Introduction

So far in this book, we've run our Docker containers and controlled the way they run from the command line using direct commands such as docker run to launch containers. Our next step is to automate things with the use of Docker Compose, which allows an entire environment of containers to work together. Docker Swarm is the next step in managing our Docker environments. Docker Swarm allows you to orchestrate how your containers can scale and work together to provide a more reliable service to your end-users.

Docker Swarm allows you to set up multiple servers running Docker Engine and organize them as a cluster. Docker Swarm can then run commands to coordinate your containers across the cluster instead of just one server. Swarm will configure your cluster to make sure your services are balanced across your cluster, ensuring higher reliability for your services. It will also decide for you which service will be assigned to which server depending on the load across...