Docker on Ubuntu 26 Hardened

For deploying projects, I can deploy multiple projects on Docker Hub which runs on Ubuntu machines or Linux servers. I can create images of Postgres database, Node.js projects, or Java projects, and deploy them directly from Docker via Docker YML file.

Docker provides comprehensive support for any deployment process, maintenance, or surveillance of any kind of project because it offers CLI and APIs, Docker Hub, and Docker Desktop client. I upload my project and create an image, then I can directly deploy this image. It provides a full environment for a machine to deploy any kind of service, whether Java or Node.js projects. Surveillance is very easy through viewing logs, threads, and the running status and health of my service or project. The entire procedure is time-saving and seamless.

Docker provides multiple kinds of support with well-detailed documentation and support available on Stack Overflow and Google. The support is seamless. If I am using Docker, I do not require any kind of support calls because all features and issues are publicly available on the internet. This provides a lot of resources to use and understand the service very well.

Connecting two containers to each other is very tricky and time-consuming for me as a developer. Docker provides some encapsulation between containers, meaning they are separated from each other, and I cannot directly connect two containers. Docker should provide AI support that is much better. I could directly command the service and any kind of process would be created. Docker should provide AI features for the deployment processes because I have to use commands repeatedly. I have to write multiple commands or remember multiple commands for the deployment process, but many manual things are required. If I use Docker on a machine, and I have installed Docker as a UI-based Docker, it should provide a chatbot or AI terminal feature. I could chat with AI and it should do the whole process, automating the procedure. I would not have to enter multiple commands to bring my service up, which would save significant time. Regarding logs, if I encounter a failure or attack, I have to debug manually on the terminal, filtering through multiple logs repeatedly. Docker should provide an AI service so I can directly pull the logs and find the time frame, which would save time and allow me to respond as soon as possible.

I have used Docker on Ubuntu 20.04 LTS for around two years, including my internship.

Docker is very stable and scalable. I understand it supports 99.9% uptime, which is impressive. I have never had an incident where Docker has crashed.

Docker on Ubuntu 20.04 LTS is very scalable. It supports all kinds of services and all kinds of service providers.

The setup is very straightforward. I only have to run three commands and Docker is installed directly via terminal.

Docker on Ubuntu 20.04 LTS provides absolute value for money. It saves a lot of time for a DevOps engineer and a simple developer. If a CI/CD pipeline is created by a DevOps engineer, a developer can directly use Docker and bring their service up in a couple of minutes. Without Docker, I would have to hire a DevOps engineer to deploy services. Docker makes the deployment process seamless and saves significant energy and time.

I can compare Docker on Ubuntu 20.04 LTS directly with Kubernetes or any other deployment service provider. Kubernetes is a very good competitor of Docker. Both are very mature services, but Docker is lightweight while Kubernetes is very heavy to use and very expensive. Docker provides features that are very straightforward for deployment, image creation, image pulling, running, and logging. Kubernetes requires creating pods and pulling services, configuring them with the server, and installing components that require a heavy machine to handle Kubernetes itself. Docker is very lightweight and I can use it anywhere, including on small machines.

I can configure other kinds of services from AWS, Azure, and Google. I can directly connect a webhook to a system where Ubuntu is used with Docker on Ubuntu 20.04 LTS, and create CI/CD pipelines locally or on a server. I can push the code and automatically the webhook triggers, images are created, pulled, deployed, and running. Ubuntu has provided clear deployment processes since the early twenties. Everything is automated and I do not have to configure every time or update the environment variables. I only have to create deployment.yml files that directly pull my code, add the environment variables, and run automatic systematic commands. The image is built, the database is connected, and my service is up and running. The configuration of automatic CI/CD pipelines via Docker on Ubuntu 20.04 LTS in Ubuntu servers is very seamless.

Regarding licensing, I have independently used Docker without needing any kind of license because a single developer can use Docker directly without requiring any licensing. However, in corporate deployment, Docker on Ubuntu 20.04 LTS does require a license, though I do not have much information about licensing for the organization level.

In my organization's case, I purchased Ubuntu machines from marketplace providers such as Contabo or other service providers offering servers with Ubuntu operating systems. I installed software to make the deployment process seamless, including Docker on Ubuntu 20.04 LTS. I configured Docker, NGINX, and local work time items within Docker itself. I can install NGINX in Docker and Node.js in Docker, create images of my project, and deploy them directly. Locally, I use Ubuntu as a primary machine because I want Linux commands. Ubuntu is a very good OS as it provides sudo commands and multiple other commands to directly view logs, bring up services, create images, and configure service networking. Ubuntu is a very terminal-friendly OS that directly supports Docker integration. I can directly install Docker on Ubuntu 20.04 LTS in the terminal and pull images from the local machine for any kind of service such as Microsoft or Ubuntu or Mac. I build my project and the service itself in Docker Hub, then I can go to Ubuntu and pull the images from the local machine and deploy them directly in Docker on Ubuntu 20.04 LTS.

I provided a review rating of nine out of ten for Docker on Ubuntu 20.04 LTS.

My main use case for Docker on Ubuntu 20.04 LTS is that we deployed Docker on Ubuntu 26 Hardened x86-64 from AWS Marketplace as our base AMI for all our backend microservices. As a software engineer, we needed a CIS hardened, secure Ubuntu image with Docker pre-configured to meet our compliance requirements. We currently run about 15 Docker containers per EC2 instance for our e-commerce platform APIs, background workers, and cron jobs. This image saved us time in hardening Ubuntu ourselves, helped us pass our internal security audit much faster since it comes pre-hardened and with Docker already installed and configured, and reduced our developers' setup time from two days to less than two hours per environment. It provides a secure foundation with a minimal attack surface, has automatic security updates configured, and Docker optimized for Ubuntu 26. We saw a 35% reduction in vulnerabilities compared to our previous vanilla Ubuntu plus manual Docker install, and it also integrates perfectly with AWS ECS and our GitHub Actions CI/CD pipeline.

A specific project where using the pre-hardened Docker on Ubuntu 20.04 LTS image really made our work easier was when we had a legacy monolithic older system running directly on Ubuntu 22.0 EC2 instances, where every deployment was manual, took two hours, and often broke because of dependency issues with Node.js 18, Python 3.11, and Redis PostgreSQL client conflicts. Our security team flagged 12 high severity vulnerabilities on the host OS, and we were failing our SOC 2 audit because the OS was not hardened.

The best features Docker on Ubuntu 20.04 LTS offers include security hardened by default, a Docker optimized kernel, fast and clean boot, and very seamless AWS integration.

The security hardening by default is the first feature that I really love about Docker on Ubuntu 20.04 LTS. It comes with CIS level one hardening, unnecessary ports closed, SSH hardened, automatic kernel live patching enabled, and Docker daemon configured with TLS and secure defaults. We do not have to run any Ansible hardening playbooks anymore. I also love the AWS integrations because it works perfectly with AWS SSM, CloudWatch agent, and IAM roles, allowing us to manage the Docker host without SSH using SSM Session Manager, which is now more secure.

Docker on Ubuntu 20.04 LTS has positively impacted my organization by saving time; we previously spent 16 engineering hours per environment to harden Ubuntu and install secure Docker, and now with this Marketplace AMI, it takes just 20 minutes. For five environments, we saved over 75 hours of DevOps work, amounting to approximately $4,500 in engineering cost saved. Security has also improved, reducing the need to hire an external consultant for hardening and auditing our Docker host, which would have cost around 3 to 5K. This hardened image meets 80% of our SOC 2 checklist, making audit preparation much faster and resulting in zero security-related incidents or Docker daemon crashes in just four months, compared to two incidents on our old self-configured host, thus reducing downtime and improving customer experience.

Docker on Ubuntu 20.04 LTS can be improved in terms of documentation, as it is very limited and lacks a clear guide on what hardening was applied.

The limited documentation has negatively affected my team, as new users find it hard due to the steep learning curve; there is not enough documentation online to guide them on setup or getting things done independently, forcing them to rely on customer support for training, which can be time-consuming.

In addition to documentation, support response from the publisher on AWS Marketplace was slow, taking two days.

I have been working in my current field for four years and four months.

Docker on Ubuntu 20.04 LTS is extremely stable; we have been running 16 instances in production for four months with zero OS level crashes and an uptime of 99.95%.

The scalability of Docker on Ubuntu 20.04 LTS is excellent; we use it in an auto-scaling group, and new instances with Docker containers came up in under two minutes.

My experience with customer support has been that the customer support from Ubuntu is extremely helpful and responsive, but customer support from AWS Marketplace was a bit slow to respond since they took two days.

Before switching to Docker on Ubuntu 20.04 LTS Hardened, we evaluated and used three alternatives, one of which was vanilla Ubuntu 22.04 LTS and another was Amazon Linux 2023 with Docker and AWS ECS with Fargate managed container services.

The main reason we switched from vanilla Ubuntu 22.04 LTS to Docker on Ubuntu 20.04 LTS was that it was slow and inconsistent; every engineer hardened the OS slightly differently, and the script failed 30% of the time due to APT repository issues, leading to us spending 1.5 days per environment just for setup and security audit. We had 12 high vulnerabilities in our last SOC 2 scan because we missed kernel patches, but with Docker on Ubuntu 26 hardened, hardening is already done and verified.

Deploying Docker on Ubuntu 20.04 LTS in my environment is very easy and smooth compared to doing it manually, with just a couple of small learning curves because it is a hardened image.

My experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing was very reasonable and cost-efficient.

I love the transparent pricing with no hidden fees built into our normal AWS bill, the ability to share the AMI with other AWS accounts in our organization after one purchase, and the ease of cancellation, allowing us to unsubscribe anytime from the Marketplace and manage subscriptions. We have also seen improvements in our security and significant savings in time and cost.

I would rate Docker on Ubuntu 20.04 LTS four out of five.

I did not rate it lower; I chose a four instead of a five because if they would expose more documentation, especially online, I would have rated it a five out of five, but since the documentation is very limited, that is why I rate it a four out of five.

One notable feature that sets Docker on Ubuntu 20.04 LTS apart from other solutions I have tried is its clean and intuitive, user-friendly interface that makes it accessible for all types of users.

My advice to others looking into using Docker on Ubuntu 20.04 LTS is that if you are on AWS and need a secure, compliant Docker host quickly without spending weeks hardening Ubuntu 26 yourself, this is the best option. I recommend it for startups and mid-sized companies, and also large companies that need security compliance, but make sure to read the hardening list and test your application as some privileged containers may need extra permissions due to hardening. I have given this product an overall rating of four out of five.