A Better Boot2Docker on OSX

Boot2docker is the official way of running Docker on OSX. It’s working very well. That is until you want to forward ports or share volumes with your host. I mean the real host, the OSX, not boot2docker’s VM.

Well, things will get better soon. Boot2docker’s trunk contains new features/documentation that’ll make it more transparent to use Docker on a Mac.

Instead of mapping virtual box’s ports to OSX’s ports, you might find it easier to use boot2docker ip to get boot2docker’s IP and use this IP instead of localhost. It’s not perfect but it’s simple.

Also it’s very difficult to mount a local OSX folder. If possible at all. A nice workaround is to use a file sharing Docker container like svendowideit/samba to make a boot2docker folder visible on OSX through Samba.

Be prepared for the ‘There’s a Docker container for that’ meme.

More information on boot2docker’s Github.