How to Install Docker on a VPS (Ubuntu & Debian Step-by-Step Guide)

Docker is one of the most popular ways to run applications in isolated containers. A Linux VPS is a great fit for containerization because it gives you full root access, predictable resources, and the flexibility to run multiple services on the same server. This guide shows how to install Docker Engine on a VPS running Ubuntu or Debian.

Before you start the manual process, remember: If you value your time, you can deploy a pre-configured Docker VPS via our dashboard. It automatically handles repositories and dependencies, optimizing the setup for our high-speed NVMe infrastructure. To understand why containers have revolutionized deployment architectures, read our detailed comparison on Docker vs Shared Hosting.

Why use Docker on an unmanaged VPS?

Unlike shared plans, an unmanaged cloud infrastructure gives you complete authority over runtime configurations. A Docker VPS hosting setup is ideal for running web apps, APIs, CI/CD tools, and self-hosted services. Containers rely heavily on the host’s disk performance, especially during docker build operations and database executions. Our hardware provides optimized RAM and DISK resources to ensure fast layer exporting and low I/O wait times.

What are the requirements to install docker on vps nodes manually?

• A 64-bit VPS running a supported Ubuntu or Debian release.
• Root access or an administrative user with sudo privileges.
• An active internet connection to download official security packages.

Step-by-step instructions to install Docker on VPS

First, connect to your server using an SSH client: ssh root@YOUR_SERVER_IP. Docker recommends removing distribution-provided older packages before installing the official Docker Engine.

1. Remove conflicting packages

For Ubuntu systems, execute:

for pkg in docker.io docker-doc docker-compose docker-compose-v2 podman-docker containerd runc; do sudo apt-get remove -y $pkg; done

For Debian setups, run:

for pkg in docker.io docker-doc docker-compose podman-docker containerd runc; do sudo apt-get remove -y $pkg; done

2. Configure the GPG keys and repositories

Update your local package index and download the required certificates:

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install -y ca-certificates curl
sudo install -m 0755 -d /etc/apt/keyrings

Next, download Docker’s official keyring file. For an install docker on ubuntu vps pipeline, run:

sudo curl -fsSL https://download.docker.com/linux/ubuntu/gpg -o /etc/apt/keyrings/docker.asc
sudo chmod a+r /etc/apt/keyrings/docker.asc

Then, append the official repository to your sources list:

echo \
  "deb [arch=$(dpkg --print-architecture) signed-by=/etc/apt/keyrings/docker.asc] https://download.docker.com/linux/ubuntu \
  $(. /etc/os-release && echo "${UBUNTU_CODENAME:-$VERSION_CODENAME}") stable" | \
  sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/docker.list > /dev/null

If you are deploying on a Debian machine, download the keyring file using this path:

sudo curl -fsSL https://download.docker.com/linux/debian/gpg -o /etc/apt/keyrings/docker.asc
sudo chmod a+r /etc/apt/keyrings/docker.asc

Then register the corresponding repository configuration:

echo \
  "deb [arch=$(dpkg --print-architecture) signed-by=/etc/apt/keyrings/docker.asc] https://download.docker.com/linux/debian \
  $(. /etc/os-release && echo "$VERSION_CODENAME") stable" | \
  sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/docker.list > /dev/null

3. Install and verify Docker Engine

Now, update your system indexes again and install the core components, including the install docker vps plugins:

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install -y docker-ce docker-ce-cli containerd.io docker-buildx-plugin docker-compose-plugin

To verify the installation, download and run the official test container:

sudo docker run hello-world

Running your first multi-container stack

Modern developers utilize Docker Compose (now called via docker compose without the hyphen) to handle complex, multi-layered services. You can define your entire software stack inside a single configuration file.

Create a simple docker-compose.yml file to launch an automated Nginx deployment:

services:
  web:
    image: nginx:latest
    ports:
      - "80:80"
    restart: always

Initialize your service in the background using: docker compose up -d.

Critical firewall security considerations

💡 Security Warning: By default, Docker manipulates iptables routing rules directly. This means it can bypass your local UFW firewall restrictions and expose ports publicly unless explicitly restricted.

Always verify your actively listening network interfaces using sudo ss -tulpn. If you are operating a high-security environment, consider routing incoming web traffic through an internal container network managed by a Reverse Proxy like Nginx or Traefik.

Please remember that our virtual environments are unmanaged. Our technical team ensures the underlying virtualization platform is operational, network interfaces route properly, and control panel features work fine. However, securing container ports, maintaining image dependencies, and debugging your configurations are handled by the user.

Frequently Asked Questions about Docker VPS setups