Docker is a containerization platform for configuring, building containers.
It also performs packaging, deploying, and running applications.
The keywords of Docker are develop, ship and run anywhere. The whole idea of Docker is for developers to easily develop applications, ship them into containers which can then be deployed anywhere.
Why Docker ?
The initial release of Docker was in March 2013 and since then, it has become the buzzword for modern world development, especially in the face of Agile-based projects.
Features of Docker :-
- Docker has the ability to reduce the size of development by providing a smaller footprint of the operating system via containers.
- With containers, it becomes easier for teams across different units, such as development, QA and Operations to work seamlessly across applications.
- You can deploy Docker containers anywhere, on any physical and virtual machines and even on the cloud.
- Since Docker containers are pretty lightweight, they are very easily scalable.
Components of Docker :-
Docker has the following components
- Docker for Mac − It allows one to run Docker containers on the Mac OS.
- Docker for Linux − It allows one to run Docker containers on the Linux OS.
- Docker for Windows − It allows one to run Docker containers on the Windows OS.
- Docker Engine − It is used for building Docker images and creating Docker containers.
- Docker Hub − This is the registry which is used to host various Docker images.
- Docker Compose − This is used to define applications using multiple Docker containers.
We will discuss all these components in detail in the subsequent chapters.
The official site for Docker is https://www.docker.com/ . The site has all information and documentation about the Docker software. It also has the download links for various operating systems.