Docker Architecture and Components

Docker Architecture Overview

Docker uses a client-server architecture. The Docker client talks to the Docker daemon, which does the heavy lifting of building, running, and distributing containers.

Core Components

• Docker Client (docker): The command-line tool users interact with
• Docker Daemon (dockerd): The background service that manages containers
• Docker Registry: Stores Docker images (e.g., Docker Hub)
• Docker Objects: Images, containers, networks, volumes

How They Work Together

Communication Flow

When you run a command like docker run nginx:

1. Docker client sends the command to Docker daemon
2. Daemon checks if the image exists locally
3. If not, it pulls the image from Docker Hub
4. Daemon creates a new container from the image
5. Daemon starts the container