page_title: Installation on Red Hat Enterprise Linux
page_description: Installation instructions for Docker on Red Hat Enterprise Linux.
page_keywords: Docker, Docker documentation, requirements, linux, rhel, centos

# Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7

**Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7** has [shipped with
Docker](https://access.redhat.com/site/products/red-hat-enterprise-linux/docker-and-containers).
An overview and some guidance can be found in the [Release
Notes](https://access.redhat.com/site/documentation/en-US/Red_Hat_Enterprise_Linux/7/html/7.0_Release_Notes/chap-Red_Hat_Enterprise_Linux-7.0_Release_Notes-Linux_Containers_with_Docker_Format.html).

Docker is located in the *extras* channel. To install Docker:

1. Enable the *extras* channel:

        $ sudo subscription-manager repos --enable=rhel-7-server-extras-rpms

2. Install Docker:

        $ sudo yum install docker 

Additional installation, configuration, and usage information,
including a [Get Started with Docker Containers in Red Hat
Enterprise Linux 7](https://access.redhat.com/site/articles/881893)
guide, can be found by Red Hat customers on the [Red Hat Customer
Portal](https://access.redhat.com/).

# Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6

Docker is available for **RHEL** on EPEL. Please note that
this package is part of [Extra Packages for Enterprise Linux
(EPEL)](https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/EPEL), a community effort to
create and maintain additional packages for the RHEL distribution.

Also note that due to the current Docker limitations, Docker is able to
run only on the **64 bit** architecture.

You will need [RHEL
6.5](https://access.redhat.com/site/articles/3078#RHEL6) or higher, with
a RHEL 6 kernel version 2.6.32-431 or higher as this has specific kernel
fixes to allow Docker to work.

## Installation

Firstly, you need to install the EPEL repository. Please follow the
[EPEL installation
instructions](https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/EPEL#How_can_I_use_these_extra_packages.3F).

The `docker-io` package provides Docker on EPEL.

If you already have the (unrelated) `docker` package
installed, it will conflict with `docker-io`.
There's a [bug report](
https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1043676) filed for it.
To proceed with `docker-io` installation, please remove `docker` first.

Next, let's install the `docker-io` package which
will install Docker on our host.

    $ sudo yum -y install docker-io

To update the `docker-io` package

    $ sudo yum -y update docker-io

Now that it's installed, let's start the Docker daemon.

    $ sudo service docker start

If we want Docker to start at boot, we should also:

    $ sudo chkconfig docker on

Now let's verify that Docker is working.

    $ sudo docker run -i -t fedora /bin/bash

> Note: If you get a `Cannot start container` error mentioning SELinux
> or permission denied, you may need to update the SELinux policies.
> This can be done using `sudo yum upgrade selinux-policy` and then rebooting.

**Done!**

Continue with the [User Guide](/userguide/).

## Custom daemon options

If you need to add an HTTP Proxy, set a different directory or partition for the
Docker runtime files, or make other customizations, read our systemd article to
learn how to [customize your systemd Docker daemon options](/articles/systemd/).


## Issues?

If you have any issues - please report them directly in the
[Red Hat Bugzilla for docker-io component](
https://bugzilla.redhat.com/enter_bug.cgi?product=Fedora%20EPEL&component=docker-io).
