What is Docker?
Docker is often mentioned with the expressions “community”, “company” and “software”. Our article here is related to Docker containerization software. Docker is therefore an open source technology that makes it possible to manipulate software containers. Its purpose is to optimize the use of a machine. Developers use it a lot for application deployment, especially for web hosting. Docker is deployed on a local machine, also, on a virtual private server.
First of all, a container is an environment containing the software and the necessary configuration files to run an application. As a result, containerized applications run on the same machine without affecting each other. As consequence, applications using incompatible libraries. For example, run on the same machine thanks to container technology.
Containerization is often equated with virtualization, however both are different concepts. They differ in that virtualization allows you to run multiple operating systems on a single machine. While containerization works at a more level. It’s about the separation of applications. Containers can therefore run on any server. This structure makes containerization technologies like Docker flexible and portable.
Why use Docker software
Similarly to containerization technologies, Docker offers a lot of flexibility. It helps developers to effectively deploy and finalize their applications. In fact, efficiency is at the heart of its objectives. They offer many advantages including:
- Portability. The containers are easily shared and deploy equally well in both public and private environments.
- Self-sufficiency. The containers do not depend on each other. Updating and deleting one container does not affect the others.
- Restoration. How Docker works helps restore data in the event of loss.
- Lightweight and rapid deployment. Docker consumes very little system resources unlike virtualization.
Despite the many advantages of Docker, it also has some things to consider before using it. The most important of these is that Docker has difficulty managing a large number of containers. However, along with other technologies, like Kubernetes, this weakness has become a bad memory.