How To Build Docker Images for Windows Desktop Applications

Introduction

It used to be that people first downloaded their software onto a physical computer and then ran it. Now, with cloud computing, you no longer need to worry about awkward downloads. Instead, you can use all the same services online from anywhere and see updates in real-time.

Why Businesses Migrate Their Legacy Applications To the Cloud

  • Probably the first main reason for moving to the cloud is access to virtually unlimited computing resources. Cloud elasticity and scalability are essential elements of cloud computing. 
    • Cloud elasticity is the ability of a system to dynamically manage available resources based on current workload requirements.
    • Cloud Scalability is a scalable system infrastructure to meet growing workload demands while maintaining consistent performance appropriately.
  • Moving from the legacy Windows app to cloud computing lets you work anytime and anywhere so long as you have an internet connection. A cloud-based web service is accessible from any device.
  • In the current pandemic situation, team members are forced to work from their home offices. Using the cloud, your teammates can open, edit, and share documents anytime and from anywhere; they can do more together and do it better. Before the advent of the cloud-based workflow, employees had to send files back and forth as email attachments that a single user worked on simultaneously.
  • A public cloud provider owns the hardware infrastructure and is responsible for managing and maintaining it, so you don’t have to worry about maintenance. With a public cloud, you only need to focus directly on meeting your business goals.
  • Cloud computing reduces high hardware costs. You pay only for the actual consumption of resources.

Virtual Machines Vs Containers.

Containers and virtual machines (VMs) are the two main approaches to deploying multiple isolated services in the cloud. So how are they different?

How to Make Docker Build Run Faster

In this article, let's discuss how to run a Docker build faster with a simple tip.

Let’s assume we are containerizing an Angular application. We created a Dockerfile in the project’s root directory:

A Word on ‘Docker Buildx’

What is Docker Buildx?

Docker Buildx can be defined as a CLI plugin that provides us with the extra features supported by the Moby BuildKit builder toolkit along with the features of the normal docker commands. Furthermore, it also provides us with the same user experience as building with the docker build command.

Also, along with some new extra features added over it like building against multiple nodes with multi-arch images concurrently, builder instances, etc. In addition to that, buildx also supports new features that are not yet available for regular docker build like building manifest lists, distributed caching, etc.

Docker Layers Explained

When you pull a Docker image, you will notice that it is pulled as different layers. Also, when you create your own Docker image, several layers are created. In this post we will try to get a better understanding of Docker layers.

1. What Is a Docker Layer?

A Docker image consists of several layers. Each layer corresponds to certain instructions in your Dockerfile. The following instructions create a layer: RUNCOPYADD. The other instructions will create intermediate layers and do not influence the size of your image. Let’s take a look at an example. We will use a Spring Boot MVC application which we have created beforehand and where the Maven build creates our Docker image. The sources are available at GitHub.