Adapting codes to IMAS - Adapting codes to IMAS based Docker (22.09)

1.1. Introduction

• Docker is a tool which allows to start containers i.e. lightweight, isolated environments (OS, libraries, configurations)

  • You can install Docker for Mac, Windows or Linux: documentation

• To work with a container you need an image to start from

• Images can be found in public or private repositories:

  • Base operating systems e.g. Ubuntu or CentOS
  • Ready-to-start interpreters e.g. Python or PHP
  • Database management systems e.g. MySQL or PostgreSQL

• A container executes one or more processes in its isolated environment

• The process might be a daemon e.g. Apache HTTP Server or it can be an interactive terminal

• Dockerization features:

  • Quick prototyping and testing

    • For example, you can easily spawn multiple versions of PostgreSQL and test your SQL queries against them

  • Better dissemination

    • The product owner can share a Docker image and anyone interested can use it straight away

  • Enhanced security

    • A container is isolated and runs a limited number of processes
    • Even if it gets hacked, the rest of the system remains unharmed

  • Easier maintenance

    • The images are usually built in an automatic way via CI/CD pipelines or regularly scheduled jobs
    • No matter how complex the environment is, once the image recipe is created all interested users can instantiate containers at will