Windows Server 2016 Extends Docker Containers

Docker, a popular open-source tool for deploying and managing server-based applications, is supported for use with applications running on Windows Server 2016. Windows Containers, Microsoft’s implementation of Docker containers, could help organizations deploy, manage, and scale applications more easily on Windows Server on-premises or in a hosted virtual machine (VM) service such as Azure VM. Windows Containers can be created and deployed leveraging Hyper-V virtualization, which can improve security and quality of service, and which could eventually enable running Linux containers on Windows Server. However, Windows Containers are still maturing, and Azure’s rapidly evolving container offerings currently favor Docker containers running on Linux.

Docker Container Fundamentals

Docker is an open source project primarily run by a company of the same name. The technology was created to help organizations redistribute applications and their dependencies across servers in a reliable and reproducible way with less overhead and faster deployment than VMs. Web applications, like the popular WordPress publishing platform, are ideal candidates for Docker-based deployment.