Docker

Docker packages applications and their dependencies into container images. I use it for Laravel and Node.js services in projects such as DigiPulse, VetSpace and NetPostPanel, from local development to deployment on virtual machines.

How I structure containers

• Docker Compose — describe the application, background workers and supporting services together.
• Multi-stage builds — separate build tools from the final runtime image.
• Persistent storage — keep database files and uploads outside replaceable containers.

What portability means in practice

Containers helped me move workloads between hosting providers without rebuilding the application environment from scratch. They reduce differences between machines, but configuration, CPU architecture, network access and data still affect behavior. A production problem does not automatically reproduce locally just because both environments use Docker.

Health checks and recovery

A health check reports container health. Docker restart policies react to container exits; an unhealthy status alone does not trigger a restart. Deployment checks and recovery procedures need to account for that distinction, particularly for workers and databases that must preserve work across releases.