

Docker Datacenter (DDC) is an enterprise offering from the creators of Docker which enables businesses to deploy applications in a fast, scalable, and highly available manner.
At its heart, Docker Datacenter is a platform for building and deploying applications in a secure and modular fashion while greatly reducing the risk of your applications ever going offline due to performance errors or attacks.
DDC leverages Docker Swarm — the clustering functionality of Docker Engine — in order to provide a distributed microservices architecture, and consists of two parts: Universal Control Plane and Docker Trusted Repository.
In the words of Docker:
Docker Enterprise Edition (EE) is designed for enterprise development and IT teams who build, ship and run business critical applications in production at scale. Docker EE is integrated, certified and supported to provide enterprises with the most secure container platform in the industry
Docker Workflow, Credit: docker.com/enterprise-edition
How do I test Docker Datacenter?
If you’re like me, you probably can’t wait to try out Docker Datacenter. Luckily, several methods exist to test it without having to go through a full-fledged installation. Here are two of them:
- Try out Docker’s free, hosted demo environment.
- Install DDC on a single machine using the Docker-Machine Sandbox
To use the second method, you must install Docker-Machine on your computer as described here. For further information about docker-machine see this article on getting started.
How do I access Docker Datacenter ?
Docker Datacenter access is included as part of the Standard and Advanced Subscription levels of Docker Enterprise Edition (EE) which is essentially a service plan for docker which may include access to enterprise repositories, Image Management, Docker Datacenter, Support and some other features depending on the plan that you choose.
Note that cloud platform subscriptions do not seem to support trials.
To view your current subscriptions (including trials), while logged in to store.docker.com click your username in the upper right hand menu and choose “My Content” from the drop-down menu.
Where do I go from here?
Check out my next article where I provide a comprehensive guide on how to Design & Install Docker Datacenter.
Comments are welcome. If you found this article useful, or have something to add, go ahead and let me know.