Day 37 · Docker

Copy File to Docker Container

By Varun DeshpandePublished 2026-07-12Docker / Linux~1h to complete

Technical Overview

Managing files between a Docker host and running containers is a fundamental operation in containerized environments. In production or test environments, you frequently need to copy configuration files, certificates, logs, or encrypted data packages into or out of a running container.

Rather than installing SSH daemons, using network protocols (scp, rsync), or relying on temporary volume mounts, Docker provides a native, secure, and efficient command-line tool: docker cp.

How docker cp Works

The docker cp command copies files or directories between a container and the local host filesystem. It interacts directly with the Docker Daemon, which packages the source files as a tar archive stream and extracts them into the target destination.

Key Advantages of docker cp:

1. No Container SSH Required: You don't need to run an SSH server inside the container, keeping the container image lightweight and secure.
2. Preserves File Integrity: Since the file is streamed as a tarball binary archive, it is copied byte-for-byte. This is critical for binary, compressed, or encrypted files (like GPG-encrypted files) where text-mode copies or redirection could corrupt the data.
3. Privilege Independence: You do not need to configure network routing or container port exposures to transfer files.

Infrastructure & Configuration Requirements

• Target Host: Nautilus App Server 2 (stapp02) (can vary in labs, e.g., stapp01, stapp02, stapp03)
• SSH User: steve (associated with stapp02; tony for stapp01, banner for stapp03)
• Container Name: ubuntu_latest
• Source Path (Host): /tmp/nautilus.txt.gpg
• Destination Path (Container): /usr/src/

Step-by-Step Implementation

Step 1: Connect to the Application Server

Establish an SSH connection from the Jump Host to the designated App Server (in this example, App Server 2):

ssh steve@stapp02

Provide the server password when prompted.

Step 2: Verify the Target Container is Running

Verify if the target container (ubuntu_latest) is currently active and running on the server:

# List running containers
docker ps

Expected Output:

CONTAINER ID   IMAGE     COMMAND                  CREATED          STATUS          PORTS     NAMES
8e7e1f40a1b2   ubuntu    "tail -f /dev/null"      10 minutes ago   Up 10 minutes             ubuntu_latest

Step 3: Verify the Source File on the Host

Confirm that the source file /tmp/nautilus.txt.gpg exists on the host filesystem:

ls -l /tmp/nautilus.txt.gpg

Step 4: Copy the File into the Container

Use docker cp to copy the encrypted file from the host's /tmp directory to the /usr/src/ directory inside the ubuntu_latest container:

docker cp /tmp/nautilus.txt.gpg ubuntu_latest:/usr/src/

Note: If your user is not in the docker group, you may need to prepend sudo to the command:

sudo docker cp /tmp/nautilus.txt.gpg ubuntu_latest:/usr/src/

Post-Deployment Verification

1. Verify File Presence and Size

Execute a command inside the container to list the destination directory and check if the file exists:

docker exec ubuntu_latest ls -l /usr/src/nautilus.txt.gpg

Expected Output:

-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 352 Jul 11 22:45 /usr/src/nautilus.txt.gpg

2. Verify File Integrity (Checksum Comparison)

To ensure the file was not modified or corrupted during transfer, compare the MD5 checksum of the file on the host with the checksum of the file inside the container:

On the Docker Host:

md5sum /tmp/nautilus.txt.gpg

Inside the Container:

docker exec ubuntu_latest md5sum /usr/src/nautilus.txt.gpg

The output hashes from both commands must match exactly.

Log out of the Application Server:

exit