github.com/eikeon/docker@v1.5.0-rc4/docs/sources/index.md (about)

     1  page_title: About Docker
     2  page_description: Introduction to Docker.
     3  page_keywords: docker, introduction, documentation, about, technology, understanding, Dockerfile
     4  
     5  # About Docker
     6  
     7  **Develop, Ship and Run Any Application, Anywhere**
     8  
     9  [**Docker**](https://www.docker.com) is a platform for developers and sysadmins
    10  to develop, ship, and run applications.  Docker lets you quickly assemble
    11  applications from components and eliminates the friction that can come when
    12  shipping code. Docker lets you get your code tested and deployed into production
    13  as fast as possible.
    14  
    15  Docker consists of:
    16  
    17  * The Docker Engine - our lightweight and powerful open source container
    18    virtualization technology combined with a work flow for building
    19    and containerizing your applications.
    20  * [Docker Hub](https://hub.docker.com) - our SaaS service for
    21    sharing and managing your application stacks.
    22  
    23  ## Why Docker?
    24  
    25  *Faster delivery of your applications*
    26  
    27  * We want your environment to work better. Docker containers,
    28        and the work flow that comes with them, help your developers,
    29        sysadmins, QA folks, and release engineers work together to get your code
    30        into production and make it useful. We've created a standard
    31        container format that lets developers care about their applications
    32        inside containers while sysadmins and operators can work on running the
    33        container in your deployment. This separation of duties streamlines and
    34        simplifies the management and deployment of code.
    35  * We make it easy to build new containers, enable rapid iteration of
    36        your applications, and increase the visibility of changes. This
    37        helps everyone in your organization understand how an application works
    38        and how it is built.
    39  * Docker containers are lightweight and fast! Containers have
    40        sub-second launch times, reducing the cycle
    41        time of development, testing, and deployment.
    42  
    43  *Deploy and scale more easily*
    44  
    45  * Docker containers run (almost) everywhere. You can deploy
    46        containers on desktops, physical servers, virtual machines, into
    47        data centers, and up to public and private clouds.
    48  * Since Docker runs on so many platforms, it's easy to move your
    49        applications around. You can easily move an application from a
    50        testing environment into the cloud and back whenever you need.
    51  * Docker's lightweight containers also make scaling up and
    52        down fast and easy. You can quickly launch more containers when
    53        needed and then shut them down easily when they're no longer needed.
    54  
    55  *Get higher density and run more workloads*
    56  
    57  * Docker containers don't need a hypervisor, so you can pack more of
    58        them onto your hosts. This means you get more value out of every
    59        server and can potentially reduce what you spend on equipment and
    60        licenses.
    61  
    62  *Faster deployment makes for easier management*
    63  
    64  * As Docker speeds up your work flow, it gets easier to make lots
    65        of small changes instead of huge, big bang updates. Smaller
    66        changes mean reduced risk and more uptime.
    67  
    68  ## About this guide
    69  
    70  The [Understanding Docker section](introduction/understanding-docker.md) will help you:
    71  
    72   - See how Docker works at a high level
    73   - Understand the architecture of Docker
    74   - Discover Docker's features;
    75   - See how Docker compares to virtual machines
    76   - See some common use cases.
    77  
    78  ### Installation Guides
    79  
    80  The [installation section](/installation/#installation) will show you how to
    81  install Docker on a variety of platforms.
    82  
    83  
    84  ### Docker User Guide
    85  
    86  To learn about Docker in more detail and to answer questions about usage and
    87  implementation, check out the [Docker User Guide](/userguide/).
    88  
    89  ## Release Notes
    90  
    91  A summary of the changes in each release in the current series can now be found
    92  on the separate [Release Notes page](/release-notes/)
    93  
    94  ## Licensing
    95  
    96  Docker is licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0. See
    97  [LICENSE](https://github.com/docker/docker/blob/master/LICENSE) for the full
    98  license text.
    99