Containers are self-contained, isolated units of an application that share the kernel of an operating system but do not contain their own operating systems. This shared kernel acts as its core module, keeping it very lightweight. This means each container can be distributed across a host environment without needing a unique virtual machine for each container.
What containers do contain is all of their own components needed to run anywhere, including libraries, dependencies, and code. These are all the nuts and bolts they need to function independently, on any platform.
Containers are at the heart of IT modernization, microservices, and infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS) adoption. That’s because they’re in lockstep with the mobility, flexibility, and efficiency these movements embody. Common benefits of containers include:
Containers compartmentalize and improve application development, which makes them beneficial to organizations’ infrastructures, the teams operating them, and the end users of applications and services.
Containers were designed to be stateless—an inherent characteristic that made them perfect for some scenarios but tricky for others. Stateless means impermanent—and not storing data for longer than the life cycle of the container. This meant they were best suited for disposable, short-lived use cases.
However, being able to store and access data is what makes most applications valuable. Developers long struggled to leverage the benefits of containers for workloads that clashed with their design principles (or design limitations).
Today, stateful workloads are the norm for containers. And storage is a very important component of a successful container management strategy. This is thanks to container-native storage engines and platforms like Portworx® that have evolved to support stateful workloads. Now, containers can even be used for traditional, legacy applications.
Container management is the processes, software, and tools used to create, deploy, monitor, and manage containers along their life cycle—much of which is abstracted away and handled by container orchestration platforms such as Kubernetes. Within container management is container orchestration, which includes the process and tools used to manage a fleet of containers, including how they interoperate and communicate with one another on a broader scale.
Container orchestration has become largely automated to streamline the work required to spin them up and down, which can be considerable when they begin to multiply in an organization. Container orchestration can also provide some standardization, security, and governance that benefit large enterprise organizations implementing container strategies.
Docker is a runtime environment used to create and build software inside containers. As we mentioned above, containers include all the individual components they need to run anywhere—known as a container “image.” Docker is a platform that enables you to package up those components.
The key to Docker’s simplicity—and what makes it so popular—is how it enables declarative programming. Meaning, as long as you know what the outcome of your container should be, Docker can help you achieve and optimize that outcome.
Docker also offers built-in security services and encryption measures, which can help address some primary concerns with container security.
Kubernetes is one of the most popular container orchestration systems. What makes it so critical to deploying containerized apps at scale? Automation.
When you have thousands of containers or more, managing container sprawl and complexity is much more manageable with a container management platform. Kubernetes streamlines and automates aspects of container orchestration so DevOps teams can seamlessly orchestrate complex container-based architectures. It can even make decisions for you about where workloads should run and move them if they’d run better elsewhere.
Benefits of Kubernetes include:
Portworx by Pure Storage® is a data services platform for Kubernetes that helps you manage all things related to container data. Portworx provides a fully integrated solution that enables you to deliver persistent storage to containerized apps. It also handles data protection, disaster recovery, data security, and automated capacity management for applications running on Kubernetes. Essentially, it takes care of the concerns of container management for you.
Virtualization was then—containerization is now. However, practically speaking, when you’re running applications in the cloud, containers and virtual machines together aren’t always an “either/or” scenario. They can accomplish very different things, with different benefits, but they’re often working in tandem. These are complementary technologies that will both come into play as you deploy apps in the cloud.
The key difference between the two technologies is their goal. VMs require their own operating systems while containers share the same OS kernel. VMs are all about consolidation in the data center, preserving more servers and IT resources. Containers are more about the nuts and bolts of application management—the day-to-day of DevOps. And, more often than not, containers are doing what they do with the help of a VM or hypervisor.
Learn more about containers and virtual machines and the tradeoffs between them
Portworx by Pure Storage is a Kubernetes data services platform built from the ground up for the modern era of containerized workloads and microservices. Portworx provides a data services platform for cloud-native applications running across hybrid-cloud satellite locations. The platform offers solutions designed to address scalable container storage, backup and disaster recovery, multi-cloud operations, data security, and capacity management. Portworx also helps clients address their internal policy compliance and governance.
¿Tiene alguna pregunta o comentario sobre los productos o las certificaciones de Pure? Estamos aquí para ayudarle.
Programe una demostración en vivo y vea personalmente cómo Pure puede ayudarle a convertir sus datos en unos resultados potentes.
Llámenos al: +34 51 889 8963
Medios de comunicación: pr@purestorage.com
Castellana 81
28046 Madrid
Oficinas Pure: 1415 y 1417 (planta 14)