How to Run Docker Containers on a Linux VPS in India

Running the Docker daemon requires root on the machine, because containers speak directly to the host kernel — something a shared account must never be allowed to do. A shared plan gives you the host's PHP and MySQL stack and nothing below it; a Linux VPS gives you the whole machine.

To be concrete about the WebJi® side: shared plans (read from WebJi® billing on 15 November 2026) are Launch ₹299, Turbo ₹399 and Scale ₹699 a month before 18% GST, and none of them can run the daemon. The container tier is a Linux VPS — VPS hosting with root SSH — with plans starting from ₹499 a month before 18% GST and the exact configuration quoted before you pay. The fuller tier comparison is in shared versus VPS hosting. WebJi® does not sell a managed container platform: the engine, images and updates are yours on the VPS.

Install from Docker's own apt repository on Ubuntu 24.04 or 22.04 — the install worked when hello-world prints its message and exits cleanly. These steps follow Docker's documented repository route and install the Compose plugin with the engine.

1. SSH in as a sudo user and run sudo apt-get update, then sudo apt-get install -y ca-certificates curl and sudo install -m 0755 -d /etc/apt/keyrings.
2. Save Docker's signing key: sudo curl -fsSL https://download.docker.com/linux/ubuntu/gpg -o /etc/apt/keyrings/docker.asc and sudo chmod a+r /etc/apt/keyrings/docker.asc.
3. Add the stable repository for your release, then install: sudo apt-get update followed by sudo apt-get install -y docker-ce docker-ce-cli containerd.io docker-buildx-plugin docker-compose-plugin.
4. Verify with sudo docker run --rm hello-world and docker compose version.

echo "deb [arch=$(dpkg --print-architecture) signed-by=/etc/apt/keyrings/docker.asc] \
https://download.docker.com/linux/ubuntu \
$(. /etc/os-release && echo "${UBUNTU_CODENAME:-$VERSION_CODENAME}") stable" | \
sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/docker.list > /dev/null

Skip the docker group if only sudo users should control the daemon; if you do add your user, log out and back in before testing.

A container's own writable layer is deleted with the container, but a named volume is not — so any database you care about must live on one. Create it, mount it, and the data survives every replace-and-restart cycle.

sudo docker volume create dbdata
sudo docker run -d --name db -v dbdata:/data/db mongo

That is the usual MongoDB layout on one VPS: the database container owns the volume, the app container reaches it over a Compose network. Dump the database or copy the volume before deleting dbdata — the volume is the only copy unless you have backups, which is what VPS server backup is for.