Install Docker

Estimated reading time: 8 minutes

Docker is available in two editions: Community Edition (CE) and Enterprise Edition (EE).

Docker Community Edition (CE) is ideal for developers and small teams looking to get started with Docker and experimenting with container-based apps. Docker CE has two update channels, stable and edge:

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

For more information about Docker CE, see Docker Community Edition.

Docker Enterprise Edition (EE) is designed for enterprise development and IT teams who build, ship, and run business critical applications in production at scale. For more information about Docker EE, including purchasing options, see Docker Enterprise Edition.

Capabilities Community Edition Enterprise Edition Basic Enterprise Edition Standard Enterprise Edition Advanced
Container engine and built in orchestration, networking, security yes yes yes yes
Certified infrastructure, plugins and ISV containers   yes yes yes
Image management     yes yes
Container app management     yes yes
Image security scanning       yes

Supported platforms

Docker CE and EE are available on multiple platforms, on cloud and on-premises. Use the following tables to choose the best installation path for you.

Desktop

Platform Docker CE x86_64 Docker CE ARM Docker EE
Docker for Mac (macOS) yes    
Docker for Windows (Microsoft Windows 10) yes    

Cloud

Platform Docker CE x86_64 Docker CE ARM Docker EE
Amazon Web Services yes   yes
Microsoft Azure yes   yes

See also Docker Cloud for setup instructions for Digital Ocean, Packet, SoftLayer, or Bring Your Own Cloud.

Server

Platform Docker CE x86_64 Docker CE ARM Docker CE IBM Z (s390x) Docker EE x86_64 Docker EE IBM Z (s390x)
CentOS yes     yes  
Debian yes yes      
Fedora yes        
Microsoft Windows Server 2016       yes  
Oracle Linux       yes  
Red Hat Enterprise Linux       yes yes
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server       yes yes
Ubuntu yes yes yes yes yes

Note: Support for IBM Z on Docker EE is limited to Docker EE Basic, or to worker nodes in Docker EE Standard and Docker EE Advanced. IBM Z nodes cannot function as UCP managers on Docker EE.

Time-based release schedule

Starting with Docker 17.03, Docker uses a time-based release schedule, outlined below.

Month Docker CE Edge Docker CE Stable Docker EE
January yes    
February yes    
March yes1 yes yes
April yes    
May yes    
June yes1 yes yes
July yes    
August yes    
September yes1 yes yes
October yes    
November yes    
December yes1 yes yes

1: On Linux distributions, these releases will only appear in the stable channels, not the edge channels. For that reason, on Linux distributions, you need to enable both channels.

Updates, and patches

  • A given Docker EE release will receive patches and updates for at least one year after it is released.
  • A given Docker CE Stable release will receive patches and updates for one month after the next Docker CE Stable release.
  • A given Docker CE Edge release will not receive any patches or updates after a subsequent Docker CE Edge or Stable release.

Prior releases

Instructions for installing prior releases of Docker can be found in the Docker archives.

Docker Cloud

You can use Docker Cloud to automatically provision and manage your cloud instances.

Get started

After setting up Docker, try learning the basics over at Getting started with Docker.

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