Doesn’t Docker do what UBOS Gears does already?

Docker itself: no. Docker is meant to run a single process in a well-defined, isolated environment. In comparison, UBOS Gears manages one or more Sites each running one or more Apps, each of which may consist of several processes.

Previously, we were running entire UBOS systems in a Docker container, but it never worked very well, because that’s simply not what Docker is intended to do.

Docker Compose is more like it: it can run multiple processes (such as a web server and database server) in a coordinated fashion. For Apps that are already packaged as Docker containers, UBOS Gears can manage them as well. However, UBOS Gears brings higher-level functionality that you would have to build on your own in the Docker world, such as:

• manage multiple Apps on multiple Sites simultaneously with a single IP address, dispatching on the virtual host;
• the ability to configure Apps with optional Accessories and Customization Points;
• functionality such as upgrade, backup and restore;
• automatic firewall management and more.

If you like Docker, simply run your App as a Docker container but continue to manage it through UBOS Gears.