Running Jenkins in Docker: A Practical Server Setup

Running Jenkins in a container keeps the server itself disposable: its jobs, plugins and credentials live in a Docker volume, so the container can be upgraded or replaced without losing anything. This guide sets that up on an Ubuntu server and prepares Jenkins to build and deploy Docker-based applications.

Before you start

You’ll need an Ubuntu server (20.04 or 22.04 recommended), root or sudo access, and an internet connection.

Install Docker

sudo apt update
sudo apt install -y docker.io
sudo systemctl enable --now docker
docker --version

Give Jenkins a Docker client

The official jenkins/jenkins:lts image does not include the Docker CLI. To let pipelines run docker build, extend the image with the client — the daemon itself stays on the host:

FROM jenkins/jenkins:lts
USER root
RUN apt-get update \
 && apt-get install -y --no-install-recommends ca-certificates curl \
 && install -m 0755 -d /etc/apt/keyrings \
 && curl -fsSL https://download.docker.com/linux/debian/gpg -o /etc/apt/keyrings/docker.asc \
 && echo "deb [signed-by=/etc/apt/keyrings/docker.asc] https://download.docker.com/linux/debian $(. /etc/os-release && echo "$VERSION_CODENAME") stable" \
      > /etc/apt/sources.list.d/docker.list \
 && apt-get update && apt-get install -y docker-ce-cli \
 && rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/*
USER jenkins

docker build -t aviox/jenkins-docker .

Run the container

docker run -d \
  --name jenkins \
  --restart unless-stopped \
  -p 8080:8080 \
  -p 50000:50000 \
  -v jenkins_home:/var/jenkins_home \
  -v /var/run/docker.sock:/var/run/docker.sock \
  --group-add $(stat -c '%g' /var/run/docker.sock) \
  aviox/jenkins-docker

The Docker socket is root access

Anything that can talk to docker.sock can control the host. Restrict who can create and edit jobs, keep plugins updated, and consider dedicated build agents for untrusted code.