Docker Swarm
Built-in Docker Engine feature for managing containerized applications across multiple hosts with high availability and scaling capabilities.
Docker Swarm is an open-source alternative to:
Docker Swarm is Docker's native clustering and orchestration tool, enabling you to create and manage a group of Docker hosts as a single virtual system. It provides built-in high availability, scaling, and load balancing for containerized applications.
Key Features
- Cluster Management: Easily create and manage a cluster of Docker hosts
- High Availability: Built-in failover and self-healing capabilities
- Scaling: Scale services up or down with simple commands
- Load Balancing: Distribute traffic across containers
- Service Discovery: Automatic DNS-based service discovery
- Rolling Updates: Zero-downtime deployments with rolling updates
- Security: Mutual TLS authentication and encrypted communication between nodes
- Multi-host Networking: Create overlay networks spanning multiple hosts
Tech / Self-Hosting
Docker Swarm is built into Docker Engine and requires no additional installation. It works with standard Docker commands and integrates seamlessly with existing Docker workflows. The entire system can be self-hosted on your own infrastructure with no vendor lock-in.
Swarm mode is included in all Docker Engine installations and is fully open source under the Apache 2.0 license.