What’s the best beginner-friendly way to learn Docker for running apps on a NAS?

NetworkChuck has beginner-oriented Docker videos that may help make the fundamentals less intimidating. There are also practical written Docker series available online if you prefer to read rather than watch videos.

Since your goal is Jellyfin on an Asustor NAS, you probably don’t need to learn Docker development. Focus on images, containers, volumes, networks, port mappings, environment variables, and Docker Compose. Once you understand the basic commands, a tool like Dockge can make it much easier to deploy applications from Compose files without typing everything manually. Just remember that in a port mapping, the number on the left is the port exposed by your NAS, while the number on the right is the port used inside the container.

YouTube and beginner courses on platforms like Udemy can both work well. Try a few different instructors until you find someone whose explanations make sense to you. For this particular use case, prioritize tutorials about deploying existing applications rather than lessons about building Docker images or developing software.

Learning by doing is often the quickest approach. Start with one application, follow its official documentation, and look up each command or setting you don’t understand. Written documentation and Compose examples are especially useful when you need to troubleshoot or update a container later.

A free beginner course from KloudKode is a good place to start. It includes hands-on labs that you can run in a browser-based shell, so you can practice the basic concepts instead of only watching videos.