UCP is a web-based interface used to manage nodes, images, services, containers, secrets, and all the other Docker resources. UCP itself is a distributed application that runs in containers across connected services in the swarm. UCP gives you a single place to administer all your Docker applications in the same way. It provides role-based access control to resources so you can set fine-grained controls over who can do what.

Docker Enterprise runs Kubernetes and Docker Swarm. Kubernetes will support Windows nodes in a future release, so you will be able to deploy Windows containers to Docker Swarm or Kubernetes on a single Docker Enterprise cluster. You can deploy a stack to UCP with a Docker Compose file, target either Docker Swarm or Kubernetes, and UCP will create all the resources.

UCP gives you the full range of administration features: you can create, scale, and remove services, inspect, and connect to the tasks running the services, and manage the nodes running the swarm. All the additional resources you need, such as Docker networks, configs, secrets, and volumes, are surfaced in UCP for management in the same way.

You can run a hybrid Docker Enterprise cluster with Linux nodes for UCP and DTR and Windows nodes for your user workloads. As a subscription service from Docker, you have support from Docker's team for the setting up of your cluster and for dealing with any issues, covering all the Windows and Linux nodes.