What is Docker? Why is it so popular?
Docker is a platform for developing, deploying, and running applications. Currently, Docker is synonymous with Containerization. Why is it so? Why Docker is so popular? Let’s try to understand
So, what is Docker?
Docker is a containerization platform. It has two main purposes.
First, it helps put application code, configuration, and framework libraries together in a single package called Image.
Second, allows the Image to run in different Operating Systems(Windows/Linux/Mac) and different environments(Local System, Development, Test, Production) without requiring the installation of framework libraries separately.
Is this the only containerization platform available?
No of course not. Long before Docker was developed, Linux Container(LXC) was available to fulfill the same basic requirement of application containerization.
PODMAN by RedHat and, LXC is the popular containerization platforms available in the market alongside Docker.
Why is Docker so popular?
There are multiple contributing factors behind the popularity of Doker
- Open source – Docker is Opensource
- Portability – As I already tried to make you understand, the same docker Image can be used in different operating systems and different environments without any change
- Efficient Resource Utilization – Although this is not specific to Docker but applicable to all containerization platforms, containerization helps to utilize efficient usage of system resources. To understand this in more detail, let’s go to “Why Container and how that is different from Virtual Machine“
- Docker Ecosystem – I have highlighted two main purposes of Docker but those are not the only things Docker offers. Docker is made up of multiple components
- Docker client – Tools and resources to build Docker image
- Docker server – Environment where Docker Images are run with help of Docker daemon(runtime)
- Docker image – Package containing application code, configuration, framework libraries
- Docker registry – Repository to hold Docker images to easily access(pull/push) to and from client/server
- Docker container – running instance/process of a Docker image is called container
Hopefully, now we are able to figure out why Docker is so popular.
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