What is Docker?

Docker is an open-source project that offers a software development solution known as containers. To understand Docker, you need to know what containers are. According to Docker, a container is a lightweight, stand-alone, executable package of a piece of software that includes everything needed to run it.

Containers are platform-independent and hence Docker can run across both Windows and Linux-based platforms. In fact, Docker can also be run within a virtual machine if there arises a need to do so. The main purpose of Docker is that it lets you run microservice applications in a distributed architecture.

When compared to Virtual machines, the Docker platform moves up the abstraction of resources from the hardware level to the Operating System level. This allows for the realization of the various benefits of Containers e.g. application portability, infrastructure separation, and self-contained microservices.?

In other words, while Virtual Machines abstract the entire hardware server, Containers abstract the Operating System kernel. This is a whole different approach to virtualization and results in a much faster and more lightweight instances.

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