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Docker: Up & Running: Shipping Reliable Containers in Production
Updated to cover Docker version 1.10
Docker is quickly changing the way that organizations are deploying software at scale. But understanding how Linux containers fit into your workflow—and getting the integration details right—are not trivial tasks. With this practical guide, you’ll learn how to use Docker to package your applications with all of their dependencies, and then test, ship, scale, and support your containers in production.
Two Lead Site Reliability Engineers at New Relic share much of what they have learned from using Docker in production since shortly after its initial release. Their goal is to help you reap the benefits of this technology while avoiding the many setbacks they experienced.
Learn how Docker simplifies dependency management and deployment workflow for your applicationsStart working with Docker images, containers, and command line toolsUse practical techniques to deploy and test Docker-based Linux containers in productionDebug containers by understanding their composition and internal processesDeploy production containers at scale inside your data center or cloud environmentExplore advanced Docker topics, including deployment tools, networking, orchestration, security, and configuration
Docker is quickly changing the way that organizations are deploying software at scale. But understanding how Linux containers fit into your workflow—and getting the integration details right—are not trivial tasks. With this practical guide, you’ll learn how to use Docker to package your applications with all of their dependencies, and then test, ship, scale, and support your containers in production.
Two Lead Site Reliability Engineers at New Relic share much of what they have learned from using Docker in production since shortly after its initial release. Their goal is to help you reap the benefits of this technology while avoiding the many setbacks they experienced.
Learn how Docker simplifies dependency management and deployment workflow for your applicationsStart working with Docker images, containers, and command line toolsUse practical techniques to deploy and test Docker-based Linux containers in productionDebug containers by understanding their composition and internal processesDeploy production containers at scale inside your data center or cloud environmentExplore advanced Docker topics, including deployment tools, networking, orchestration, security, and configuration
349 pages, Kindle Edition
First published June 9, 2015
153 people are currently reading
559 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 42 reviews
June 10, 2018
The "Debugging Containers" chapter has very useful tips on various techniques to debug docker containers. The "Advanced Topic" chapter has a lot of high level internal details of docker that helps with getting a better understanding of how docker works as well.
I am not sure I would actually recommend this book to someone who is trying to transition a large system to use docker in production as it doesn't actually provide any information on how to start and manage such a transition.
The book is useful to get general info about how docker works and how it should be used.
I am not sure I would actually recommend this book to someone who is trying to transition a large system to use docker in production as it doesn't actually provide any information on how to start and manage such a transition.
The book is useful to get general info about how docker works and how it should be used.
January 27, 2022
Covers most areas. Very helpful
January 3, 2016
Docker Up and Running is a book that I've been meaning to write a review for a long time.
The book itself is a good Docker introduction, but that's all there is to it.
It takes a more theoretical approach and goes a greater length in explaining commands instead of just showing by example.
This goes on for a big part of the book. If you want to cut from the internet and focus on the book only - you'll definitely hit the right spot with this book. However beware that this book is only focused on Docker. Nothing else from the Docker ecosystem. No Compose, Machine and Swarm.
That's a letdown. Nowadays if you want to manage even a slightly more advanced dev/staging/testing/prod environment - you need other tools than Docker. Otherwise you're shooting yourself in the foot.
I personally don't recommend this book in 2016. There are better Docker books and knowing the whole Docker ecosystem is a must if you want to be proficient with Docker.
The book itself is a good Docker introduction, but that's all there is to it.
It takes a more theoretical approach and goes a greater length in explaining commands instead of just showing by example.
This goes on for a big part of the book. If you want to cut from the internet and focus on the book only - you'll definitely hit the right spot with this book. However beware that this book is only focused on Docker. Nothing else from the Docker ecosystem. No Compose, Machine and Swarm.
That's a letdown. Nowadays if you want to manage even a slightly more advanced dev/staging/testing/prod environment - you need other tools than Docker. Otherwise you're shooting yourself in the foot.
I personally don't recommend this book in 2016. There are better Docker books and knowing the whole Docker ecosystem is a must if you want to be proficient with Docker.
August 12, 2015
A quick read that provides a clear and concise intro to Docker. This book does a good job of helping you wade through the buzzword soup that has been created by the Docker community. The debugging, deployment, and docker at scale sections are particularly valuable, as they are difficult to find in online documentation and blog posts.
As implied by the "Up and Running" subtitle, this is just an introduction, so don't expect too much depth or nitty gritty details. The biggest downside to the book is that the Docker community is moving so fast, that a larger and larger percentage of this book will become obsolete with each passing day. Of course, this gives the author a chance to publish new, updated editions periodically, which means you'll probably want a digital version of this book.
As implied by the "Up and Running" subtitle, this is just an introduction, so don't expect too much depth or nitty gritty details. The biggest downside to the book is that the Docker community is moving so fast, that a larger and larger percentage of this book will become obsolete with each passing day. Of course, this gives the author a chance to publish new, updated editions periodically, which means you'll probably want a digital version of this book.
September 22, 2016
The Docker Workflow
This is a great Docker introductory book, from very basic to some advanced topics, it helps to understand what Docker is and isn't, and how it can benefit you and/or your company.
It's full of tips and examples so you can get your hands dirty very quickly. The downside is that it is already outdated, Docker is growing really fast so if you are planning on reading this book I suggest you read Docker's official documentation after.
This is a great Docker introductory book, from very basic to some advanced topics, it helps to understand what Docker is and isn't, and how it can benefit you and/or your company.
It's full of tips and examples so you can get your hands dirty very quickly. The downside is that it is already outdated, Docker is growing really fast so if you are planning on reading this book I suggest you read Docker's official documentation after.
June 12, 2018
good book. but the documentation is much better.. too much useless stuff.
October 21, 2019
Too advanced for someone out of the field. More suited to DevOps background. Also, probably out of date with the latest changes to Docker.
August 10, 2015
Docker so well explained that it even turned me into a Docker image author!
tl;dr Read the book not the review and you regret no moment. Highly recommended! The only wish after “Docker: Up & Running� � the book should be a chapter or two longer!
“Docker: Up & Running� was the first book I read about Docker itself and the entire Docker ecosystem. And, honestly, it’s not a coincidence at all. O’Reilly has always amazed me how well organised their books were and the overall layout, chapters, fonts, material and authors have always been perfectly matched up. I expected no less from “Docker: Up and Running�.
I read O’Reilly’s “Docker: Up & Running� from cover to cover and I regret no moment.
I was an almost complete beginner in the space of Docker. “Almost� because I had already read up on Docker in the official documentation and in a couple of articles. I also met fantastic people (thanks Kamil!) who convinced me to spend far more time with the fantastic new technology. And it all happened in the year of Scala the programming language in my life when I promised myself to devote most of my professional time to Scala to get the gist of functional programming and other type-level tricks. Despite my age, 40+, I still think of myself more as a software developer that any other role in a development team. As luck would have it, the current project has drifted towards Docker to reap benefits of the promise of “continuous integration and deployment made easier with Docker�. And so Docker turned into a very hot topic in the team. I had to catch up very quickly.
And “Docker: Up & Running� moved me past that introductory level in a smooth and pleasant way!
It worked out fabulously well that I even contributed my first images to build sbt � the Scala build tool � inside a Docker container () to have repeatable builds without expecting much from the build machine but Docker itself. I simply couldn’t have imagined to have gotten more from the book. I think I can even explain Docker to others with ease (holding the book in my hands as a reference).
It was in “Docker: Up & Running� when I finally understood why Docker could be so useful and fast at the same time (in no particular order) � a container is simply a process running on the Docker host. It was not obvious to me, but thanks to the book I could finally get it, too! And you can do all Docker remotely using command line or REST API. Thanks Karl and Sean for explaining it all in such an engaging and concisely manner.
In “Docker: Up & Running� I found all I needed about Docker itself and the tooling around it, Swarm, Machine, Kubernetes, Amazon ECS including. The “tooling� part in which the tooling was explained was a bit flat so I have to look around for other books, but I finally know what I should be looking for instead of blindly picking material hoping to find the right one. The book guided me through the Docker ecosystem with enough details and paved the way to more advanced topics and tooling.
Happily, the authors ran Docker on Mac OS so I was at home since I’m also on Mac. Linux is an obvious choice for Docker due to how Docker works, so it was covered as well. Not that much about Docker on Windows.
I did find a couple of typos, but they’re so minor that either you won’t notice them or they’re not going to diminish the value of the book in any way.
Are you into Docker? Grab the book and spend a week of reading with “Docker: Up & Running�! You’re surely going to miss it once over it.
On to reading Packt’s . The plan is to read up all the books available about Docker and develop my own understanding of its applicability in software development gigs of mine. What should be the reading path you’d recommend?
tl;dr Read the book not the review and you regret no moment. Highly recommended! The only wish after “Docker: Up & Running� � the book should be a chapter or two longer!
“Docker: Up & Running� was the first book I read about Docker itself and the entire Docker ecosystem. And, honestly, it’s not a coincidence at all. O’Reilly has always amazed me how well organised their books were and the overall layout, chapters, fonts, material and authors have always been perfectly matched up. I expected no less from “Docker: Up and Running�.
I read O’Reilly’s “Docker: Up & Running� from cover to cover and I regret no moment.
I was an almost complete beginner in the space of Docker. “Almost� because I had already read up on Docker in the official documentation and in a couple of articles. I also met fantastic people (thanks Kamil!) who convinced me to spend far more time with the fantastic new technology. And it all happened in the year of Scala the programming language in my life when I promised myself to devote most of my professional time to Scala to get the gist of functional programming and other type-level tricks. Despite my age, 40+, I still think of myself more as a software developer that any other role in a development team. As luck would have it, the current project has drifted towards Docker to reap benefits of the promise of “continuous integration and deployment made easier with Docker�. And so Docker turned into a very hot topic in the team. I had to catch up very quickly.
And “Docker: Up & Running� moved me past that introductory level in a smooth and pleasant way!
It worked out fabulously well that I even contributed my first images to build sbt � the Scala build tool � inside a Docker container () to have repeatable builds without expecting much from the build machine but Docker itself. I simply couldn’t have imagined to have gotten more from the book. I think I can even explain Docker to others with ease (holding the book in my hands as a reference).
It was in “Docker: Up & Running� when I finally understood why Docker could be so useful and fast at the same time (in no particular order) � a container is simply a process running on the Docker host. It was not obvious to me, but thanks to the book I could finally get it, too! And you can do all Docker remotely using command line or REST API. Thanks Karl and Sean for explaining it all in such an engaging and concisely manner.
In “Docker: Up & Running� I found all I needed about Docker itself and the tooling around it, Swarm, Machine, Kubernetes, Amazon ECS including. The “tooling� part in which the tooling was explained was a bit flat so I have to look around for other books, but I finally know what I should be looking for instead of blindly picking material hoping to find the right one. The book guided me through the Docker ecosystem with enough details and paved the way to more advanced topics and tooling.
Happily, the authors ran Docker on Mac OS so I was at home since I’m also on Mac. Linux is an obvious choice for Docker due to how Docker works, so it was covered as well. Not that much about Docker on Windows.
I did find a couple of typos, but they’re so minor that either you won’t notice them or they’re not going to diminish the value of the book in any way.
Are you into Docker? Grab the book and spend a week of reading with “Docker: Up & Running�! You’re surely going to miss it once over it.
On to reading Packt’s . The plan is to read up all the books available about Docker and develop my own understanding of its applicability in software development gigs of mine. What should be the reading path you’d recommend?
February 25, 2020
An excellent introduction to Docker, the authors have really done a fantastic job of explaining its intricacies to absolute beginners; the writing was very fluent, examples to the point and there's also heaps of practical advices and pearls of wisdom to boot.
September 13, 2015
Very good description of docker, including "advanced" topics.
January 5, 2018
The more I learn the less I know. I read a Kubernetes book and found it was a waste of time because I knew nothing of Docker. Now I read a Docker book and found out I have so much more to learn. Good thing I am starving for knowledge. I read this straight through in two sittings like I would a novel. I prefer to absorb the content as much as I can, then go back and try to do the walk-throughs after reinforcing it with some video training. The book before the video training is always the way to go. You will pick it all up that much faster. Book-Video-Labs in that order. I felt like this book really opened my eyes about creating a super fast, super efficient infrastructure that developers can use to create and deploy their applications on. I started in IT working with great big servers, installing giant OS's that take hours to install. Now you can spin up a Docker container that is super slim and run only your application on it and the whole process can be automated all the way to production. I mean, I know this kind of stuff was doable, but I never really put a lot of thought into how it works or why it is important. I feel like this book definitely helped me see the bigger picture better. I now know what I don't know. This is the future for sure. VMs and bulky operating systems will one day be a thing of the past. They will be used less and less for services, websites, and APIs. You could probably spend 2-3 weekends going through this book and the Kubernetes up and running book and learn enough to build a working production ready environment. That is pretty impressive. These books are great.
February 10, 2019
A nice introduction to docker that doesn't leave you with a partial picture.
Introductory chapters, explanations are delineated enough to give enough knowledge about the building images and spinning off containers from them.
Though towards the ending chapters, were the more advanced concepts like container orchestration, scaling containers and containers in production are explained, the depth of the content didn't feel sufficient. But that's acceptable and even good as this meant to be an introduction to the docker and containerization world.
Introductory chapters, explanations are delineated enough to give enough knowledge about the building images and spinning off containers from them.
Though towards the ending chapters, were the more advanced concepts like container orchestration, scaling containers and containers in production are explained, the depth of the content didn't feel sufficient. But that's acceptable and even good as this meant to be an introduction to the docker and containerization world.
October 7, 2019
I picked this book to gain some structured knowledge of docker. I had done a costly mistake with docker, and I realized, it was because my knowledge of docker was mostly by trial and error, reading the docs and trying it out.
The book focusses on operational aspects of docker. This is perhaps aimed at the beginners of docker who want to pick and learn the commands. Experienced users might find that this book goes more into breadth than depth.
The book focusses on operational aspects of docker. This is perhaps aimed at the beginners of docker who want to pick and learn the commands. Experienced users might find that this book goes more into breadth than depth.
May 30, 2020
A little bit disappointed in this read and I wouldn’t recommend for beginners to Docker. While this has loads of information, I felt it was presented in quite a confusing way (e.g. referring to topics that are only introduced to the reader multiple chapters later). While you could use it to literally get up and running by following the code fragments, I would have preferred more focus on the general concepts of docker itself and fewer pages of dumps of the terminal.
October 28, 2018
Bardzo dobra książka, jak ktoś chce poznać podstawy Dockera i podobnych technologii. Dużo przykładów. Opisane to jest w sposób czytelny. Wymagana jest jednak jako taka wiedza o Linuxie. Niestety praktycznie nic o popularnym ostatnio Kubernetesie. Jeżeli chcesz zacząć przygodę z DevOps to polecam na początek.
May 10, 2017
Great introduction to Docker. Provide enough information to be understandable, but keeps it brief and to the point. Doesn't cover much of the Docker ecosystem, which has grown substantially since the mid-2015 publication of the book.
January 6, 2023
The main downside of this book is that it doesn't touch docker-compose. All the rest is useful and goes beyond my expectations. Final chapters are very much in depth of Security and Advanced Docker configs. I recommend to those who work actively with Docker and Kubernetes.
February 19, 2017
Mostly outdated but anyway pretty good intro.
December 31, 2017
A nice detailed introduction on Docker, right from building containers to shipping them.
December 14, 2017
Soso....wasn't a great read
May 8, 2018
need an update
July 24, 2018
Great introduction to the technology. This is a bit dated, as Docker for Mac was not represented anywhere in the book.
November 4, 2018
This is an excellent reference book for anybody who is starting with Docker. This book explains a lot of things in great depth and is full of useful examples.
I will be keeping this book close.
I will be keeping this book close.
June 24, 2019
A well balanced book! It eases you into the topic and provides some information that I didn't find in other books. Pretty up to date for a book like this as well. Comprehensive.
July 2, 2019
Good read. Explains things well for web development. Not so good for app development but you can muddle through.
July 12, 2020
It didn't impress me but it's worth reading, specially to learn how to write a good Docker file. However, it's longer than it needed to be. For example, they should drop the Kubernetes part, as it provides imperative examples which are not good practice, and focus solely on Docker.
September 26, 2020
An excellent resource for learning docker.
December 7, 2017
You can read my review here
Thanks!
Thanks!
August 2, 2015
With more than a thousands contributors, and backed by colossi such as Google, Docker is by far this year’s hottest topic and gained so much momentum that Amazon released containers� specific instances on AWS. Quite impressive, indeed, mainly considering it relies on technology that has been there, available to all of us, since years (Solaris jails anyone?). The revolution were not indeed the containers themeselves, but rather encapsulating the whole thing inside a blue smiling whale and making it easy for us all average human beings to take advantage of it and deploy containers with a couple of lines of code. Or less. In the last 12 months many books dedicated to Docker were released, confirming the interest of publishing companies in the business that moves around that whale. Good for us, since this means there is a lot to help us learn and get better! Among the books available is Docker: Up and Running, quite good pick for both enthusiasts and professionals that provides some very interesting material on advanced topics, mainly security.
I have been reading this book during commute, on my way to work. I am honest, after reading the official documentation, so complete and easy to follow that it is such an indispensable resource for anyone willing to learn more about Docker, I was not expecting much from these tiny 200 pages. I must admit that, despite trying to find as many cons as possible, I have reached the back cover with my notebook plenty of positives notes and several code snippets that I will jealously keep somewhere safe. What stands out is how concise the book is: a paragraph, a concept. Plain and simple. The reader is gradually taken from the very basics up to advanced topics (more on this in a minute) smoothly, with no abrupt changes of subject. The abundance of colorful schemas definitely helps the reader getting a better, clearer picture of the subject being discussed. The examples are well explained and easy to follow.
The best of the book is the part dedicated to security, no doubts. The authors dedicate lots of pages to make it clear that a container is just a process running on the host and that the root user in a container, is the root of the host itself, with all that comes with it. The risks and damages that creating containers with way too many privileges are both discussed and shown with plenty of examples. Tips are given to make containers safer and the world a better place.
A couple of words about the many warnings that we find throughout the text: very often, when explaining the different features of Docker, and the internals that make it all happen, the authors come up with a box containing no more than three or four lines, very small pieces of wisdom with helpful suggestions to save the enthusiast from common pitfalls.
To wrap it all up, a very good title for anyone interested in Docker, be it a DevOps or simply an enthusiast. While there are more user-friendly choices covering the basics (TURN), Docker: Up and Running is definitely suggested to anyone seriously interested in the blue whale, mainly for the chapters dedicated to security and the advanced topics in general.
Suggested readings:
The Docker Book: an user friendly, concise introduction to Docker. While it does not cover many advanced topics, it’s by far the best covering the basics.
Docker Hands on: while not helpful to beginners, it offers the reader many advanced topics that can’t be found anywhere else.
As usual, you can find more reviews on my personal blog: . Feel free to pass by and share your thoughts!
I have been reading this book during commute, on my way to work. I am honest, after reading the official documentation, so complete and easy to follow that it is such an indispensable resource for anyone willing to learn more about Docker, I was not expecting much from these tiny 200 pages. I must admit that, despite trying to find as many cons as possible, I have reached the back cover with my notebook plenty of positives notes and several code snippets that I will jealously keep somewhere safe. What stands out is how concise the book is: a paragraph, a concept. Plain and simple. The reader is gradually taken from the very basics up to advanced topics (more on this in a minute) smoothly, with no abrupt changes of subject. The abundance of colorful schemas definitely helps the reader getting a better, clearer picture of the subject being discussed. The examples are well explained and easy to follow.
The best of the book is the part dedicated to security, no doubts. The authors dedicate lots of pages to make it clear that a container is just a process running on the host and that the root user in a container, is the root of the host itself, with all that comes with it. The risks and damages that creating containers with way too many privileges are both discussed and shown with plenty of examples. Tips are given to make containers safer and the world a better place.
A couple of words about the many warnings that we find throughout the text: very often, when explaining the different features of Docker, and the internals that make it all happen, the authors come up with a box containing no more than three or four lines, very small pieces of wisdom with helpful suggestions to save the enthusiast from common pitfalls.
To wrap it all up, a very good title for anyone interested in Docker, be it a DevOps or simply an enthusiast. While there are more user-friendly choices covering the basics (TURN), Docker: Up and Running is definitely suggested to anyone seriously interested in the blue whale, mainly for the chapters dedicated to security and the advanced topics in general.
Suggested readings:
The Docker Book: an user friendly, concise introduction to Docker. While it does not cover many advanced topics, it’s by far the best covering the basics.
Docker Hands on: while not helpful to beginners, it offers the reader many advanced topics that can’t be found anywhere else.
As usual, you can find more reviews on my personal blog: . Feel free to pass by and share your thoughts!
May 13, 2016
In the last few months I started to explore Docker a little and “Docker up and Running� was a big help here. Firstly the book provides a good introduction to docker, gives you easily enough to get hands on and start playing, and also helps you change your mindset a little to understand how to use docker. After that more advanced topics are introduced rounding your understanding of docker and letting you dig deeper.
I use Vagrant so getting started with docker was fairly simple (many of the concepts seem to map well) - however I think even a total beginner would be ok with the book.
Some of the topics covered:
docker introduction
the docker mindset
delving deeper and debuggin
docker at scale - docker swarm etc
The good and the bad:
Pros:
Well organized and covering a lot of material - from small to large.
Very nice coverage of exploring containers and debugging - things you’ll need in real life.
Cons:
One thing I missed was a chapter about plugging a few docker containers together to make a larger service - with a nice hands on example. There’s good coverage of single instances and many containers using docker swarm etc but an extra chapter showing how to run 2-3 containers on a single host would have been nice.
Would I recommend it:
Without doubt - it’s a good read and you’ll gain a lot. You may need to take this knowledge and follow some of the online tutorials after to get more hands on but the book is certainly a good starting point (and reference after that). The book gives you easily enough to feel confident with docker and to start having some fun.
I use Vagrant so getting started with docker was fairly simple (many of the concepts seem to map well) - however I think even a total beginner would be ok with the book.
Some of the topics covered:
docker introduction
the docker mindset
delving deeper and debuggin
docker at scale - docker swarm etc
The good and the bad:
Pros:
Well organized and covering a lot of material - from small to large.
Very nice coverage of exploring containers and debugging - things you’ll need in real life.
Cons:
One thing I missed was a chapter about plugging a few docker containers together to make a larger service - with a nice hands on example. There’s good coverage of single instances and many containers using docker swarm etc but an extra chapter showing how to run 2-3 containers on a single host would have been nice.
Would I recommend it:
Without doubt - it’s a good read and you’ll gain a lot. You may need to take this knowledge and follow some of the online tutorials after to get more hands on but the book is certainly a good starting point (and reference after that). The book gives you easily enough to feel confident with docker and to start having some fun.
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