For which functionality are health checks primarily used in Docker?

Health checks in Docker are primarily used for application monitoring. They enable you to determine whether a running container is functioning correctly or if it has encountered issues that could affect its performance or availability. By configuring a health check, you can set specific commands that Docker will execute to verify the health of the application running inside the container. This allows you to monitor the application's responsiveness and readiness, ensuring that it is serving requests appropriately.

When a health check fails, Docker can provide useful insights and actions, such as restarting the container or notifying the orchestration platform about the container's health status. This capability is essential in maintaining application reliability and uptime, as it helps to quickly identify and rectify any problems that may arise.

While other aspects, such as data storage management, log generation, and container orchestration, play significant roles in the Docker ecosystem, they do not directly pertain to the monitoring of an application's health and status as health checks do.