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ArticleGrasp container basics to plan enterprise adoption
To transition from virtualization that mimics hardware to a new level of portable, isolated workloads, absorb key tenets of containers and where container deployment differs from VMs and cloud instances. Read Now
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ArticleContainer orchestration tools ease distributed system complexity
Containers simplify some aspects of enterprise apps, but the deployment process is no walk in the park. Orchestration tools bring standardization and automation to complex hosting scenarios. Read Now
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ArticleIntegrate DevOps and containers with simple tool adjustments
Organizations with an established DevOps pipeline can migrate from VMs to containers without tossing out the entire toolstack. Focus on these steps to enable containers in production. Read Now
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ArticleBuild a secure Docker host environment on Linux systems
In the cutting-edge technology world of containers, don't lose sight of the fundamental security best practices that protect workloads and minimize attack surfaces. Read Now
Editor's note
Containers are an IT workload hosting option increasingly tapped for major production deployments. Often pushed upon the masses by developers or pilot DevOps teams, containers represent significant deployment, management and security changes for enterprise IT operations.
Arguably, containers are nothing new, based in resource partitioning technology from the 1960s. Many IT professionals know containers by what they are not -- namely, VMs. Containers are OS-level virtualization instances, while VMs virtualize the hardware resources of hosts or clusters of hosts. The present form of containers is embodied by Docker, an application containerization technology, and LXC, which is a method of system containerization.
Over the course of a decade, container adoption has shot up, first in Linux and now also Windows systems, and many enterprise IT organizations must now decide what technologies to deploy and what standards to enforce for container provisioning and support.
These expert tips provide an introduction to containers and container management technologies for IT operations and administrators. Once you have a grasp on the major points, dig into the common questions and concerns -- such as security -- covered in the last section.
1What containers are and how they work
Before you take a deep dive into orchestration strategies, networking diagrams and the security tools that enforce container isolation, start with an introduction to container types and functionality, as well as some of the broad questions IT organizations should answer at the start.
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How containers work
Containers are not one technology. There are application containers and system containers. They virtualize and isolate the IT stack in different ways. Learn more about containerization concepts here. Read Now
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Make a plan for containers
Most IT professionals are game to test out containers in a lab or even run nonproduction workloads in containers to get a sense for how the technology works. It's an easy way to understand what adoption entails and where the tech fits into an enterprise IT context. Read Now
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Why Docker, and why now?
Most IT organizations considering application deployment on containers are evaluating Docker. An introduction to Docker's roadmap and the approach for Docker containers will help guide this containerization process. Read Now
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How containers compare to VMs
We know containers are smaller than VMs, sharing an OS instead of encapsulating one. But there's more to the story than that. See how each technology matches up with the organization's development strategy and deployment scenarios. Read Now
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10 things to know before you flip the switch
Should we go open source or vendor-supported? Who calls the shots? What changes about our VM licenses? Our cloud spends? Before you adopt containers, check out survey results from teams already in the milieu of daily container management. Read Now
2Get all those containers under wraps
While containers simplify application lifecycles, they add plenty of complexity to operations. Chances are that enterprise IT organizations that adopt containers also will choose an orchestration technology to manage them. Therefore, no introduction to containers is complete without an introduction to the tech -- namely, Kubernetes and Apache Mesos -- that control them.
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Kubernetes eases deployment
Kubernetes provides a middleman to manage the relationship between application and hosting resources, without requiring IT to keep track of every single container individually. But there's more than one way to deploy Kubernetes, and there are other orchestrator options that could prove a better fit. Read Now
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How to get Kubernetes
Kubernetes is a free, open source technology. But it's also part of a range of enterprise products, many of which are specific to public cloud vendors. Learn the basic differences here. Read Now
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Think in terms of pods and nodes
Kubernetes enables the IT team to frame containers in terms of the application's demands. The smallest unit of deployment is a pod. Pods spin up on the physical resources in nodes. Here's how it works. Read Now
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Further reading: Walk through a Kubernetes deployment
Kubernetes: Up and Running: Dive Into the Future of Infrastructure provides instruction on container builds, cluster management and commands to manage Kubernetes. Get a sneak preview here. Read Now
3Details of container operations
Armed with a solid understanding of how containers work, how they differ from VMs and the orchestration and management technologies that organizations use to deploy containers at scale, consider these next steps toward container mastery.
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Ensure secure container deployment
On Linux systems, OS security fundamentals translate to better Docker container operations. Follow these best practices. Read Now
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We deployed containers in production. Now what?
IT operations teams know that a working production deployment is only step one. You need monitoring tools to keep tabs on the health of running containers. Read Now
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Introduction to container network communications
Few IT organizations deploy 100% on containers, and as your container adoption ramps up, you might encounter questions about how containerized and noncontainerized apps intersect. Read Now
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Fold containers into a DevOps pipeline
Container-based app hosting fits comfortably with DevOps practices, such as rapid iteration and flexible deployment environments. Follow these tips to integrate container hosting with DevOps tool sets. Read Now