AUFS storage driver in practice (Engine)

Docker and AUFS in practice

AUFS was the first storage driver in use with Docker. As a result, it has a long and close history with Docker, is very stable, has a lot of real-world deployments, and has strong community support. AUFS has several features that make it a good choice for Docker. These features enable:

• Fast container startup times.
• Efficient use of storage.
• Efficient use of memory.

Despite its capabilities and long history with Docker, some Linux distributions do not support AUFS. This is usually because AUFS is not included in the mainline (upstream) Linux kernel.

The following sections examine some AUFS features and how they relate to Docker.

Image layering and sharing with AUFS

AUFS is a unification filesystem. This means that it takes multiple directories on a single Linux host, stacks them on top of each othe