General Usage Instructions and Examples

Launch a container

docker run --name pcore-1 -ti parrotsec/core

Stop the container

docker stop pcore-1

Resume a previously-stopped container

docker start pcore-1

Remove a container after use

docker rm pcore-1

List all the instantiated containers

docker ps -a

Start multiple containers

on terminal 1 -> docker run --name pentest1 -ti parrotsec/security
on terminal 2 -> docker run --name pentest2 -ti parrotsec/security
on terminal 3 -> docker run --name msf-listener -ti parrotsec/tools-metasploit

Remove all the containers

docker rm $(docker ps -qa)

Start a container and automatically remove it on exit

docker run --rm -ti parrotsec/core

Use Volumes to share files with the host:

It is a good practice to not keep persistent docker containers, but to remove them on every use and make sure to save important files on a docker volume.

The following command creates a work folder inside the current directory and mounts it in /work inside the container.

docker run --rm -ti -v $PWD/work:/work parrotsec/core

Use Volumes to share files across multiple containers

on terminal 1 -> docker run --name pentest -ti -v $PWD/work:/work parrotsec/security
on terminal 2 -> docker run --rm --network host -v $PWD/work:/work -ti parrotsec/security
on terminal 3 -> docker run --rm -v $PWD/work:/work -ti parrotsec/tools-metasploit

Open a port from the container to the host

Every docker container has its own network space connected to a virtual LAN.

All the traffic from within the docker container will be NATted by the host computer.

If you need to expose a port to other machines outside your local computer, use the following example:

docker run --rm -p 8080:80 -ti parrotsec/core

Note that the first port is the port that will be opened on your host, and the second one is the container port to bind to.

Here is a reference usage of the -p flag:

-p <host port>:<container port> (e.g. -p 8080:80)
-p <host port>:<container port>/<protocol> (e.g. -p 8080:80/tcp)

-p <address>:<host port>:<container port> (e.g. -p 192.168.1.30:8080:80)
in case of multiple addresses on host network.

Use network host instead of docker NAT

Every docker container has its own network space connected to a virtual LAN.

All the traffic from within the docker container will be NATted by the host computer.

If you need to make the docker container share the same networking space of the host machine, then use the --network host flag as shown below

docker run --rm --network host -ti parrotsec/core