Reasons why you should use Docker Containers in Your Application Development
App development isn’t a cakewalk. Hence, developers constantly look for new technologies that simplify and expedite application development and make it more efficient. But they adopt a technology or a set of tools only when they are convinced about its benefits. Docker is one of them. It is gaining popularity among app developers due to its various advantages. Let’s see why you must encourage your developers to use Docker containers in the app development process.
Lately, containerization has become a proven way among developers to increase the efficiency of the IT development workflow. Docker’s significant development concerning cloud and DevOps is one reason why many developers are considering using Docker regularly. Besides, it enables easy cloud deployment, is more controllable, and granular, and upholds the architecture for microservices-based applications.
Microservices and Docker
Microservices are self-contained, independent application units that each fulfill only one specific business function, they can be considered small applications in their own right. What will happen if you create a dozen microservices for your app? And what if you decide to build several microservices with different technology stacks? Your team will soon be in trouble as developers will have to manage even more environments than they would with a traditional monolithic application.
Here is where Docker helps us break the shackles of Virtual Machines. Docker is a tool that helps you containerize your microservices and simplify its delivery. Docker containers provide you with everything you need to run a standalone application along with the system tools and libraries.
Below are some pressing reasons why you should consider Docker for your Microservice Applications.
1. Quicker and Cheaper Deployment
With a Docker-enabled container, you can reduce the deployment time significantly. Fundamentally, you put all the deployment-related tasks in a container. You can then share the process with new applications. In other words, deployment becomes seamless and reduces your time to market.
2. Predictable Environment
Containers enable developers to create a predictable environment isolated from other applications. Here, the app’s deployment location does not matter. Regardless of it, everything else stays consistent and thus contributes to higher productivity. Developers do not have to deal with issues such as long debugging processes, spending a higher amount of time while launching new features, etc.
3. Controlling Version and Reusing Components
Developers can track successive container versions, examine differences or rollback to earlier versions. Besides, containers reuse components from the previous layers, thus turning significantly lightweight.
4. Repeatability
Building codes with repeatable infrastructure and configuration accelerates the development process. Here, it is worth noting that Docker images are often tiny. That speeds up delivery and reduces the deployment time for new application containers.
5. Less Complex Maintenance
A containerized application remains isolated from other apps operating in the same system. So, there’s no intermixing of applications. That, precisely, makes application maintenance a pretty straightforward task. Automation enables quicker repetitions and fewer mistakes, thus focusing on the more crucial aspects of the application such as value, user experience, functionalities, etc.
6. Higher Portability
You can pack an application and its dependencies in a single container, independent of the host version, deployment model, or platform distribution. You can transfer the container to another device that runs Docker and implement it without confronting computability concerns.
7. Change, Test, and Introduce New Containers
Performing an upgrade during a product’s release cycle is pretty straightforward with Docker. You can make the required changes to Docker containers, test them and release new ones. You can build, test and release images deployed across multiple servers with the help of Docker. A new security patch does not change the process. You can apply the patch, test it, and release it for production.
8. Segmentation Within the Application
Docker containerization enables you to segment an application. It means you can work on a particular segment, enhance it or perform the required tasks without switching off the entire app. So, even when you work on a specific application segment, your users would enjoy seamless functioning without any hassles whatsoever.
9. Simplified Dependency Management
Before Docker, running a project on a different machine required setting up dependencies including libraries, configs, and services like databases or cache. While doing the workaround for a single project is fine, working on parallel projects that require dependencies that cannot be installed and run simultaneously proves challenging.
For example, if one of your projects requires SQL and another project requires MariaDB, you must uninstall one to get started with the other. It proves hassling and renders the project unusable.
Docker is here for the rescue! It provides a dependency management mechanism where each project or app can be isolated with all its dependencies in a separate container. Additionally, you can run multiple apps (containers) concomitantly on the same machine.
Leverage the Power of Dockers with Datafortune
Datafortune is a team of developers with extensive expertise and experience developing apps using Docker containerization. Our skills and access to technologies enable us to optimize every benefit of Docker concerning app development. Thus, we ensure quicker app development, deployment, and delivery and significantly reduce your time to market. To know more about our Docker app development process, write at info@datafortune.com.