Tutorial

Automatic updates for your Docker container

This installation's tutorial describes how to set up automatic updates for Docker containers. The open source application Watchtower is mainly used for this, as it runs on several operating systems such as Windows and Linux and can be operated with simple commands.

Linux

With Watchtower you can easily update your Docker container on Linux.

Download and installation

Execute this command in the cmd:

$ docker run -d \ --name watchtower \ -v /var/run/docker.sock:/var/run/docker.sock \ containrrr/watchtower

Windows

With Watchtower you can easily update your Docker container on Windows.

Download and installation

nssm:

With chocolatey
  1. Open Powershell
  2. Install chocolatey with this command:
Set-ExecutionPolicy Bypass -Scope Process -Force; iex ((New-Object System.Net.WebClient).DownloadString('https://chocolatey.org/install.ps1'))
  1. Restart Powershell
  2. Install nssm with this command:
choco install nssm -y

3. Restart Powershell

Without Chocolatey Download
  1. Unpack ZIP
  2. Go to the Folder with the nssm.exe and type cmd in the folder adressbar

Watchtower:

Download the latest watchtower_windows_xxx.zip file from the Watchtower git site.

Download

Replace "C:\folder\watchtower.exe" with the file path from the unpacked Watchtower ZIP file.

nssm.exe install Watchtower C:\folder\watchtower.exenssm.exe set Watchtower AppParameters ^"-H npipe:////./pipe/docker_engine -s ^\^"* 18 * * 1-5^\^"^"nssm.exe set Watchtower AppDirectory C:\foldernssm.exe set Watchtower AppExit Default Restart nssm.exe set Watchtower AppStdout C:\folder\watchtower.lognssm.exe set Watchtower AppStderr C:\folder\watchtower.lognssm.exe set Watchtower Description "Container auto updater (Watchtower)" nssm.exe set Watchtower DisplayName Watchtower nssm.exe set Watchtower ObjectName LocalSystemnssm.exe set Watchtower Start SERVICE_AUTO_STARTnssm.exe set Watchtower Type SERVICE_WIN32_OWN_PROCESS