How to Install Docker + docker-compose + Portainer on VPS

You probably came here from my other blog post about a Monitoring solution for my services. Here is the link to my blog post in case if not: How do I track my online Services

First of all, you need to get your own Server instance. I suggest you take one from Hetzner Cloud

Great, now you have your own server and can connect to it via SSH. Right?

First thing first – Basic VPS Security

If you did not secure your public-facing server, I suggest you check my guide: Protection of Your Fresh Server (VPS, Dedicated) – 5 Easy steps (open in new tab). Before you continue with the Docker + docker-compose + Portainer installation steps.

Install Docker

Debian 11

Why Debian you may ask? Debian is the most stable and popular Linux distro. Ideal for Home Lab servers. Easy to use with a lot of guides to follow.

Uninstall old versions

sudo apt-get remove docker docker-engine docker.io containerd runc

Set up the repository

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install \
    ca-certificates \
    curl \
    gnupg \
    lsb-release

Add Docker’s official GPG key

sudo mkdir -p /etc/apt/keyrings

curl -fsSL https://download.docker.com/linux/debian/gpg | sudo gpg --dearmor -o /etc/apt/keyrings/docker.gpg

Use the following command to set up the repository

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

Update repository list

sudo apt-get update

To install the latest version, run

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

Voilà, now you can verify that the Docker Engine installation is successful 🎉

Run the “hello-world” image

sudo docker run hello-world

Do not forget to add your user to the docker group, so you can run containers with a non-root account

Add docker group (if it was not created earlier)

sudo groupadd docker

Add your user to the docker group

sudo usermod -aG docker $USER

If you want the docker to start automatically after reboot, you need to enable services

Enable docker service

sudo systemctl enable docker.service

Enable containerd.service

sudo systemctl enable containerd.service

Install docker-compose

It is quite simple, just use your regular apt install command

Install docker-compose

Input

sudo apt install docker-compose

Verify

docker-compose --version

Output

docker-compose version 1.25.0, build unknown

Install Portainer

Portainer is a powerful Docker container management system with a pretty GUI. You can easily install an Open Source Community Edition with only one line.

Create a new Portainer volume

sudo docker volume create portainer_data

Deploy Portainer with default SSL port 9443

sudo docker run -d -p 8000:8000 -p 9443:9443 --name portainer --restart=always -v /var/run/docker.sock:/var/run/docker.sock -v portainer_data:/data portainer/portainer-ce:latest

Now, you can create a new account for Portainer by accessing the Admin panel with your server IP address and secure port 9443.

Example: https://yourserverip:9443

If you feel you need more advanced installation, you can always check the official docker docs here:

https://docs.docker.com/engine/install/debian/