Docker Basics

What is Docker? #

Docker represents a lightweight alternative to virtualization. Although Docker does not provide as much isolation as a virtualization, it is practically as lightweight as a process.

Shared kernel #

Instead of having a complete virtual machine of their own, Docker containers share the kernel of the operating system on the Docker host. The Docker host is the system on which the Docker containers run. The processes from the containers, therefore, appear in the process table of the operating system on which the Docker containers are running.

Isolated network of Dockers #

The Docker containers have their own network interface. In this way, the same port can be used in each Docker container, and each container can use any number of ports.

The network interface is in a subnet where all Docker containers are accessible. The subnet is not accessible from the outside. This is at least the standard configuration of Docker.

The Docker network configuration offers many other alternatives. To still allow external access to a Docker container from the outside, ports of a Docker container can be mapped to ports on the Docker host. When mapping the ports of the Docker containers to the ports of the Docker host, be careful because each port of the Docker host can only be mapped to one port of a Docker container.