Docker is a popular open-source containerization platform for software development. Containers are standardized, executable software packages that include all of the elements required to run an application, including code, runtime, system tools, system libraries, and settings. By decoupling programs from their environment and eliminating potential issues stemming from dependencies, container solutions like Docker are important tools to help software developers focus on innovation and improve the efficiency of their workflows.
While containerization offers many advantages for software development, it also presents challenges for coordination, since sophisticated applications may include hundreds of containerized services. Container orchestration solutions have thus become an important additional tool to automate the deployment, scaling, and management of containers. In addition to Docker’s own Docker Compose, popular orchestration tools include Google Kubernetes on the Google Cloud Platform and Amazon Elastic Container Service on Amazon Web Services (AWS).‎