Docker is not just a program but a whole system within the open standards community for distributed applications. In this title, Vohra reviews the build-ship-run cycle, including some installation tips and database integrations.

Chapter 1 is a standard introduction to Docker and containers, without enough depth for a beginner. I don’t understand why chapter 2, on Linux installation, is included. The next 12 chapters are the main content, each with more or less 18 pages on relevant subjects. Chapters 3 to 7 cover Oracle, MySQL, MongoDV, Cassandra, and Couchbase in turn. The following chapters stick to Apache, covering Hadoop, Hive, HBase, Sqoop, Kafka, Solr, and Spark. The focus on Apache may seem to be a bias; however, given the apparent nature of current Docker systems, perhaps it is necessary. A final appendix attempts to discuss Amazon EC2. As the Amazon platforms are undergoing rapid change, I wonder how long these materials would be considered current.

Perhaps I’m not the best one to review such a specialized title, as I don’t have hands-on experience with the Docker platform specifically. I do note that there are several other titles I reviewed both online and at the bookstore [1,2,3,4], some of which seem to provide perhaps a better introduction to the background and framework for someone like myself. On the other hand, the index to this book is detailed, and for someone with more hands-on experience in the area, it would appear to give them information to evaluate moving ahead with Docker and databases.