Container Management Software Platforms

What is Container Management?

Container management is the process of managing, adding, organizing, and replacing large numbers of software containers. Container management tools create, deploy, scale, and deconstruct systems and application containers.

Containerization is a part of software development that binds application libraries and dependencies together while isolating processes that share an operating system kernel down into one deployable unit.

IT businesses use containers to package legacy applications for better portability and easier deployment. They also use containers for applications that are based on distributed and cloud-based microservices.

Container images all share one base operating system image, whereas virtual machines require their own OS image. This works to make containers lightweight and run only application configuration data and code that is needed from the operating system of the host. Compared to VM hosting, this set up, and design increases interoperability as each container can scale on its own when required.

Containers are rising in popularity as IT companies begin to adopt development and operations, which focus on rapid application deployment. Application code can be containerized from development to testing to the point where the software is deployed.

Container Management Benefits

1. The foremost container management benefit is easier hosting setups. Schedulers and orchestration, virtual network management and monitoring systems, storage, and security tools are all included in container management.
2. Companies can set specific policies that guarantee containers can share a host or not share a host-based on resource and application design requirements. IT administrators can find containers that frequently communicate to avoid dormancy.
3. Anti-affinity rules might be necessary to avoid overload with physical storage for containers with large resource requirements. Containers can frequently work to meet demand and shut down.
4. They need to communicate for distributed applications to function and not open an attack surface without becoming vulnerable to hackers.
5. The container ecosystem focuses on automating many different processes, including log management, orchestration, networking, monitoring, load balancing, and secrets and testing management. By automating these processes, IT companies can manage large containerized environments that are too large for one person to handle.

Container Management Issues

Container management can be complex, especially with open source orchestrating container platforms like Apache Mesos and Kubernetes. The installation and setup of these platforms can be error-filled and frustrating.

It is imperative that IT staff have the proper training and skills in container management. They need to understand the relationship between the host server clusters and the level at which the network corresponds to dependencies and applications.

Some of the challenges facing container management include storage and resolve. The containers themselves are designed only to exist when they are needed. Stateful app activities are problematic because any information created inside a container no longer exists when the container spins down.

Another concern is container security. There are several components to container orchestrators that include management and monitoring tools and an API server. These separate components make it popular among hackers.

Vulnerabilities are similar to operating system vulnerabilities as with access, authorization, network traffic, and images. By using best practices for security, organizations can minimize the risk associated with these issues. Taking action on closing network connections when they are not being used, and identifying trusted image sources should help.

Tool selection is another container management challenge. There are many container management software packages and tools available to IT businesses. Many companies hire consultants to handle the responsibilities of ensuring that all of the necessary components are together in the correct configuration and order based on the needs of the business.

Tips for Effective Container Management

To deploy and update applications quickly, large companies and new businesses rely on containers and container management software apps and tools.

• IT companies have to establish the best possible infrastructure container setup. They should have a deep understanding of the scale and requirements needed for the containerization project as it applies to needs in terms of growth projections and developer requirements.
• IT administrators should be knowledgeable on how the existing infrastructure’s components connect together and communicate while preserving these aspects of a containerized environment.
• Containers are versatile and able to run on several different platforms, including VMs, in the cloud, on servers, or in hybrid setups. These preferences are all based on IT requirements for the business.
• The container management platform or tool has to correspond to the needs of the project. Some of the project’s requirements may include user and application isolation, resource constraints and requirements, multi-tenancy, logging, alerts, monitoring, license and backup management, and many other management tasks.
• Enterprises should have a complete understanding of their hosting requirements and a clear idea about their future container plans. Companies should know if they need to adopt a microservices architecture or multiple cloud platforms.

Major Software Tools and Vendors for Container Management

Kubernetes is an authority on container management technology. It is open-source and works to automate processes while managing Docker containers.

Docker container technology was developed by Docker Inc. in 2013. Google launched Kubernetes in 2015 with major updates in the following years. Container technology has grown extremely popular among many large organizations.

There are also IT tools and commercial vendors that provide support for these open-source container management elements.

There are many different factors that organizations have to consider in selecting the best container management software to meet their needs. Because of the rapid changes in the container software market, organizations must be prepared and flexible to find the ideal solutions.

Some of those options may include programs like Azure Kubernetes Service, Red Hat OpenShift, Alibaba Container Service for Kubernetes (ACK), VMware Enterprise Pivotal Container Service, Rancher Labs’ Rancher, Cloud Foundry, Amazon Elastic Container Service (ECS), and others.

Tools for Container Deployment, Schedulers, and Container Orchestration

Open source communities and vendors have designed many different versions of Kubernetes. Kubernetes is one of the most widely used open-source container software for orchestration.

There are many projects that are developed to improve one single facet of the main container management. These can include cluster managers, service mesh, or configuration file editors.

Support and partnerships for Kubernetes come up and evolve on a regular basis. These programs work in tandem with Kubernetes to make tasks easier and more manageable.

One open source project that works on compute clusters is Mesos. It includes federation and container clusters. Mesos was created for larger container deployments.

Another commercial product D2iQ provides Mesosphere DC/OS, which is a commercial software designed based on Mesos that provides container orchestration with the convenience of hybrid cloud portability. D2iQ also provides a scheduler called Marathon that works with Kubernetes.

The technology behind Mesos is different from Kubernetes in how it manages the federation. Mesos treats it as a peer grouping of deployments that cooperate. Kubernetes federation is more rigid with a master-agent relationship. Operators are united by the master to support common goals.

The federation functionality of Kubernetes is in a suspended state where the original version is obsolete, and they recommend the upgrade to the next version 2.0.

The swarm mode from Docker’s is an open-source container cluster management tool. Another company, Mirantis, recently bought out the enterprise division of Docker Inc. This acquisition included Docker Swarm’s commercial edition.

Container management software categories are seemingly blending as platforms add support for more management capabilities.

The technology of container management is starting to merge and connect with large scale management suites designed for VMs and server hosts.