Docker for Science

Presentation

Docker is the most popular container manager in 2018. A container is conceptually equivalent to a virtual machine (VM). Docker can create a “container” (VM) with all dependencies for a specific app and save an “image” (equivalent to a snapshot of the VM) to an online hub. This way an application can be ran on any machine irrespective of hardware and software environment.

In this presentationslides, I will first cover the basics:

1. how to use existing docker images;
2. how to create your own image using “dockerfile”;
3. how to “ochestrate” multiple images using “docker-compose.yml”.

Then, I will show a practical application of docker in scientific computing. Specifically, I will compile a simulation program with non-trivial dependencies and show how it can be ran with analysis and monitoring programs on any machine using a single “docker-compose up” command.

example code

Tutorials

• PyCon 2015 slides
• Official Tutorial
• Deploy to Amazon cloud (search “AWS Elastic Container Service”)
• House-keeping tips