In case you're not familiar yet with Kubernetes but are interested in Docker images/containers, allow me to blow your mind.
https://kubernetes.io/docs/tutorials/kubernetes-basics/
https://kubernetes.io/docs/concepts/...is-kubernetes/
https://kubernetes.io/docs/concepts/...ew/components/
Basically, k8s (the common abbreviation for Kubernetes) is this whole open-source orchestration framework/platform/tool for deploying and running containers in a server capacity. There's a
lot to learn here, but it's a rabbit hole that I suspect you would enjoy digging through.
Also, I wouldn't be surprised if VMware/vCenter has
some kind of support for k8s. It's the go-to technology in this space nowadays, and all the major hypervisors, cloud providers, etc. have some flavor of support or integration. Red Hat has a product called OpenShift that's basically k8s with extra features, but I would encourage starting with "plain" Kubernetes before looking into OpenShift.