Docker: Enterprise Edition vs Community Edition

A spoke many times about Docker, with articles and video, but today I want do an important introduction about the different edition. In particular I will talk about Enterprise Edition and Community Edition.

Docker Community Edition

CE is ideal for developers and small teams looking to get started with Docker and experimenting with container-based apps. Is available for these operating:

  • Windows 10
  • macOS
  • Fedora
  • Debian
  • Ubuntu
  • CentOS

The platform is also available on cloud, inside Microsoft Azure and Amazon Web Services. The features present are:

  • The latest version of Docker container engine optimized for available infrastructure
  • Access to bleeding edge features with frequent release cadence
  • Unlimited public and one free private repo as a service
  • Automated builds as a service
  • Image security scanning as a service

Two are the update channels:

  • Edge: gives you new features every month
  • Stable: gives you reliable updates every quarter

Support is provider via Docker Community Forum and bug fixes is provided only for current shipping version.

Docker Enterprise Edition

La EE is designed for enterprise development and IT teams who build, ship, and run business critical applications in production at scale. Is available for these operating:

  • Windows Server 2016 and above
  • Oracle Linux
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux
  • Ubuntu
  • CentOS
  • SUSE Linux Enterprise Server

The platform is also available on cloud, inside Microsoft Azure and Amazon Web Services. The features present are:

  • The latest version of Docker container engine on Certified Infrastructure (Enterprise OS and Cloud providers)
  • Certified Containers from third-party ISV vendors
  • Certified Plugins from networking and storage vendors
  • Docker Datacenter for Integrated container management and security
  • Intuitive and easy to use web user interface
  • Secure multi-tenancy with granular Role Based Access Control (RBAC), node-based RBAC and LDAP/AD integration
  • End-to-end security with secrets management, image signing and image scanning
  • Image management with private registry, storage and caching
  • Policy-based automation with image promotions

A new stable release is released every quarter and bug fixes is provided for release with one year of maintenance

Docker EE is available in three tiers:

  • Basic: Docker platform for certified infrastructure, with support from Docker Inc. and certified Containers and Plugins from Docker Store
  • Standard: Adds advanced image and container management, LDAP/AD user integration, and role-based access control (Docker Datacenter)
  • Advanced: Adds Docker Security Scanning and continuous vulnerability monitoring

Support is available in two options:

  • Business Day: monday to friday from 9AM to 6PM, with response in 2 business hours
  • Business Critical: 24 x 7 x 365, with response in 2 hours

Price changes by Container Host operating system (Linux o Windows) and tier.

Lifecycle

This is a recap about lifecycle release of new builds.

Platform

Docker is available on 32 and 64 bit but also running on ARM, limited for Ubuntu and Debian.

Conclusion

If you are a small companies, with reduced requirements, the Community Edition on Linux is perfect; if you are a large companies with business requirements, like applications mission-critical, the Enterprise Edition is a must with the right tier, depends by your security requirements.

Get Started

Get Docker and Test it

#DBS