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Docker Deep Dive
This is the ultimate book for learning Docker, brought to you by Docker Captain and leading educator in the container ecosystem Nigel Poulton. Docker Deep Dive is a masterpiece, expertly written, and rated by BookAuthority as "the number 1 all-time best book on Docker". As featured on CNN and Forbes, BookAuthority identifies and rates the best books in the world, based on public mentions, recommendations, ratings and sentiment. In this book, Docker is simplified and brought to life via Nigel’s unique and energetic approach -- many of its readers hold it up as the *gold standard* for technology books.- If you want to learn the basics of Docker, this book is for you.- If you want to be a pro with Docker, this book is for you. Docker Deep Dive is updated regularly, meaning you get a book that's applicable in the world today! Key features Extensive coverage of Docker architecture- Deep dive into core concepts such as images and containers- Networking, volumes, and security- Docker Certified Associate (DCA) coverage Nigel is passionate about teaching Docker and this is reflected in this book. You’ll never get tired reading this book, and you’ll finish it with the confidence you need to take on Docker in the real world.
227 pages, Kindle Edition
First published July 12, 2017
76 people are currently reading
462 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 54 reviews
September 1, 2018
Docker Deep Dive (v4) is a fun and useful introduction to Docker. Learning by Google searches and Stack Overflow will lead to bad habits, misunderstandings, and gaps in knowledge. This book covers everything that the newbie needs to know while also providing a few explanations beneficial to those who are more experienced. There are lightning-fast TLDR sections for each chapter, but the book can be read in its entirety while following along with every example in just a few hours.
Nigel’s writing is clear and engaging. His efforts to keep the book up-to-date are commendable and his command of the subject matter is superb. Even if you have no plans to use Docker, reading Deep Dive will enable you to speak intelligently on the topic. Ironically, for how simple Docker is to use, I found that the book frequently provided real cases for the usefulness of expanding one’s Linux, sysadmin, and VM knowledge. For as much as Docker (and the author) abstracts, I still think these are vital points of understanding. Though I suppose there will be a generation of developers that comes up while scarcely knowing what a VM is (and I beckon this future).
This is a worthwhile book and I respect the author for releasing a print version. His advice is that the value of the book will diminish greatly as time elapses and Docker is developed with increasing velocity. I urge you to pick it up now, even if just to validate that you know as much about Docker as you think you do. You might be surprised.
Find this review and others on my blog
Nigel’s writing is clear and engaging. His efforts to keep the book up-to-date are commendable and his command of the subject matter is superb. Even if you have no plans to use Docker, reading Deep Dive will enable you to speak intelligently on the topic. Ironically, for how simple Docker is to use, I found that the book frequently provided real cases for the usefulness of expanding one’s Linux, sysadmin, and VM knowledge. For as much as Docker (and the author) abstracts, I still think these are vital points of understanding. Though I suppose there will be a generation of developers that comes up while scarcely knowing what a VM is (and I beckon this future).
This is a worthwhile book and I respect the author for releasing a print version. His advice is that the value of the book will diminish greatly as time elapses and Docker is developed with increasing velocity. I urge you to pick it up now, even if just to validate that you know as much about Docker as you think you do. You might be surprised.
Find this review and others on my blog
June 15, 2018
To be honest I would title this book "Introduction to Docker".
While it covers ops part of Docker, it only briefly touches topics of Dev: building apps with Docker and applying containers approach to existing apps.
Also there is to much of... author in this book. Too many smileys, jokes here and there. TLDR blocks are useless. It is like a series of blog posts, not a book.
I think I understand now the difference between O'Reilly published books and "self published" Amazon books.
While it covers ops part of Docker, it only briefly touches topics of Dev: building apps with Docker and applying containers approach to existing apps.
Also there is to much of... author in this book. Too many smileys, jokes here and there. TLDR blocks are useless. It is like a series of blog posts, not a book.
I think I understand now the difference between O'Reilly published books and "self published" Amazon books.
December 9, 2018
Docker Deep Dive by Nigel Poulton is one of the more popular books on teaching users about creating and managing Docker containers. I’ve been mystified by container technology for a while now but I just couldn’t find the time to jump in. But with the technology landscape changing so fast, not staying even partially up to date will seriously leave you and the company you work for at a serious disadvantage. Like many administrators, we all know what virtual machines are. However, are containers considered the same? If not, then how are they different and how will they help us? What makes containers different, for better or worst, when compared to the virtual machines we all know and love today? Does it even make sense to learn Docker and container technology or is it just a fad and will eventually go out of favor once the hype settles down? The author does go into some of these questions briefly but if you’re reading this book, chances are you’re like me and have already made the decision to learn this cool technology. There are many other places on the Internet you can visit to dig more deeply into those questions. This book will actually teach you how to use Docker from a beginner’s point of view.
I have to admit though that prior to reading Docker Deep Dive, I’ve already completed half of my video Docker course at Udemy. When learning new technologies, I like to watch a video course while also reading a book on the subject and preferably from different authors and creators. This allows me to pick the brains from different people on the subject matter and so to get a different perspective on things. This book will get you up and running with Dockers immediately and with minimal fuss. All you need is a computer with an active internet connection and you can be learning and using Dockers! Best thing is that Docker is cross platform so it will work almost seamlessly across both Mac/Linux and Windows. The author goes through the commands you’ll use line by line to better help you understand what each one of them will do. Once you get the hang of it, you should then be able to glance at the command and visual what will happen in the background without any help.
A lot of the major topic gets covered here. In fact, the author claims at the time of the writing that his book is the only one that covers every exam topic in the Docker Certified Associate exam. Due to how Dockers utilizes layers, it makes sense to start things at the bottom and working upwards and this is exactly what the author does with his book as well. He starts off with explaining single engine mode to creating simple containers and then moving on to more higher level concepts that builds on top of the lower layer like swarm mode, services and then to stacks and finally how to package all that into making Docker work in production environments with Docker Enterprise Edition and the tools that go with it. Each chapter is broken down into three sections with the first being the TLDR section where he’ll explain very briefly on the subject from 10,000 foot high. He’ll then go into the deep dive and that’s where things pick up and you do all the learning. The last section is spent on going over the various commands that was used in the chapter. Because maintaining Docker is mainly done through the command line interface, taking the time to go over each command at the end of the chapter helps to cement them in your mind.
While the book doesn’t aim to turn you into a Docker professional by the end of it, it will give you a solid foundation into how Docker works and how to use it in your every day administration of Docker containers. I did wish that the author would have included more real world examples of Docker in action. Also, I’m sure users would find this out on their own but the author should have thrown in references from docs.docker.com as this is one of the premier site officially from Dockers themselves to learn the inner workings of the Docker commands. It also would have been great if the author could dish out pointers and side notes of Docker being used in real world enterprise environments from all the years of experience he has with it. It’s easy to see the passion the author has for Docker and container technology though. It’s always great to read from authors who are actually excited about the things they are writing and teaching about and not treat it as just a technical reference.
If you are just starting your journey into Docker and containers like I am, I strongly recommend this book! It’s easy to understand and you’ll have a lot of fun with Dockers!
I have to admit though that prior to reading Docker Deep Dive, I’ve already completed half of my video Docker course at Udemy. When learning new technologies, I like to watch a video course while also reading a book on the subject and preferably from different authors and creators. This allows me to pick the brains from different people on the subject matter and so to get a different perspective on things. This book will get you up and running with Dockers immediately and with minimal fuss. All you need is a computer with an active internet connection and you can be learning and using Dockers! Best thing is that Docker is cross platform so it will work almost seamlessly across both Mac/Linux and Windows. The author goes through the commands you’ll use line by line to better help you understand what each one of them will do. Once you get the hang of it, you should then be able to glance at the command and visual what will happen in the background without any help.
A lot of the major topic gets covered here. In fact, the author claims at the time of the writing that his book is the only one that covers every exam topic in the Docker Certified Associate exam. Due to how Dockers utilizes layers, it makes sense to start things at the bottom and working upwards and this is exactly what the author does with his book as well. He starts off with explaining single engine mode to creating simple containers and then moving on to more higher level concepts that builds on top of the lower layer like swarm mode, services and then to stacks and finally how to package all that into making Docker work in production environments with Docker Enterprise Edition and the tools that go with it. Each chapter is broken down into three sections with the first being the TLDR section where he’ll explain very briefly on the subject from 10,000 foot high. He’ll then go into the deep dive and that’s where things pick up and you do all the learning. The last section is spent on going over the various commands that was used in the chapter. Because maintaining Docker is mainly done through the command line interface, taking the time to go over each command at the end of the chapter helps to cement them in your mind.
While the book doesn’t aim to turn you into a Docker professional by the end of it, it will give you a solid foundation into how Docker works and how to use it in your every day administration of Docker containers. I did wish that the author would have included more real world examples of Docker in action. Also, I’m sure users would find this out on their own but the author should have thrown in references from docs.docker.com as this is one of the premier site officially from Dockers themselves to learn the inner workings of the Docker commands. It also would have been great if the author could dish out pointers and side notes of Docker being used in real world enterprise environments from all the years of experience he has with it. It’s easy to see the passion the author has for Docker and container technology though. It’s always great to read from authors who are actually excited about the things they are writing and teaching about and not treat it as just a technical reference.
If you are just starting your journey into Docker and containers like I am, I strongly recommend this book! It’s easy to understand and you’ll have a lot of fun with Dockers!
March 30, 2020
Si de verdad quieres aprender Docker a profundidad, tienes que leer este libro. Supongo que se complementa con el curso en video, pero el puro libro es un excelente herramienta para entender cómo funciona y aprender a usarlo.
El autor aplica una muy buena técnica de enseñanza: te dice lo que te va a enseñar, te lo enseña y te recuerda lo que te enseñó.
El autor aplica una muy buena técnica de enseñanza: te dice lo que te va a enseñar, te lo enseña y te recuerda lo que te enseñó.
April 1, 2020
As many reviews have mentioned, this book is not much of a deep dive but more of an introduction to Docker containers. If you want to learn about Docker in a structured way and understand the technologies that make Docker possible, I'd recommend this book.
The book is up-to-date until February 2018 (5th edition).
The book is up-to-date until February 2018 (5th edition).
October 30, 2024
I really enjoyed this book, unlike other docker book if often goes a bit underneath the surface also covering for example swarm, container trusts and networking in all flavors. It's still quite dense and some topics could be touched a bit deeper.
August 1, 2022
I expected more depth from a book with the words “deep dive” in the title
May 4, 2021
it was a good book, I'd recommended for beginner
December 24, 2018
Don't be mislead with a book title - it's a simple translation (and brief) of official docs. Not worth time you'll spent reading it.
June 22, 2020
I purchased this book with the intention of finding out more about containerisation and how to create and deploy docker images. The book definitely did not disappoint. It's a great entry point into Docker and covers everything you would need to know to get started with this containerization software.
I was especially interested to read how you can create YAML 'Compose' files to describe an entire service, including front end, ports software image and data volume. I now find myself looking for how to do this with SQL server databases.
Also useful is the service discovery functionality that allows containers and swarm services to locate each other by name. The book also includes examples of where you can deploy a docker system made up of Docker images calling and making use of non containerised components.
Definitely lots to learn about Docker but this book is clearly written, with examples and diagrams to work through. You can even download example images to try on your own machine. I strongly recommend this as a great entry point to Docker. Now I just need to apply some of this knowledge.
I was especially interested to read how you can create YAML 'Compose' files to describe an entire service, including front end, ports software image and data volume. I now find myself looking for how to do this with SQL server databases.
Also useful is the service discovery functionality that allows containers and swarm services to locate each other by name. The book also includes examples of where you can deploy a docker system made up of Docker images calling and making use of non containerised components.
Definitely lots to learn about Docker but this book is clearly written, with examples and diagrams to work through. You can even download example images to try on your own machine. I strongly recommend this as a great entry point to Docker. Now I just need to apply some of this knowledge.
September 9, 2022
Note: This review is for the 2020 version, which I think is the latest version.
4/5
Great book with pretty simple explanations made this a great resource and quick read.
It really helped solidify certain topics (as I read this after most of his Pluralsight videos, which were also good and concise).
He dove quite deep on some subjects, such as Networking, which were a tad difficult to follow/comprehend. However, as noted in the book you don't necessarily need to 100% understand these topics to be proficient at Docker itself.
Quite easily to follow along with and most of the examples worked.
I used Play with Docker (PWD) a majority of the time and I have to say it is super easy to do things in Docker, i.e. create a swarm. Following along with book I was able to do about 70% or more of the examples within a PWD environment.
I would definitely recommend this book to an a beginner/intermediate user of Docker. Maybe also recommending watching his Pluralsight videos before/after reading.
However, I did find it kind of lacking towards the end, where it felt kind of incomplete. I’m hoping the future additions flesh out the later topics more.
Thus the loss of the 5th star.
4/5
Great book with pretty simple explanations made this a great resource and quick read.
It really helped solidify certain topics (as I read this after most of his Pluralsight videos, which were also good and concise).
He dove quite deep on some subjects, such as Networking, which were a tad difficult to follow/comprehend. However, as noted in the book you don't necessarily need to 100% understand these topics to be proficient at Docker itself.
Quite easily to follow along with and most of the examples worked.
I used Play with Docker (PWD) a majority of the time and I have to say it is super easy to do things in Docker, i.e. create a swarm. Following along with book I was able to do about 70% or more of the examples within a PWD environment.
I would definitely recommend this book to an a beginner/intermediate user of Docker. Maybe also recommending watching his Pluralsight videos before/after reading.
However, I did find it kind of lacking towards the end, where it felt kind of incomplete. I’m hoping the future additions flesh out the later topics more.
Thus the loss of the 5th star.
December 28, 2023
My learning experience using this book was not that smooth.
For some reason, docker buildx was not working for linux/arm/v7 in my case. But I was still able to follow along by using other architectures instead.
Setting up the nodes at Chapter 10 - Docker Swarm took me at least 2 hours. I'm on a 16GB RAM laptop, and the 3 managers by 3 workers using multipass results in memory issue. The web version of PlayWithDocker has limitations of its own: (1) max of 5 nodes only, and (2) no access to the typical commands in Linux distributions, hence, service docker restart was failing.
Chapter 11 - Docker Networking > Connecting to existing networks was hard to follow. It assumes you already know VLANs, i.e., how to set it up, what parent interfaces are, subnetting, trunking, etc.
Nonetheless, it's still a great resource. I've read the first few parts of https://docs.docker.com/get-started/ but my learnings from this site was just not sticking. Docker Deep Dive helped me actually know Docker, and not just memorize some commands to get by at work.
For some reason, docker buildx was not working for linux/arm/v7 in my case. But I was still able to follow along by using other architectures instead.
Setting up the nodes at Chapter 10 - Docker Swarm took me at least 2 hours. I'm on a 16GB RAM laptop, and the 3 managers by 3 workers using multipass results in memory issue. The web version of PlayWithDocker has limitations of its own: (1) max of 5 nodes only, and (2) no access to the typical commands in Linux distributions, hence, service docker restart was failing.
Chapter 11 - Docker Networking > Connecting to existing networks was hard to follow. It assumes you already know VLANs, i.e., how to set it up, what parent interfaces are, subnetting, trunking, etc.
Nonetheless, it's still a great resource. I've read the first few parts of https://docs.docker.com/get-started/ but my learnings from this site was just not sticking. Docker Deep Dive helped me actually know Docker, and not just memorize some commands to get by at work.
August 13, 2019
I would give this book a 4.5-star rating actually. But I guess rounding it up is fair in this case, it is a very solid book in the end. You will still need to consult the documentation quite a lot, it won't be able to fill all the details in, far from that.
However, you will find yourself going back to it much more frequently than you would expect, and that's simply because it is composed of solid guidelines, summaries and how-to's.
The improvement I would suggest is similar to my critique of Poulton's Kubernetes book:
- Add a chapter with a full project close to a production setting where you apply all of the major concepts.
- In this project's chapter, either discussing best practices or making a section on it would really be a plus. The author discusses best practices throughout the book, but having them directly discussed with a project would be very nice.
However, you will find yourself going back to it much more frequently than you would expect, and that's simply because it is composed of solid guidelines, summaries and how-to's.
The improvement I would suggest is similar to my critique of Poulton's Kubernetes book:
- Add a chapter with a full project close to a production setting where you apply all of the major concepts.
- In this project's chapter, either discussing best practices or making a section on it would really be a plus. The author discusses best practices throughout the book, but having them directly discussed with a project would be very nice.
February 23, 2021
I've reached for this book because of it's rating and because I needed an intro to docker.
The book covers a lot of ground. The chapters are structured nicely. Every chapter begin with a TLDR section which explains the topic of the chapter with one or two paragraphs followed by a Deep Dive section and at the end there is Commands section which highlights the most important commands.
I didn't like the Deep Dive sections of the book. I feel like reading the docs in the docker website would have been the same for me if not better. The book briefly mentions the underlying technolgies used by docker in the last chapter.
The book is being updated regularly and you will get future updates for free. :)
As a final note IMO to get most out of this book one should practice while reading beacuse the book has more practice-oriented content.
The book covers a lot of ground. The chapters are structured nicely. Every chapter begin with a TLDR section which explains the topic of the chapter with one or two paragraphs followed by a Deep Dive section and at the end there is Commands section which highlights the most important commands.
I didn't like the Deep Dive sections of the book. I feel like reading the docs in the docker website would have been the same for me if not better. The book briefly mentions the underlying technolgies used by docker in the last chapter.
The book is being updated regularly and you will get future updates for free. :)
As a final note IMO to get most out of this book one should practice while reading beacuse the book has more practice-oriented content.
March 28, 2019
I am not sure about all the praise for this book. The only good chapters that are not a shallow intro are The Docker Engine, Images, Containers and Containerizing the App. All the rest are very shallow introductions just barely touching the topic. Feels more like blog posts stitched together for a quick buck. Writing style is not bad, but Nigel never goes into deep topics.
This book is too much about the author and his advertisements of the Docker, his online courses and books. I could live with that if the content was any good, but besides first part of the book and chapters mentioned above it is rather a shallow dive into Docker. I expected much more from highly praised book with a word "dive" in the title.
This book is too much about the author and his advertisements of the Docker, his online courses and books. I could live with that if the content was any good, but besides first part of the book and chapters mentioned above it is rather a shallow dive into Docker. I expected much more from highly praised book with a word "dive" in the title.
November 8, 2020
Read the LeanPub May 2020 version. It is a good introductory book, covering enough background and the common commands for a beginner. It even explains some of the networking concepts behind docker. However, if we are looking for more content on docker application design strategies from the perspective of the developer, this will only serve as a starting point.
Overall, this is still a good overview book about different aspects of docker (image, container, networking, volumes, etc.) for the beginner.
Overall, this is still a good overview book about different aspects of docker (image, container, networking, volumes, etc.) for the beginner.
April 30, 2022
It is a pretty thorough introduction to Docker that was really easy to follow. In fact, unlike with most other programming books, I had no hickups in following along with the instructions (although that may be because Docker isn't that complicated).
If I had to pick on one thing, I wish the author had included more information on the operating systems fundamentals and the functions that enable app containerization (namespaces and the like).
Nevertheless, it's certainly one of the better books on Docker that I've read.
If I had to pick on one thing, I wish the author had included more information on the operating systems fundamentals and the functions that enable app containerization (namespaces and the like).
Nevertheless, it's certainly one of the better books on Docker that I've read.
November 20, 2017
Docker - Deep Dive on Amazon: http://amzn
Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TdgYM...
Honestly, I had no big idea on containers. I understood the idea but had VM in my mind and I always had troubles with VM. I wanted something light and easy to understand and scalable and I didn't understand why VMware had to make it so complex.
Finally, I bought this book because for my business and for a customer, we needed to find a way to scale and not using VMware. The result is I see the difference :)
I played with Docker and now I not only understand Docker, I am a huge fan!!!!!!
This book is so easy written with clear examples which you can test out instantly and start implementing right away.
This book will stay close to me and my team to scale our business
Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TdgYM...
Honestly, I had no big idea on containers. I understood the idea but had VM in my mind and I always had troubles with VM. I wanted something light and easy to understand and scalable and I didn't understand why VMware had to make it so complex.
Finally, I bought this book because for my business and for a customer, we needed to find a way to scale and not using VMware. The result is I see the difference :)
I played with Docker and now I not only understand Docker, I am a huge fan!!!!!!
This book is so easy written with clear examples which you can test out instantly and start implementing right away.
This book will stay close to me and my team to scale our business
April 11, 2020
Docker is all magic (pun intended), eh!? Well, who could explain it better other than Mr. Poultan himself? This book is dangerous enough to get you started in the wild-wild west of the docker world but not complete. It lacks examples from real-world industries. A novice couldn't be happier but if you are looking for some grinding materials be prepared to be disappointed. Still, a great book to have on the shelf to make you remind that you are not far behind from the jungles of containers world.
December 29, 2022
This is one of or is the top rated book on Docker. The best chapter for me was chapter 10 on Swarm. The explanations throughout are well thought out and include industry concepts. A good example is the below from the Networking, chapter 11:
“Docker networking is based on an open-source pluggable architecture called the Container Network Model (CNM). libnetwork is Docker’s real-world implementation of the CNM, and it provides all of Docker’s core networking capabilities”
“Docker networking is based on an open-source pluggable architecture called the Container Network Model (CNM). libnetwork is Docker’s real-world implementation of the CNM, and it provides all of Docker’s core networking capabilities”
March 5, 2018
Written in an incredibly friendly and approachable manner, Poulton walks the reader through all the essentials, uses and terminology that will get you either up and running with docker or take your understanding to the next level. This is an excellent resource to learn what you dont know that you dont know about docker.
October 26, 2023
Good introduction to docker. Only thing I didn't like was name dropping his pluralsight courses. I understand he wanted us to use the videos to compliment the book but personally, I prefer working off of the books as it allows for less distraction. Also, some of the commands were not working and I had to look at the documentation.
April 22, 2019
What makes this book extremely valuable is that it manages to explain the functioning of the Docker platform by portraying its architecture and showcasing some of its low-level details. Overall, it is a fun and interesting read.
April 22, 2020
It does exactly what it says, gets you from 0 to docker in short time. Excellent book for beginners and experts of Unix alike. This book feels more complete with this one video on understanding containers: https://youtu.be/8fi7uSYlOdc
September 5, 2020
A decent intro with some of the internals covered.
Had a harder time with the swarm and networking chapters.
The security chapter while too short to be useful still managed to explain namespaces and cgroups.
Not that deep a dive after all.
Had a harder time with the swarm and networking chapters.
The security chapter while too short to be useful still managed to explain namespaces and cgroups.
Not that deep a dive after all.
January 16, 2021
Calling it a "Deep Dive" is probably going a bit too far, but it does give a good overview of how the parts fit together. A worthwhile read, if you're unfamiliar with Docker and need to get up to speed.
July 28, 2022
Fine introduction of Docker concepts - it won't teach you much, just point the directions. I didn't like TLDR sections. Also, there are some repetitions (literally copy-pastes) or useless snippets (like git clone response).
November 27, 2024
Great book to get overall knowledge what docker means and what docker can do including Docker Compose, Docker Swarm and Docker Stacks. If you would like to get imagination what problems can docker help to solve you - read it. It is not deep dive into any of aspects of docker software family.
June 12, 2019
This book was extremely helpful!
September 29, 2019
3.5 stars. A good jumpstart but not a “deep dive”. It was ok.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 54 reviews