Before understanding what exactly containerization is let us briefly discuss what our problem statement is :-

Often code developed by developer works fine in their own environment but may throw some errors in different environments like testing and production. Figuring out the cause of code not being compatible in other environment can take up to hours of time.

So, having identified the problem, this is where containerization comes into play. In simple words , containerizing means packaging all the dependencies, libraries and binaries of your application into a simple,lightweight and portable unit called containers.

As mentioned earlier containers are portable units therefore it is very easy to run in different environments thus ending the "works on my system" problem.

One of the most popular containerization platform is 'Docker' . Docker helps in packaging the application and it's dependencies into containers and helps in efficient container management.

Benefits of containers :-

1. Portability:- Containers provide a lightweight and consistent runtime environment , which means

   it is independent of underlying infrastructure and runs similarly in different environments like development, testing and production , thus eliminating compatibility issues.

2. Scalability:- containers help organization to scale their applications quickly and efficiently. Also containers help in horizontal scaling.

3. Versioning:- Containers allow versioning of the application and if any issue arise rollbacks are also easier.

4. Isolation: Containers provide a high level of isolation between applications and their dependencies. Each container operates in its own isolated environment, with the help of namespaces and cgroups.

Some useful terms:-

Image: An image serves as a blueprint for your containers . It contains instructions , dependencies and configurations for your application.

Container Registry: A container registry is a centralized repository for storing and distributing container images. It allows easy sharing and versioning of container images across teams and environments.

Orchestration: Container orchestration simply means managing and coordinating containers across multiple hosts.

Conclusion:-

Containerization provides a practical approach towards solving the compatibility issues in different environments faced by developers. With its portability, consistency, efficiency, and scalability benefits, containerization has become a transformative technology in the software development and deployment landscape, enabling organizations to deliver applications reliably across diverse environments.

P.S. :- In the upcoming articles we will learn a lot more about Docker. Stay tuned!