Introduction to Docker

Get started with Docker and learn how to deploy your software applications as portable, self-sufficient containers that can run on almost any server. As a platform for preparing and running distributed software applications, Docker is often compared to configuration management tools like Puppet or Ansible, or virtualization tools like VirtualBox or VMware, but Docker is actually in a category of its own, offering new ways to run software applications.

If you’re familiar with deploying and managing software applications in production, this video tutorial provides the knowledge you need to “Dockerize” an application and deploy it to the cloud using containers, images, and Dockerfiles.

You’ll learn how Docker offers powerful benefits to your organization, not only through its separation of development and operations issues, but also because of its efficiency compared to traditional Virtual Machines.

• Learn what a typical Docker implementation includes
• Understand the basics, including containers, images, Dockerfiles, and the Docker Engine vs the Docker Hub
• Start using Docker containers, images, and Dockerfiles
• Dockerize a sample Python web application and deploy it to a cloud hosting service
• Update code and its system-level dependencies once your application’s in the cloud
• Manage multiple Docker containers at once with Fig
• Learn tools and services from the Docker community
• Get recommendations for how to best experiment with Docker in your organization

If you have experience deploying and managing software applications in production, you’ll be ready to start using Docker with your own applications.

Andrew T. Baker is an independent consultant based in Washington, DC. He is the author of spin-docker, a lightweight open-source Platform-as-a-Service powered by Docker and Flask. He’s written and presented on Docker, and led tutorial sessions for both developers and sysadmins. Andrew blogs at http://www.andrewtorkbaker.com and hangs out on Twitter (@andrewtorkbaker) spreading the Docker love.