Introduction to Docker

You’ll start this course with an introduction to containers, what they are, their uses, and their advantages. You'll learn about Docker Engine, Docker’s tool to create, run and manage containers. Then you’ll learn the difference between a container and an image and compare containers and virtual machines, learning about their differences.

In chapter 2, you'll go from starting and stopping your first container to seeing how to clean your environment by removing all containers and images. You'll see how to debug issues by running commands inside a container or executing bash commands in a container interactively. Afterward, you'll know how to share images with colleagues or your entire company. All of this using the Docker Command Line Interface.

Once you are able to manage images and containers, it’s time to create your own. In chapter 3, you’ll build your own images using Dockerfiles. Dockerfiles are text files that include everything needed for Docker to build an image. You’ll learn how to create images and will get an introduction to all the essential Dockerfile instructions like FROM, RUN, COPY, and more. By the end of this chapter, you’ll have insight into how Docker makes images and be able to create optimized Docker images from scratch.

In this final chapter, you’ll focus on making your Dockerfiles configurable and secure. You'll learn how to make your Dockerfiles configurable using the ARG and ENV instructions. You’ll see why changing the user in your images makes them more secure and how to use the USER Dockerfile instruction to do so. To wrap things up, you’ll learn about some essential security best practices when creating Docker Images.