I was at a wedding this weekend and got into a conversation with someone with a PhD in Biology who knew science like the back of their hand, but found this whole tech craze to be confusing. We started talking about servers and how hosting has changed over time and I mentioned that containerization, particularly Docker, had really changed the game.
They said,
“I keep hearing about Docker, but all I know is that their logo is a whale with a bunch of squares on its back. What the heck is it?”
I went on to explain Docker and containerization in about two minutes and they told me I should write what I told them somewhere because it was the first time someone had explained it to them in a way that made sense.
So…since I have a blog, and probably a handful of readers who don’t know what Docker is or how containerization works, I decided to take their advice and write about it, so here we go. Let’s start with containerization.
What is Containerization
The simple definition of containerization is – a way to deploy and run software in an environment where everything the software needs is neatly packaged with it so you can put it anywhere and it will actually work. This means that you can write code on your computer and run it on AWS, Google Cloud, or on your own home-built server, and you won’t be spending hours installing and updating libraries and trying to get each configuration to match the environment that you built it on.
You could get a lot more technical with this definition but I think this is an easy way to explain it at a high level. If you want to do a deeper dive, read this article on CIO.com.
What is Docker
Docker is the most popular software solution for containerization. Seriously…it’s that easy. If you understand basically what containerization is, then you understand the basics of Docker since it’s just the most popular piece of software out there for containerization.
Want to do a deeper dive, here’s a bit more from Docker themselves:
Docker is the company driving the container movement and the only container platform provider to address every application across the hybrid cloud. Today’s businesses are under pressure to digitally transform but are constrained by existing applications and infrastructure while rationalizing an increasingly diverse portfolio of clouds, datacenters and application architectures. Docker enables true independence between applications and infrastructure and developers and IT ops to unlock their potential and creates a model for better collaboration and innovation. (Source – Docker.com)
Check your watch, under two minutes right?
