System Design on AWS

Chapter 7. Containerization, Orchestration, and Deployments

In recent years, containerization has become a game changer in the world of software development and deployment. Traditional methods of building and deploying applications often faced challenges like inconsistency, lack of portability, and inefficient use of resources. Containerization offers a solution to these problems in a new and effective way.

So what is containerization? Simply put, it’s a way to package an application along with everything it needs to run—like libraries and dependencies—into a lightweight, portable unit called a container. These containers ensure that the application runs the same way no matter where it’s deployed, whether that’s on a developer’s laptop, on a testing server, or in a production environment. This consistency helps developers focus on writing code without worrying about compatibility issues or the complexities of deployment. Docker, one of the most popular tools for containerization, makes it easy to create, share, and run these containers. It streamlines the development process, helping teams work faster and get their applications to market more quickly.

In this chapter, we’ll start by explaining the basic concepts of containerization, with a focus on Docker. You’ll learn how containers work, how to create them, and how to manage them on a large scale. We’ll also touch on more advanced topics, such as managing container images, orchestrating containers with tools like Kubernetes ...