# Containerlab Tips

**docker image ls** displays your docker image repo:

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**docker container ls** displays running containers. Once your topology is finished launching, you should see all contianers as **healthy**. Occasionally, a node may fail to boot properly. In that case, I just stop the containerlab topology entirely and restart it.

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You can use **docker logs clab-\<topology name>-\<node name> -f** to watch logs as a node boots up. For example:

```
docker logs clab-russo-spv4-XR1 -f
```



In general, **telnet \<mgmt ip> 5000** will allow you to access a node's console port. Use ctrl+], **quit** to exit.

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Ensure you have transfered config files to all nodes before running labs on XR nodes. If your config file does not exist on the node, you will commit and replace a blank config and lose access to the node. For example, if you enter 'y' here, you will lose access:

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In MTPutty, you can use ctrl+tab and ctrl+shift+tab to navigate between tabs without a mouse.



I use **docker system prune** periodically to safely free up disk space. This clears out build cache and stopped containers.



**containerlab destroy -a** will destroy any running topology.



**containerlab inspect --all** will show all running topologies.
