` will be used. aliases: tls_client_key, key_path
command raw |  | Command to execute when the container starts. A command may be either a string or a list. Prior to version 2.4, strings were split on commas.

comparisons
dictionary
added in 2.8

Allows to specify how properties of existing containers are compared with module options to decide whether the container should be recreated / updated or not.
Only options which correspond to the state of a container as handled by the Docker daemon can be specified, as well as `networks`.
Must be a dictionary specifying for an option one of the keys `strict`, `ignore` and `allow_more_present`.
If `strict` is specified, values are tested for equality, and changes always result in updating or restarting. If `ignore` is specified, changes are ignored.
`allow_more_present` is allowed only for lists, sets and dicts. If it is specified for lists or sets, the container will only be updated or restarted if the module option contains a value which is not present in the container's options. If the option is specified for a dict, the container will only be updated or restarted if the module option contains a key which isn't present in the container's option, or if the value of a key present differs.
The wildcard option `*` can be used to set one of the default values `strict` or `ignore` to *all* comparisons which are not explicitly set to other values.
See the examples for details.

cpu_period integer |  | Limit CPU CFS (Completely Fair Scheduler) period.
cpu_quota integer |  | Limit CPU CFS (Completely Fair Scheduler) quota.
cpu_shares integer |  | CPU shares (relative weight).
cpuset_cpus string |  | CPUs in which to allow execution `1,3` or `1-3`.
cpuset_mems string |  | Memory nodes (MEMs) in which to allow execution `0-3` or `0,1`.

debug
boolean

Choices:
- no ←
- yes

Debug mode

detach
boolean

Choices:
- no
- yes ←

Enable detached mode to leave the container running in background.
If disabled, the task will reflect the status of the container run (failed if the command failed).

device_read_bps list / elements=dictionary added in 2.8 |  | List of device path and read rate (bytes per second) from device.
| path string / required |  | Device path in the container.
| rate string / required |  | Device read limit in format `<number>[<unit>]`. Number is a positive integer. Unit can be one of `B` (byte), `K` (kibibyte, 1024B), `M` (mebibyte), `G` (gibibyte), `T` (tebibyte), or `P` (pebibyte). Omitting the unit defaults to bytes.
device_read_iops list / elements=dictionary added in 2.8 |  | List of device and read rate (IO per second) from device.
| path string / required |  | Device path in the container.
| rate integer / required |  | Device read limit. Must be a positive integer.
device_write_bps list / elements=dictionary added in 2.8 |  | List of device and write rate (bytes per second) to device.
| path string / required |  | Device path in the container.
| rate string / required |  | Device read limit in format `<number>[<unit>]`. Number is a positive integer. Unit can be one of `B` (byte), `K` (kibibyte, 1024B), `M` (mebibyte), `G` (gibibyte), `T` (tebibyte), or `P` (pebibyte). Omitting the unit defaults to bytes.
device_write_iops list / elements=dictionary added in 2.8 |  | List of device and write rate (IO per second) to device.
| path string / required |  | Device path in the container.
| rate integer / required |  | Device read limit. Must be a positive integer.
devices list / elements=string |  | List of host device bindings to add to the container. Each binding is a mapping expressed in the format `<path_on_host>:<path_in_container>:<cgroup_permissions>`.
dns_opts list / elements=string |  | List of DNS options.
dns_search_domains list / elements=string |  | List of custom DNS search domains.
dns_servers list / elements=string |  | List of custom DNS servers.

docker_host
string

Default:
"unix://var/run/docker.sock"

The URL or Unix socket path used to connect to the Docker API. To connect to a remote host, provide the TCP connection string. For example, `tcp://192.0.2.23:2376`. If TLS is used to encrypt the connection, the module will automatically replace `tcp` in the connection URL with `https`.
If the value is not specified in the task, the value of environment variable `DOCKER_HOST` will be used instead. If the environment variable is not set, the default value will be used.
aliases: docker_url

domainname string added in 2.5 |  | Container domainname.
entrypoint list / elements=string |  | Command that overwrites the default `ENTRYPOINT` of the image.
env dictionary |  | Dictionary of key,value pairs. Values which might be parsed as numbers, booleans or other types by the YAML parser must be quoted (e.g. `"true"`) in order to avoid data loss.
env_file path |  | Path to a file, present on the target, containing environment variables FOO=BAR. If variable also present in env, then the env value will override.
etc_hosts dictionary |  | Dict of host-to-IP mappings, where each host name is a key in the dictionary. Each host name will be added to the container's `/etc/hosts` file.
exposed_ports list / elements=string |  | List of additional container ports which informs Docker that the container listens on the specified network ports at runtime. If the port is already exposed using `EXPOSE` in a Dockerfile, it does not need to be exposed again. aliases: exposed, expose

force_kill
boolean

Choices:
- no ←
- yes

Use the kill command when stopping a running container.
aliases: forcekill

groups list / elements=string |  | List of additional group names and/or IDs that the container process will run as.

healthcheck
dictionary
added in 2.8

Configure a check that is run to determine whether or not containers for this service are "healthy".
See the docs for the HEALTHCHECK Dockerfile instruction for details on how healthchecks work.
interval, timeout and start_period are specified as durations. They accept duration as a string in a format that look like: `5h34m56s`, `1m30s` etc. The supported units are `us`, `ms`, `s`, `m` and `h`.

| interval string |  | Time between running the check. The default used by the Docker daemon is `30s`.
| retries integer |  | Consecutive number of failures needed to report unhealthy. The default used by the Docker daemon is `3`.
| start_period string |  | Start period for the container to initialize before starting health-retries countdown. The default used by the Docker daemon is `0s`.
| test raw |  | Command to run to check health. Must be either a string or a list. If it is a list, the first item must be one of `NONE`, `CMD` or `CMD-SHELL`.
| timeout string |  | Maximum time to allow one check to run. The default used by the Docker daemon is `30s`.
hostname string |  | The container's hostname.

ignore_image
boolean

Choices:
- no ←
- yes

When state is `present` or `started`, the module compares the configuration of an existing container to requested configuration. The evaluation includes the image version. If the image version in the registry does not match the container, the container will be recreated. You can stop this behavior by setting ignore_image to `True`.
*Warning:* This option is ignored if `image: ignore` or `*: ignore` is specified in the comparisons option.

image string |  | Repository path and tag used to create the container. If an image is not found or pull is true, the image will be pulled from the registry. If no tag is included, `latest` will be used. Can also be an image ID. If this is the case, the image is assumed to be available locally. The pull option is ignored for this case.

init
boolean
added in 2.6

Choices:
- no ←
- yes

Run an init inside the container that forwards signals and reaps processes.
This option requires Docker API >= 1.25.

interactive
boolean

Choices:
- no ←
- yes

Keep stdin open after a container is launched, even if not attached.

ipc_mode string |  | Set the IPC mode for the container. Can be one of `container:<name|id>` to reuse another container's IPC namespace or `host` to use the host's IPC namespace within the container.

keep_volumes
boolean

Choices:
- no
- yes ←

Retain anonymous volumes associated with a removed container.

kernel_memory string |  | Kernel memory limit in format `<number>[<unit>]`. Number is a positive integer. Unit can be `B` (byte), `K` (kibibyte, 1024B), `M` (mebibyte), `G` (gibibyte), `T` (tebibyte), or `P` (pebibyte). Minimum is `4M`. Omitting the unit defaults to bytes.
kill_signal string |  | Override default signal used to kill a running container.
labels dictionary |  | Dictionary of key value pairs.
links list / elements=string |  | List of name aliases for linked containers in the format `container_name:alias`. Setting this will force container to be restarted.
log_driver string |  | Specify the logging driver. Docker uses `json-file` by default. See here for possible choices.
log_options dictionary |  | Dictionary of options specific to the chosen log_driver. See https://docs.docker.com/engine/admin/logging/overview/ for details. aliases: log_opt
mac_address string |  | Container MAC address (e.g. 92:d0:c6:0a:29:33).
memory string | Default: "0" | Memory limit in format `<number>[<unit>]`. Number is a positive integer. Unit can be `B` (byte), `K` (kibibyte, 1024B), `M` (mebibyte), `G` (gibibyte), `T` (tebibyte), or `P` (pebibyte). Omitting the unit defaults to bytes.
memory_reservation string |  | Memory soft limit in format `<number>[<unit>]`. Number is a positive integer. Unit can be `B` (byte), `K` (kibibyte, 1024B), `M` (mebibyte), `G` (gibibyte), `T` (tebibyte), or `P` (pebibyte). Omitting the unit defaults to bytes.
memory_swap string |  | Total memory limit (memory + swap) in format `<number>[<unit>]`. Number is a positive integer. Unit can be `B` (byte), `K` (kibibyte, 1024B), `M` (mebibyte), `G` (gibibyte), `T` (tebibyte), or `P` (pebibyte). Omitting the unit defaults to bytes.
memory_swappiness integer |  | Tune a container's memory swappiness behavior. Accepts an integer between 0 and 100. If not set, the value will be remain the same if container exists and will be inherited from the host machine if it is (re-)created.
mounts list / elements=dictionary added in 2.9 |  | Specification for mounts to be added to the container. More powerful alternative to volumes.

consistency
string

Choices:
- cached
- consistent
- default
- delegated

The consistency requirement for the mount.

| labels dictionary |  | User-defined name and labels for the volume. Only valid for the `volume` type.

no_copy
boolean

Choices:
- no
- yes

False if the volume should be populated with the data from the target. Only valid for the `volume` type.
The default value is `false`.

propagation
string

Choices:
- private
- rprivate
- shared
- rshared
- slave
- rslave

Propagation mode. Only valid for the `bind` type.

read_only
boolean

Choices:
- no
- yes

Whether the mount should be read-only.

| source string |  | Mount source (e.g. a volume name or a host path).
| target string / required |  | Path inside the container.
| tmpfs_mode string |  | The permission mode for the tmpfs mount.
| tmpfs_size string |  | The size for the tmpfs mount in bytes in format <number>[<unit>]. Number is a positive integer. Unit can be one of `B` (byte), `K` (kibibyte, 1024B), `M` (mebibyte), `G` (gibibyte), `T` (tebibyte), or `P` (pebibyte). Omitting the unit defaults to bytes.

type
string

Choices:
- bind
- npipe
- tmpfs
- volume ←

The mount type.
Note that `npipe` is only supported by Docker for Windows.

| volume_driver string |  | Specify the volume driver. Only valid for the `volume` type. See here for details.
| volume_options dictionary |  | Dictionary of options specific to the chosen volume_driver. See here for details.
name string / required |  | Assign a name to a new container or match an existing container. When identifying an existing container name may be a name or a long or short container ID.
network_mode string |  | Connect the container to a network. Choices are `bridge`, `host`, `none` or `container:<name|id>`.

networks
list / elements=dictionary

List of networks the container belongs to.
For examples of the data structure and usage see EXAMPLES below.
To remove a container from one or more networks, use the purge_networks option.
Note that as opposed to `docker run ...`, docker_container does not remove the default network if networks is specified. You need to explicitly use purge_networks to enforce the removal of the default network (and all other networks not explicitly mentioned in networks). Alternatively, use the networks_cli_compatible option, which will be enabled by default from Ansible 2.12 on.

| aliases list / elements=string |  | List of aliases for this container in this network. These names can be used in the network to reach this container.
| ipv4_address string |  | The container's IPv4 address in this network.
| ipv6_address string |  | The container's IPv6 address in this network.
| links list / elements=string |  | A list of containers to link to.
| name string / required |  | The network's name.

networks_cli_compatible
boolean
added in 2.8

Choices:
- no
- yes

When networks are provided to the module via the networks option, the module behaves differently than `docker run --network`: `docker run --network other` will create a container with network `other` attached, but the default network not attached. This module with networks: {name: other} will create a container with both `default` and `other` attached. If purge_networks is set to `yes`, the `default` network will be removed afterwards.
If networks_cli_compatible is set to `yes`, this module will behave as `docker run --network` and will *not* add the default network if networks is specified. If networks is not specified, the default network will be attached.
Note that docker CLI also sets network_mode to the name of the first network added if `--network` is specified. For more compatibility with docker CLI, you explicitly have to set network_mode to the name of the first network you're adding.
Current value is `no`. A new default of `yes` will be set in Ansible 2.12.

oom_killer
boolean

Choices:
- no
- yes

Whether or not to disable OOM Killer for the container.

oom_score_adj integer |  | An integer value containing the score given to the container in order to tune OOM killer preferences.

output_logs
boolean
added in 2.7

Choices:
- no ←
- yes

If set to true, output of the container command will be printed.
Only effective when log_driver is set to `json-file` or `journald`.

paused
boolean

Choices:
- no ←
- yes

Use with the started state to pause running processes inside the container.

pid_mode string |  | Set the PID namespace mode for the container. Note that Docker SDK for Python < 2.0 only supports `host`. Newer versions of the Docker SDK for Python (docker) allow all values supported by the Docker daemon.
pids_limit integer added in 2.8 |  | Set PIDs limit for the container. It accepts an integer value. Set `-1` for unlimited PIDs.

privileged
boolean

Choices:
- no ←
- yes

Give extended privileges to the container.

published_ports
list / elements=string

List of ports to publish from the container to the host.
Use docker CLI syntax: `8000`, `9000:8000`, or `0.0.0.0:9000:8000`, where 8000 is a container port, 9000 is a host port, and 0.0.0.0 is a host interface.
Port ranges can be used for source and destination ports. If two ranges with different lengths are specified, the shorter range will be used.
Bind addresses must be either IPv4 or IPv6 addresses. Hostnames are *not* allowed. This is different from the `docker` command line utility. Use the dig lookup to resolve hostnames.
A value of `all` will publish all exposed container ports to random host ports, ignoring any other mappings.
If networks parameter is provided, will inspect each network to see if there exists a bridge network with optional parameter `com.docker.network.bridge.host_binding_ipv4`. If such a network is found, then published ports where no host IP address is specified will be bound to the host IP pointed to by `com.docker.network.bridge.host_binding_ipv4`. Note that the first bridge network with a `com.docker.network.bridge.host_binding_ipv4` value encountered in the list of networks is the one that will be used.
aliases: ports

pull
boolean

Choices:
- no ←
- yes

If true, always pull the latest version of an image. Otherwise, will only pull an image when missing.
*Note:* images are only pulled when specified by name. If the image is specified as a image ID (hash), it cannot be pulled.

purge_networks
boolean

Choices:
- no ←
- yes

Remove the container from ALL networks not included in networks parameter.
Any default networks such as `bridge`, if not found in networks, will be removed as well.

read_only
boolean

Choices:
- no ←
- yes

Mount the container's root file system as read-only.

recreate
boolean

Choices:
- no ←
- yes

Use with present and started states to force the re-creation of an existing container.

restart
boolean

Choices:
- no ←
- yes

Use with started state to force a matching container to be stopped and restarted.

restart_policy
string

Choices:
- no
- on-failure
- always
- unless-stopped

Container restart policy.
Place quotes around `no` option.

restart_retries integer |  | Use with restart policy to control maximum number of restart attempts.
runtime string added in 2.8 |  | Runtime to use for the container.
security_opts list / elements=string |  | List of security options in the form of `"label:user:User"`.
shm_size string |  | Size of `/dev/shm` in format `<number>[<unit>]`. Number is positive integer. Unit can be `B` (byte), `K` (kibibyte, 1024B), `M` (mebibyte), `G` (gibibyte), `T` (tebibyte), or `P` (pebibyte). Omitting the unit defaults to bytes. If you omit the size entirely, Docker daemon uses `64M`.
ssl_version string |  | Provide a valid SSL version number. Default value determined by ssl.py module. If the value is not specified in the task, the value of environment variable `DOCKER_SSL_VERSION` will be used instead.

state
string

Choices:
- absent
- present
- stopped
- started ←

`absent` - A container matching the specified name will be stopped and removed. Use force_kill to kill the container rather than stopping it. Use keep_volumes to retain anonymous volumes associated with the removed container.
`present` - Asserts the existence of a container matching the name and any provided configuration parameters. If no container matches the name, a container will be created. If a container matches the name but the provided configuration does not match, the container will be updated, if it can be. If it cannot be updated, it will be removed and re-created with the requested config.
`started` - Asserts that the container is first `present`, and then if the container is not running moves it to a running state. Use restart to force a matching container to be stopped and restarted.
`stopped` - Asserts that the container is first `present`, and then if the container is running moves it to a stopped state.
To control what will be taken into account when comparing configuration, see the comparisons option. To avoid that the image version will be taken into account, you can also use the ignore_image option.
Use the recreate option to always force re-creation of a matching container, even if it is running.
If the container should be killed instead of stopped in case it needs to be stopped for recreation, or because state is `stopped`, please use the force_kill option. Use keep_volumes to retain anonymous volumes associated with a removed container.
Use keep_volumes to retain anonymous volumes associated with a removed container.

stop_signal string |  | Override default signal used to stop the container.

stop_timeout
integer

Number of seconds to wait for the container to stop before sending `SIGKILL`. When the container is created by this module, its `StopTimeout` configuration will be set to this value.
When the container is stopped, will be used as a timeout for stopping the container. In case the container has a custom `StopTimeout` configuration, the behavior depends on the version of the docker daemon. New versions of the docker daemon will always use the container's configured `StopTimeout` value if it has been configured.

sysctls dictionary added in 2.4 |  | Dictionary of key,value pairs.
timeout integer | Default: 60 | The maximum amount of time in seconds to wait on a response from the API. If the value is not specified in the task, the value of environment variable `DOCKER_TIMEOUT` will be used instead. If the environment variable is not set, the default value will be used.

tls
boolean

Choices:
- no ←
- yes

Secure the connection to the API by using TLS without verifying the authenticity of the Docker host server. Note that if validate_certs is set to `yes` as well, it will take precedence.
If the value is not specified in the task, the value of environment variable `DOCKER_TLS` will be used instead. If the environment variable is not set, the default value will be used.

tls_hostname string | Default: "localhost" | When verifying the authenticity of the Docker Host server, provide the expected name of the server. If the value is not specified in the task, the value of environment variable `DOCKER_TLS_HOSTNAME` will be used instead. If the environment variable is not set, the default value will be used.
tmpfs list / elements=string added in 2.4 |  | Mount a tmpfs directory.

trust_image_content
boolean

Choices:
- no ←
- yes

If `yes`, skip image verification.

tty
boolean

Choices:
- no ←
- yes

Allocate a pseudo-TTY.

ulimits list / elements=string |  | List of ulimit options. A ulimit is specified as `nofile:262144:262144`.
user string |  | Sets the username or UID used and optionally the groupname or GID for the specified command. Can be of the forms `user`, `user:group`, `uid`, `uid:gid`, `user:gid` or `uid:group`.
userns_mode string added in 2.5 |  | Set the user namespace mode for the container. Currently, the only valid value are `host` and the empty string.
uts string |  | Set the UTS namespace mode for the container.

validate_certs
boolean

Choices:
- no ←
- yes

Secure the connection to the API by using TLS and verifying the authenticity of the Docker host server.
If the value is not specified in the task, the value of environment variable `DOCKER_TLS_VERIFY` will be used instead. If the environment variable is not set, the default value will be used.
aliases: tls_verify

volume_driver string |  | The container volume driver.

volumes
list / elements=string

List of volumes to mount within the container.
Use docker CLI-style syntax: `/host:/container[:mode]`
Mount modes can be a comma-separated list of various modes such as `ro`, `rw`, `consistent`, `delegated`, `cached`, `rprivate`, `private`, `rshared`, `shared`, `rslave`, `slave`, and `nocopy`. Note that the docker daemon might not support all modes and combinations of such modes.
SELinux hosts can additionally use `z` or `Z` to use a shared or private label for the volume.
Note that Ansible 2.7 and earlier only supported one mode, which had to be one of `ro`, `rw`, `z`, and `Z`.

volumes_from list / elements=string |  | List of container names or IDs to get volumes from.
working_dir string added in 2.4 |  | Path to the working directory.

## Notes

Note

- For most config changes, the container needs to be recreated, i.e. the existing container has to be destroyed and a new one created. This can cause unexpected data loss and downtime. You can use the comparisons option to prevent this.
- If the module needs to recreate the container, it will only use the options provided to the module to create the new container (except image). Therefore, always specify all options relevant to the container.
- When restart is set to `true`, the module will only restart the container if no config changes are detected. Please note that several options have default values; if the container to be restarted uses different values for these options, it will be recreated instead. The options with default values which can cause this are auto_remove, detach, init, interactive, memory, paused, privileged, read_only and tty.
- Connect to the Docker daemon by providing parameters with each task or by defining environment variables. You can define `DOCKER_HOST`, `DOCKER_TLS_HOSTNAME`, `DOCKER_API_VERSION`, `DOCKER_CERT_PATH`, `DOCKER_SSL_VERSION`, `DOCKER_TLS`, `DOCKER_TLS_VERIFY` and `DOCKER_TIMEOUT`. If you are using docker machine, run the script shipped with the product that sets up the environment. It will set these variables for you. See https://docs.docker.com/machine/reference/env/ for more details.
- When connecting to Docker daemon with TLS, you might need to install additional Python packages. For the Docker SDK for Python, version 2.4 or newer, this can be done by installing `docker[tls]` with pip.
- Note that the Docker SDK for Python only allows to specify the path to the Docker configuration for very few functions. In general, it will use `$HOME/.docker/config.json` if the `DOCKER_CONFIG` environment variable is not specified, and use `$DOCKER_CONFIG/config.json` otherwise.

## Examples

    - name: Create a data container
      docker_container:
        name: mydata
        image: busybox
        volumes:
          - /data

    - name: Re-create a redis container
      docker_container:
        name: myredis
        image: redis
        command: redis-server --appendonly yes
        state: present
        recreate: yes
        exposed_ports:
          - 6379
        volumes_from:
          - mydata

    - name: Restart a container
      docker_container:
        name: myapplication
        image: someuser/appimage
        state: started
        restart: yes
        links:
         - "myredis:aliasedredis"
        devices:
         - "/dev/sda:/dev/xvda:rwm"
        ports:
         - "8080:9000"
         - "127.0.0.1:8081:9001/udp"
        env:
            SECRET_KEY: "ssssh"
            # Values which might be parsed as numbers, booleans or other types by the YAML parser need to be quoted
            BOOLEAN_KEY: "yes"

    - name: Container present
      docker_container:
        name: mycontainer
        state: present
        image: ubuntu:14.04
        command: sleep infinity

    - name: Stop a container
      docker_container:
        name: mycontainer
        state: stopped

    - name: Start 4 load-balanced containers
      docker_container:
        name: "container{{ item }}"
        recreate: yes
        image: someuser/anotherappimage
        command: sleep 1d
      with_sequence: count=4

    - name: remove container
      docker_container:
        name: ohno
        state: absent

    - name: Syslogging output
      docker_container:
        name: myservice
        image: busybox
        log_driver: syslog
        log_options:
          syslog-address: tcp://my-syslog-server:514
          syslog-facility: daemon
          # NOTE: in Docker 1.13+ the "syslog-tag" option was renamed to "tag" for
          # older docker installs, use "syslog-tag" instead
          tag: myservice

    - name: Create db container and connect to network
      docker_container:
        name: db_test
        image: "postgres:latest"
        networks:
          - name: "{{ docker_network_name }}"

    - name: Start container, connect to network and link
      docker_container:
        name: sleeper
        image: ubuntu:14.04
        networks:
          - name: TestingNet
            ipv4_address: "172.1.1.100"
            aliases:
              - sleepyzz
            links:
              - db_test:db
          - name: TestingNet2

    - name: Start a container with a command
      docker_container:
        name: sleepy
        image: ubuntu:14.04
        command: ["sleep", "infinity"]

    - name: Add container to networks
      docker_container:
        name: sleepy
        networks:
          - name: TestingNet
            ipv4_address: 172.1.1.18
            links:
              - sleeper
          - name: TestingNet2
            ipv4_address: 172.1.10.20

    - name: Update network with aliases
      docker_container:
        name: sleepy
        networks:
          - name: TestingNet
            aliases:
              - sleepyz
              - zzzz

    - name: Remove container from one network
      docker_container:
        name: sleepy
        networks:
          - name: TestingNet2
        purge_networks: yes

    - name: Remove container from all networks
      docker_container:
        name: sleepy
        purge_networks: yes

    - name: Start a container and use an env file
      docker_container:
        name: agent
        image: jenkinsci/ssh-slave
        env_file: /var/tmp/jenkins/agent.env

    - name: Create a container with limited capabilities
      docker_container:
        name: sleepy
        image: ubuntu:16.04
        command: sleep infinity
        capabilities:
          - sys_time
        cap_drop:
          - all

    - name: Finer container restart/update control
      docker_container:
        name: test
        image: ubuntu:18.04
        env:
          arg1: "true"
          arg2: "whatever"
        volumes:
          - /tmp:/tmp
        comparisons:
          image: ignore   # don't restart containers with older versions of the image
          env: strict   # we want precisely this environment
          volumes: allow_more_present   # if there are more volumes, that's ok, as long as `/tmp:/tmp` is there

    - name: Finer container restart/update control II
      docker_container:
        name: test
        image: ubuntu:18.04
        env:
          arg1: "true"
          arg2: "whatever"
        comparisons:
          '*': ignore  # by default, ignore *all* options (including image)
          env: strict   # except for environment variables; there, we want to be strict

    - name: Start container with healthstatus
      docker_container:
        name: nginx-proxy
        image: nginx:1.13
        state: started
        healthcheck:
          # Check if nginx server is healthy by curl'ing the server.
          # If this fails or timeouts, the healthcheck fails.
          test: ["CMD", "curl", "--fail", "http://nginx.host.com"]
          interval: 1m30s
          timeout: 10s
          retries: 3
          start_period: 30s

    - name: Remove healthcheck from container
      docker_container:
        name: nginx-proxy
        image: nginx:1.13
        state: started
        healthcheck:
          # The "NONE" check needs to be specified
          test: ["NONE"]

    - name: start container with block device read limit
      docker_container:
        name: test
        image: ubuntu:18.04
        state: started
        device_read_bps:
          # Limit read rate for /dev/sda to 20 mebibytes per second
          - path: /dev/sda
            rate: 20M
        device_read_iops:
          # Limit read rate for /dev/sdb to 300 IO per second
          - path: /dev/sdb
            rate: 300

## Return Values

Common return values are documented here, the following are the fields unique to this module:

Key | Returned | Description
--- | --- | ---

container
dictionary

always

Facts representing the current state of the container. Matches the docker inspection output.
Note that facts are part of the registered vars since Ansible 2.8. For compatibility reasons, the facts are also accessible directly as `docker_container`. Note that the returned fact will be removed in Ansible 2.12.
Before 2.3 this was `ansible_docker_container` but was renamed in 2.3 to `docker_container` due to conflicts with the connection plugin.
Empty if state is `absent`
If detached is `false`, will include `Output` attribute containing any output from container run.
Sample:
{ "AppArmorProfile": "", "Args": [], "Config": { "AttachStderr": false, "AttachStdin": false, "AttachStdout": false, "Cmd": [ "/usr/bin/supervisord" ], "Domainname": "", "Entrypoint": null, "Env": [ "PATH=/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/bin" ], "ExposedPorts": { "443/tcp": {}, "80/tcp": {} }, "Hostname": "8e47bf643eb9", "Image": "lnmp_nginx:v1", "Labels": {}, "OnBuild": null, "OpenStdin": false, "StdinOnce": false, "Tty": false, "User": "", "Volumes": { "/tmp/lnmp/nginx-sites/logs/": {} }, ... }

## Status

- This module is not guaranteed to have a backwards compatible interface. [preview]
- This module is maintained by the Ansible Community. [community]

### Authors

- Cove Schneider (@cove)
- Joshua Conner (@joshuaconner)
- Pavel Antonov (@softzilla)
- Thomas Steinbach (@ThomasSteinbach)
- Philippe Jandot (@zfil)
- Daan Oosterveld (@dusdanig)
- Chris Houseknecht (@chouseknecht)
- Kassian Sun (@kassiansun)
- Felix Fontein (@felixfontein)

Hint

If you notice any issues in this documentation, you can edit this document to improve it.