Multi-Strategy Dockerization: Spring Boot applications can be containerized using three distinct approaches - direct Maven commands, staged dependency installation, or JAR file packaging - each with different performance implications
Build-Time vs Runtime Dependency Management: Installing dependencies during image build phase (using RUN maven install) dramatically improves container startup time compared to runtime installation during maven clean spring-boot:run
Combined Base Image Strategy: Using combined images like maven:3.8-openjdk17-slim provides both Maven build tools and Java runtime environment in a single base layer
maven package + java -jar: Creates self-contained JAR (fastest startup)
Project Structure Requirements: Maven commands require direct access to pom.xml file - copy directory contents into working directory, not the directory itself
Container Performance Hierarchy: JAR file execution > Pre-installed dependencies > Runtime dependency installation, with significant startup time differences
Interactive Debugging Power: Use -it /bin/shell to explore container internals and troubleshoot issues like missing JAR file paths in target directories
Production Readiness Considerations: Fast container restart capabilities are crucial for production environments where applications must recover quickly from failures
Developer-DevOps Communication: DevOps engineers don't need deep framework expertise - effective communication with developers about build processes and dependencies enables informed containerization decisions