In technology, sometimes the jumps in progress are small but, as is the case with containerization, the jumps have been massive and turn the long-held practices and teachings completely upside down. With this book, we will take you from running a tiny service to building elastically scalable systems using containerization with Docker, the cornerstone of this revolution. We will perform a steady but consistent ramp-up through the basic blocks with a focus on the inner workings of Docker, and, as we continue, we will try to spend a majority of the time in the world of complex deployments and their considerations.

Let’s take a look at what we will cover in this chapter:

• What are containers and why do we need them?

• Docker’s place in the container world

• Thinking with a container mindset