diff --git a/.github/workflows/container.yaml b/.github/workflows/container.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..2556f4d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.github/workflows/container.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,22 @@
+---
+name: container
+on: [ push ]
+
+jobs:
+
+  docker-build:
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+    steps:
+    - uses: actions/checkout@v1
+    - name: docker 
+      run: docker build --file Dockerfile --tag ${{ github.REPOSITORY }}:${{ github.SHA }} .
+    - name: start image
+      run: docker run --rm  -i ${{ github.REPOSITORY }}:${{ github.SHA }}
+    - name: push the image
+      uses: mr-smithers-excellent/docker-build-push@v4
+      with:
+        tag: ${{ github.SHA }}
+        image: ${{ github.REPOSITORY }}
+        registry: ghcr.io
+        username: ${{ github.ACTOR }} # todo: are packages per repo or per user?!
+        password: ${{ secrets.PUSHTOKEN }} 
diff --git a/Dockerfile b/Dockerfile
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6fdc5a9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Dockerfile
@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+FROM python:alpine3.12
+
+RUN pip3 install mysql-connector-python
+RUN mkdir /app
+COPY syslogserver.py /app/syslogserver.py
+
+
+CMD [ "python3", "/app/syslogserver.py" ]
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/syslogserver.py b/syslogserver.py
index c30b863..966424c 100644
--- a/syslogserver.py
+++ b/syslogserver.py
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 import socketserver
 from datetime import datetime
 import time
+import sys
 
 import mysql.connector as mariadb
 
@@ -110,6 +111,7 @@ def handle(self):
         mariadb_connection = mariadb.connect(user = db_user, password = db_password, host = db_host, port = db_port)
     except mariadb.Error as error:
         print('Error: {}'.format(error))
+        sys.exit()
 
     #every time a new cursor is created because the old one gets closed 
     #in the called write_to_db function
@@ -137,3 +139,5 @@ def handle(self):
 
     #handle requests until explicit shutdown(), see python docs
     server.serve_forever()
+
+    sys.exit()