What is the primary purpose of Docker images?

Docker images serve as a crucial blueprint for creating containers, which encapsulate applications and their dependencies into a portable format. By providing a consistent environment, Docker images ensure that applications can run reliably across different systems. When you create a container from an image, the container is an instance that includes the application and everything it needs to operate, as defined by the image. This process streamlines the deployment and scaling of applications, as images can be shared and reused, making development and production environments more seamless and reproducible.

The other options focus on aspects that are not the primary function of Docker images. For instance, storing configuration settings is typically managed within the container or through environmental variables, not directly through the image itself. Network settings are handled by the Docker daemon and container setup, rather than being inherent to the image. Similarly, process logs are generated at runtime within containers and aren't related to the image structure or purpose. Hence, the role of images is fundamentally about enabling the creation and management of containers rather than these ancillary tasks.