[[toc]]

A common question is: Can Docker be installed with CloudLinux?

Docker can run inside CloudLinux, but CloudLinux cannot run inside Docker.

Docker Engine and local containers are supported on CloudLinux OS 8+.

:::warning CloudLinux OS 7 Docker's official RHEL repository no longer publishes packages for RHEL 7 (https://download.docker.com/linux/rhel/7/x86_64/stable/ unavailable), so neither method below works on CL7 as-is. Two legacy paths still exist - see CloudLinux OS 7 (legacy) below. It's recommended to upgrade to a newer CloudLinux OS version via ELevate. :::

There are two installation options:

• Direct installation - add Docker's RHEL repo and install with dnf; no system changes required.
• Docker convenience script - served from get.docker.com; requires a one-time os-release workaround.

This guide describes both.

Note that Docker is not in default CloudLinux repos; both methods use Docker's official RHEL repo.

Add Docker's RHEL repository and install packages with dnf. No change to /etc/os-release or any other system file is required.

Steps:

# Add Docker repo (RHEL)
sudo dnf -y install dnf-plugins-core
sudo dnf config-manager --add-repo https://download.docker.com/linux/rhel/docker-ce.repo

# Install and start
sudo dnf install -y docker-ce docker-ce-cli containerd.io docker-buildx-plugin docker-compose-plugin
sudo systemctl enable --now docker

# Verify
sudo docker run --rm hello-world

:::tip Notes

• No workaround needed; leave ID=cloudlinux in /etc/os-release as-is.
• You control exactly which packages and repo are added. :::

Use the official Docker convenience script (e.g. curl -fsSL https://get.docker.com | sh). The script detects the OS via ID in /etc/os-release and only supports a fixed list of distributions.

CloudLinux is not in that list, so with the default ID=cloudlinux the script exits with:

ERROR: Unsupported distribution 'cloudlinux'

On CloudLinux OS 10, with ID=almalinux, the same applies, since almalinux is not supported by the script either.

Workaround: Temporarily set ID=centos in /etc/os-release so the script uses the RHEL/CentOS path and adds the Docker CE repo. Revert ID after installation.

Steps:

1. Apply the workaround (one-time, before running the script). Edit /etc/os-release and change:

• CloudLinux OS 8 / CloudLinux OS 9: ID=cloudlinux -> ID=centos
• CloudLinux OS 10: ID=almalinux -> ID=centos

2. Run the script:

curl -fsSL https://get.docker.com | sh

3. Start Docker (if the script didn't):

sudo systemctl enable --now docker

4. Verify:

sudo docker run --rm hello-world

:::tip Notes

• The script has no option or environment variable to override or ignore the OS check (only --version, --channel, --mirror, etc.). Without modifying the script, the workaround above is the way to use it on CloudLinux. :::

Docker no longer publishes el7 RPMs to its main RHEL repository, but two archive paths remain on download.docker.com.

The CentOS 7 path on download.docker.com is served but frozen.

It will not receive future security updates from Docker - use at your own risk.

• Repo file: https://download.docker.com/linux/centos/docker-ce.repo
• Package index: https://download.docker.com/linux/centos/7/x86_64/stable/Packages/

Installation follows the same shape as Method 1, but with yum instead of dnf and the CentOS repo file instead of the RHEL one:

sudo yum -y install yum-utils
sudo yum-config-manager --add-repo https://download.docker.com/linux/centos/docker-ce.repo
sudo yum install -y docker-ce docker-ce-cli containerd.io
sudo systemctl enable --now docker

Docker publishes OS-independent static binaries that run on any modern x86_64 Linux kernel (including CloudLinux OS 7's LVE kernel).

• Download index: https://download.docker.com/linux/static/stable/x86_64/
• Updated alongside main Docker releases
• Ships dockerd and docker as standalone binaries - no systemd unit, package-manager integration, or automatic security updates

You will need to write your own systemd unit, manage users/groups, and track upstream releases manually.

See Docker's official Install Docker Engine from binaries for the procedure.