github.com/kobeld/docker@v1.12.0-rc1/docs/index.md (about) 1 <!-- [metadata]> 2 +++ 3 aliases = ["/engine/misc/"] 4 title = "Docker Engine" 5 description = "Engine" 6 keywords = ["Engine"] 7 [menu.main] 8 identifier="engine_use" 9 weight=-85 10 +++ 11 <![end-metadata]--> 12 13 # About Docker Engine 14 15 **Develop, Ship and Run Any Application, Anywhere** 16 17 [**Docker**](https://www.docker.com) is a platform for developers and sysadmins 18 to develop, ship, and run applications. Docker lets you quickly assemble 19 applications from components and eliminates the friction that can come when 20 shipping code. Docker lets you get your code tested and deployed into production 21 as fast as possible. 22 23 Docker consists of: 24 25 * The Docker Engine - our lightweight and powerful open source containerization 26 technology combined with a work flow for building and containerizing your 27 applications. 28 * [Docker Hub](https://hub.docker.com) - our SaaS service for 29 sharing and managing your application stacks. 30 31 ## Why Docker? 32 33 *Faster delivery of your applications* 34 35 * We want your environment to work better. Docker containers, 36 and the work flow that comes with them, help your developers, 37 sysadmins, QA folks, and release engineers work together to get your code 38 into production and make it useful. We've created a standard 39 container format that lets developers care about their applications 40 inside containers while sysadmins and operators can work on running the 41 container in your deployment. This separation of duties streamlines and 42 simplifies the management and deployment of code. 43 * We make it easy to build new containers, enable rapid iteration of 44 your applications, and increase the visibility of changes. This 45 helps everyone in your organization understand how an application works 46 and how it is built. 47 * Docker containers are lightweight and fast! Containers have 48 sub-second launch times, reducing the cycle 49 time of development, testing, and deployment. 50 51 *Deploy and scale more easily* 52 53 * Docker containers run (almost) everywhere. You can deploy 54 containers on desktops, physical servers, virtual machines, into 55 data centers, and up to public and private clouds. 56 * Since Docker runs on so many platforms, it's easy to move your 57 applications around. You can easily move an application from a 58 testing environment into the cloud and back whenever you need. 59 * Docker's lightweight containers also make scaling up and 60 down fast and easy. You can quickly launch more containers when 61 needed and then shut them down easily when they're no longer needed. 62 63 *Get higher density and run more workloads* 64 65 * Docker containers don't need a hypervisor, so you can pack more of 66 them onto your hosts. This means you get more value out of every 67 server and can potentially reduce what you spend on equipment and 68 licenses. 69 70 *Faster deployment makes for easier management* 71 72 * As Docker speeds up your work flow, it gets easier to make lots 73 of small changes instead of huge, big bang updates. Smaller 74 changes mean reduced risk and more uptime. 75 76 ## About this guide 77 78 The [Understanding Docker section](understanding-docker.md) will help you: 79 80 - See how Docker works at a high level 81 - Understand the architecture of Docker 82 - Discover Docker's features; 83 - See how Docker compares to virtual machines 84 - See some common use cases. 85 86 ### Installation guides 87 88 The [installation section](installation/index.md) will show you how to install Docker 89 on a variety of platforms. 90 91 92 ### Docker user guide 93 94 To learn about Docker in more detail and to answer questions about usage and 95 implementation, check out the [Docker User Guide](userguide/index.md). 96 97 ## Release notes 98 99 A summary of the changes in each release in the current series can now be found 100 on the separate [Release Notes page](https://docs.docker.com/release-notes) 101 102 ## Feature Deprecation Policy 103 104 As changes are made to Docker there may be times when existing features 105 will need to be removed or replaced with newer features. Before an existing 106 feature is removed it will be labeled as "deprecated" within the documentation 107 and will remain in Docker for, usually, at least 2 releases. After that time 108 it may be removed. 109 110 Users are expected to take note of the list of deprecated features each 111 release and plan their migration away from those features, and (if applicable) 112 towards the replacement features as soon as possible. 113 114 The complete list of deprecated features can be found on the 115 [Deprecated Features page](deprecated.md). 116 117 ## Licensing 118 119 Docker is licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0. See 120 [LICENSE](https://github.com/docker/docker/blob/master/LICENSE) for the full 121 license text.