How to copy Docker images from one host to another without using a repository

Question

How do I transfer a Docker image from one machine to another one without using a repository, no matter private or public?

I create my own image in VirtualBox, and wh

Answer 1

All other answers are very helpful. I just went through the same problem and figure out an easy way with docker machine scp.

Since Docker Machine v0.3.0, scp was introduced to copy files from one Docker machine to another. This is very convenient if you want copying a file from your local computer to a remote Docker machine such as AWS EC2 or Digital Ocean because Docker Machine is taking care of SSH credentials for you.

1. Save you images using docker save like:

   docker save -o docker-images.tar app-web
   

2. Copy images using docker-machine scp

   docker-machine scp ./docker-images.tar remote-machine:/home/ubuntu
   

Assume your remote Docker machine is remote-machine and the directory you want the tar file to be is /home/ubuntu.

3. Load the Docker image

   docker-machine ssh remote-machine sudo docker load -i docker-images.tar