Docker - what use is it?

lemmylem , 3 months ago

Wondering too, since Docker has a non-root mode, is there a reason to use Podman?

domi , 3 months ago

They have a different architecture so it comes down to preference.

Docker runs a daemon that you talk to to deploy your services. podman does not have a daemon, you either directly use the podman command to deploy services or use systemd to integrate them into your system.

jws_shadotak , 3 months ago

Aside from the technical explanation that others have given, here's how I use Docker:

MeTube to rip videos and stuff easily. Just plug in a link and most times it'll work. Here's a list of all the supported sites.

I use Sonarr/Radarr and qBittorrent with gluetun to search for and download TV and movies that I watch on Plex.

I host my own Immich server that will automatically back up my photos from my phone just like Google Photos, except I own it all and it's all kept private. It has its own machine learning and facial recognition, so I can search for "dog" and get all the pictures of my dogs, or I can search by person.

I use Docker for all this because the images come in little prepackaged containers. It's super easy to get into once you figure out some of the basics.

Another great benefit of these containers is that you can transfer it to another system if needed. Just copy the config and data over to the new system and point the container in the right direction and it'll pick up where it left off.

CbtB , 3 months ago

In the context of self-hosted it means easier cleaner installs and avoiding different poorly packaged projects from interfering with each other.

frozen , 3 months ago

I could go in-depth, but really, the best way I can describe my docker usage is as a simple and agnostic service manager. Let me explain.

Docker is a container system. A container is essentially an operating system installation in a box. It's not really a full installation, but it's close enough that understanding it like that is fine.

So what the service devs do is build a container (operating system image) with their service and all the required dependencies - and essentially nothing else (in order to keep the image as small as possible). A user can then use Docker to run this image on their system and have a running service in just a few terminal commands. It works the same across all distributions. So I can install whatever distro I need on the server for whatever purpose and not have to worry that it won't run my Docker services. This also means I can test services locally on my desktop without messing with my server environment. If it works on my local Docker, it will work on my server Docker.

There are a lot of other uses for it, like isolated development environments and testing applications using other Linux distro libraries, to name a couple, but again, I personally mostly just use it as a simple service manager.

tldr + eli5 - App devs said "works on my machine", so Docker lets them ship their machine.

princessnorah , 3 months ago (edited 3 months ago)

So I can install whatever distro I need on the server for whatever purpose and not have to worry that it won't run my Docker services.

The one caveat to that is switching between something ARM-based like a Pi and an x86 server. Many popular services have ARM versions but not all do.

Edit: In saying that, building your own image from source isn’t too complicated most of the time.

technohacker , 3 months ago

Containers, the concept that Docker implements, lets app developers give a self-contained environment for distribution. For devs that means consistency in deployments across environments, which in turn means sysadmins can deploy each of these apps as fully isolated units.

With that, you get really clean installs/updates/uninstalls, and your deployments get done with a well-defined, declarative definition file which can also handle multi service dependencies (a la Docker Compose/K8s)

GravitySpoiled , 3 months ago

It's useful for every service you want to host (on a server).

Awe , 3 months ago

It's so useful you see it mentioned on every other thread