{"id":5293,"date":"2016-07-08T09:08:12","date_gmt":"2016-07-08T07:08:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usersnap.com\/?p=5293"},"modified":"2025-07-01T10:58:13","modified_gmt":"2025-07-01T08:58:13","slug":"docker-mac-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usersnap.com\/blog\/docker-mac-review\/","title":{"rendered":"Our review of Docker for Mac"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

We at Usersnap are huge Docker fans. And we\u2019re not only big fans, but also making use of Docker for a couple of microservices, websites and minor apps we\u2019ve built.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, today I\u2019m very excited to share our first review of Docker for Mac with you. Docker for Mac is publicly available since June 20th. I hope you\u2019re as excited as I am \ud83d\ude42
<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Try Usersnap for User Testing<\/h2>Try Usersnap Now<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n\n

What\u2019s Docker for Mac \u2026& for Windows?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In March this year, Docker finally announced and released a native support for Mac and Windows.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Docker started with a closed beta, only providing access to a couple of early adopters. Since June 20th, you can get Docker for Mac & Windows in public beta. Therefore you can download Docker for Mac & Windows for free. Though, don\u2019t forget it\u2019s still beta.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And according to the official documentation Docker for Windows and Docker for Mac share some common code base, however it seems that Docker for Windows still is a bit more beta.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Docker for Mac is a game changer.<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Docker for Mac is the latest offering for Mac which runs as a native OS X application and uses xhyve to virtualize the Docker Engine environment and Linux kernel-specific features.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why is this so great?
Because Docker for Mac allows you to easily run Docker as a native app on your Mac.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Or as Noah Zoshke stated<\/a>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

Docker for Mac is a game changer.<\/h3>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

While you might have encountered a couple of problems and errors with your Docker Toolbox, it seems pretty promising. And most importantly: No more VirtualBox!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You don\u2019t need docker-machine to run Docker for Mac.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Docker for Mac vs Docker Toolbox<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

If you\u2019ve already been using Docker via the Docker Toolbox, you might wonder how the native Docker for Mac influences your existing projects.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Before installing Docker for Mac, I\u2019d recommend checking out this official comparison<\/a> of Docker for Mac vs Docker Toolbox.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"docker<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Basically, you can use Docker for Mac and Docker Toolbox together on the same machine. Docker\u2019s official documentation recommends making sure that all Docker environment variables are unset (see detailed installation process below).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Installing Docker for Mac<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

So, first things first.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In order to get started, you need to download Docker for Mac:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n
  1. Download<\/a>\u00a0Docker for Mac<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    Be aware, that it still is in public beta, and Docker claims that some functionalities might change before a public release.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    After you\u2019ve downloaded the file, you\u2019ll see that it\u2019s the standard installation process, similar to a lot of other OS X applications.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    You simply execute the .dmg file and you\u2019ll drag the Docker app in your applications folder.
    \"docker<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Docker might ask you for some root permissions to install some things.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    After you\u2019re done with the installation process, a little helper will appear in the OS X bar.
    \"docker<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Yay! You\u2019re good to go now. Docker is up and running.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \"docker<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

    <\/p>\n\n\n

    Try Usersnap for User Testing<\/h2>Try Usersnap Now<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n\n

    <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    If you\u2019re now opening up your terminal (and you\u2019ve been using Docker Toolbox before) you might run into the same problem as I did.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    If you run<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    docker-compose up<\/pre>\n\n\n\n
    you might experience this conflict with your Docker Toolbox (see screenshot below).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
    \"docker<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
    <\/p>\n\n\n\n
    It looked like Docker for Mac had some problems, due to my installed Docker toolbox.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
    In a first step you need to check whether Toolbox DOCKER environment variables are set.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
    $ env | grep DOCKER<\/pre>\n\n\n\n
    \"docker<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
    <\/p>\n\n\n\n
    If this command returns no output, you are ready to use Docker.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
    If it returns an output (as shown in my screenshot above), you need to unset the DOCKER environment variables.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
    You can do that by running the following command:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
    unset DOCKER_TLS_VERIFY\nunset DOCKER_CERT_PATH\nunset DOCKER_MACHINE_NAME\nunset DOCKER_HOST\n<\/pre>\n\n\n\n
    \"docker<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
    <\/p>\n\n\n\n
    As you can see in the screenshot above, unsetting the variables enabled me to start building Hugo. Yay!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
    Running containers on the local host network<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
    Docker for Mac also includes a DNS server for containers. And if you\u2019re using Docker in a corporate environment with a restrictive VPN<\/a>, the good news is that Docker for Mac works there too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
    Uninstalling old Docker files and apps<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
    I\u2019ve been using the Docker Toolbox for more than a year now. And in this time I collected quite a lot of files and stuff, which are now replaced by Docker for Mac.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
    So, I\u2019ve been pretty excited to uninstall the following files and apps<\/a>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n