Full Stack Developer
Docker is an open-source containerization platform. It enables developers to package applications into containers—standardized executable components combining application source code with the operating system (OS) libraries and dependencies required to run that code in any environment. Containers simplify the delivery of distributed applications and have become increasingly popular as organizations shift to cloud-native development and hybrid multi-cloud environments.
Developers can create containers without Docker, but the platform makes it easier, simpler, and safer to build, deploy and manage containers. Docker is essentially a toolkit that enables developers to build, deploy, run, update, and stop containers using simple commands and work-saving automation through a single API.
It used to be that when you wanted to run a web application, you bought a server, installed Linux, set up a LAMP stack, and ran the app. If your app got popular, you practiced good load balancing by setting up a second server to ensure the application wouldn't crash from too much traffic.
Kubernetes is an open-source container orchestration platform for managing, automating, and scaling containerized applications. Although Docker Swarm is also an orchestration tool, Kubernetes is the de facto standard for container orchestration because of its greater flexibility and capacity to scale.
Organizations use Kubernetes to automate the deployment and management of containerized applications. Rather than individually managing each container in a cluster, a DevOps team can instead tell Kubernetes how to allocate the necessary resources in advance.
Where Kubernetes and the Docker suite intersect is at container orchestration. So when people talk about Kubernetes vs. Docker, what they mean is Kubernetes vs. Docker Swarm.
Installation: Easier installation.
Scale: Manual scaling.
Monitoring: Needs third-party tools for monitoring.
Load balancer: Autoload balancer
CLI type: Integrated with Docker CLI
Installation: Complex installation
Scale: Supports auto-scaling
Monitoring: Built-in monitoring
Load balancer: Manual setup of the load balancer
CLI type: Need for separate CLI tool
It should be clear that looking at details surrounding Docker vs. Kubernetes goes beyond a simple comparison of the two. Rather, Kubernetes adds layers of automation, stability, and scalability to the already widely adopted Docker development workflow.
Either application can be put through the paces in a local development situation with very little fuss. The best thing you can do is take time to evaluate the two technologies and see where they may fit into your team’s workflow. With such low barriers to entry for both, what is right for your application is more about requirements and less about the implementation.