How To Install PostgreSQL With Docker Quickly

Many developers still install a database on their computer and work on it.
It may be a preferable method, but using Docker takes only seconds to set up a database. I used PostgreSQL and Docker in my latest project. As a result, I have achieved efficiency and convenience. I will give you my experience with PostgreSQL and Docker.

I can start with finding the Docker image we will use. There are two easy ways to do this. I prefer to visit the Docker Hub website. Alternatively, it can be used the command below. It will list you similar results to the Docker Hub.

docker search postgresql

I will use the postgres, the official image can be obtained in the search results. I prepared a Docker command with important and necessary parameters. It can be easily customized and used this command.

docker run --name postgresqldb -e POSTGRES_USER=myusername -e POSTGRES_PASSWORD=mypassword -p 5432:5432 -v /data:/var/lib/postgresql/data -d postgres

It looks a little confused, but don't worry. I will explain these parameters.

--name : I set a name for the container.
-e POSTGRES_USER : I set the database username.
-e POSTGRES_PASSWORD : I set the database password.
-p : 5432 port is used by default. But it can be changed this according to preference. Local port and container port can be set separately. The first port is for local, and the second is for container.
-v : This parameter is related to the Docker Volume feature. This is important for not losing data. With this feature, I synchronize with the folder containing the data in the database and a folder of my choice on the computer or server. When the container is closed or restarted for any reason, it can be easily started with the same data. The first path can be any folder you prefer. I set it to /data as an example. Please do not change the second path because data is in this path by default.
-d : I will run detached mode(background mode). If you run it without using it, the docker container will be stopped when you press the Ctrl + C combination or close the terminal screen. This is undesirable because the container should be running in the background.
postgres : Image name.

Let's run the command together and see the result.

If you have encountered a similar output, you can be sure that everything is fine. You can see the working Docker containers by running the command below.

docker ps

You can also stop or restart your container using start and stop commands. In this example I set the container name as postgresqldb. You can run the start and stop commands with your own chosen name.

docker start postgresqldb
docker stop postgresqldb

You may think it took a long time because I explained the details. Don't be biased, you can create a PostgreSQL database just by running a single Docker command.