Display Count of Stopped Docker Containers

Track the number of stopped containers in the environment

This is a query example for the Containers widget in the Docker Overview dashboard of the docker/metrics package.

Query

flowchart LR; %%{init: {"flowchart": {"defaultRenderer": "elk"}} }%% repo{{Events}} 1{{Aggregate}} result{{Result Set}} repo --> 1 1 --> result
logscale
count(docker.info.containers.stopped, distinct=true)

Introduction

This widget is used to monitor the number of Docker containers in a stopped state, providing visibility into containers that are no longer running and may require attention or cleanup.

In this widget, the count() function counts distinct values in the docker.info.containers.stopped field to determine the total number of stopped containers.

Example incoming data might look like this:

@timestamp#repo#type@id@ingesttimestamp@rawstring@timestamp.nanos@timezone@type_datagen_identifieragent.typeagent.versioncontainer.idcontainer.image.namecontainer.namedocker.container.event.actiondocker.container.event.actor.iddocker.container.event.fromdocker.container.event.statusdocker.container.event.typedocker.diskio.read.bytesdocker.diskio.read.opsdocker.diskio.summary.bytesdocker.diskio.summary.opsdocker.diskio.write.bytesdocker.diskio.write.opsdocker.event.actiondocker.healthcheck.event.end_datedocker.healthcheck.event.exit_codedocker.healthcheck.failingstreakdocker.healthcheck.statusdocker.image.createddocker.image.id.currentdocker.image.id.parentdocker.image.size.regulardocker.image.size.virtualdocker.image.tags[0]docker.info.containers.pauseddocker.info.containers.runningdocker.info.containers.stoppeddocker.info.containers.totaldocker.info.iddocker.info.imagesevent.datasetevent.modulehost.namemetricset.nameservice.type
2026-03-10T06:41:21auto-dashboard-queriesjsongtksp2dMmrYg9WSX5CeYyU5V_2_11_17731248812026-03-10T06:41:21{"docker.image.id.current":"sha256:abcd1234efgh5678","metricset.name":"image","docker.image.size.regular":"133169152","docker.image.created":"2026-03-10T06:41:21.002Z","event.module":"docker","docker.image.tags":["nginx:latest"],"@timestamp":"2026-03-10T06:41:21.002Z","host.name":"docker-host-01","agent.type":"metricbeat","@type":"docker","event.dataset":"docker.image","agent.version":"7.11.1","docker.image.size.virtual":"133169152","docker.image.id.parent":"sha256:parent1234567890ab","service.type":"docker","_datagen_identifier":"bbe9c9c08ebf329bc648a36a3991a240"}0Zdockerbbe9c9c08ebf329bc648a36a3991a240metricbeat7.11.1                   2026-03-10T06:41:21.002Zsha256:abcd1234efgh5678sha256:parent1234567890ab133169152133169152nginx:latest      docker.imagedockerdocker-host-01imagedocker
2026-03-10T06:41:21auto-dashboard-queriesjsongtksp2dMmrYg9WSX5CeYyU5V_2_12_17731248812026-03-10T06:41:22{"@timestamp":"2026-03-10T06:41:21.801Z","event.module":"docker","host.name":"docker-host-02","container.image.name":"nginx:latest","agent.type":"metricbeat","metricset.name":"event","docker.event.action":"stop","docker.container.event.action":"start","_datagen_identifier":"bbe9c9c08ebf329bc648a36a3991a240","service.type":"docker","docker.container.event.type":"container","docker.container.event.from":"redis:6.2-alpine","container.id":"a1b2c3d4e5f6","container.name":"nginx-web","event.dataset":"docker.event","docker.container.event.status":"Up 2 hours","@type":"docker","agent.version":"7.12.0","docker.container.event.actor.id":"b2c3d4e5f6a7"}0Zdockerbbe9c9c08ebf329bc648a36a3991a240metricbeat7.12.0a1b2c3d4e5f6nginx:latestnginx-webstartb2c3d4e5f6a7redis:6.2-alpineUp 2 hourscontainer      stop                docker.eventdockerdocker-host-02eventdocker
2026-03-10T06:41:22auto-dashboard-queriesjsongtksp2dMmrYg9WSX5CeYyU5V_2_13_17731248822026-03-10T06:41:23{"docker.info.containers.paused":"0","docker.info.images":"15","metricset.name":"info","docker.info.containers.running":"5","agent.type":"metricbeat","host.name":"docker-host-03","event.module":"docker","@timestamp":"2026-03-10T06:41:22.581Z","agent.version":"7.13.2","@type":"docker","event.dataset":"docker.info","docker.info.containers.stopped":"2","docker.info.containers.total":"7","_datagen_identifier":"bbe9c9c08ebf329bc648a36a3991a240","service.type":"docker","docker.info.id":"ABCD:EFGH:IJKL:MNOP:QRST:UVWX:YZ12:3456"}0Zdockerbbe9c9c08ebf329bc648a36a3991a240metricbeat7.13.2                         0527ABCD:EFGH:IJKL:MNOP:QRST:UVWX:YZ12:345615docker.infodockerdocker-host-03infodocker
2026-03-10T06:41:23auto-dashboard-queriesjsongtksp2dMmrYg9WSX5CeYyU5V_2_14_17731248832026-03-10T06:41:24{"container.id":"c3d4e5f6a7b8","container.name":"redis-cache","_datagen_identifier":"bbe9c9c08ebf329bc648a36a3991a240","service.type":"docker","docker.healthcheck.failingstreak":"0","@type":"docker","event.dataset":"docker.healthcheck","agent.version":"7.14.0","agent.type":"metricbeat","container.image.name":"postgres:14","event.module":"docker","@timestamp":"2026-03-10T06:41:23.389Z","host.name":"swarm-manager-01","docker.healthcheck.status":"healthy","docker.healthcheck.event.end_date":"2026-03-10T06:41:23.389Z","metricset.name":"healthcheck","docker.healthcheck.event.exit_code":"0"}0Zdockerbbe9c9c08ebf329bc648a36a3991a240metricbeat7.14.0c3d4e5f6a7b8postgres:14redis-cache            2026-03-10T06:41:23.389Z00healthy            docker.healthcheckdockerswarm-manager-01healthcheckdocker
2026-03-10T06:41:24auto-dashboard-queriesjsongtksp2dMmrYg9WSX5CeYyU5V_2_15_17731248842026-03-10T06:41:24{"container.id":"d4e5f6a7b8c9","container.name":"postgres-db","service.type":"docker","_datagen_identifier":"bbe9c9c08ebf329bc648a36a3991a240","docker.diskio.read.ops":"125","docker.diskio.read.bytes":"1048576","docker.diskio.summary.bytes":"3145728","@type":"docker","event.dataset":"docker.diskio","docker.diskio.write.bytes":"2097152","agent.version":"7.15.1","docker.diskio.write.ops":"234","agent.type":"metricbeat","container.image.name":"mongo:5.0","event.module":"docker","@timestamp":"2026-03-10T06:41:24.187Z","host.name":"swarm-worker-01","docker.diskio.summary.ops":"359","metricset.name":"diskio"}0Zdockerbbe9c9c08ebf329bc648a36a3991a240metricbeat7.15.1d4e5f6a7b8c9mongo:5.0postgres-db     104857612531457283592097152234                 docker.diskiodockerswarm-worker-01diskiodocker

Step-by-Step

  1. Starting with the source repository events.

  2. flowchart LR; %%{init: {"flowchart": {"defaultRenderer": "elk"}} }%% repo{{Events}} 1{{Aggregate}} result{{Result Set}} repo --> 1 1 --> result style 1 fill:#ff0000,stroke-width:4px,stroke:#000;
    logscale
    count(docker.info.containers.stopped, distinct=true)

    Counts the number of distinct values in the docker.info.containers.stopped field, and returns the results in a _count field. The distinct parameter ensures accurate counting without duplicates.

  3. Event Result set.

Summary and Results

The widget is used to monitor the number of Docker containers that are currently in a stopped state across the environment.

This widget is useful to track container lifecycle management, identify potentially failed containers, and maintain awareness of stopped containers that might need cleanup.

Sample output from the incoming example data:

_count
6

The output displays the total count of stopped containers in the _count field, indicating 6 containers are currently in a stopped state.