WHAT IS DOCKER AND CONTAINERISATION?
There is a lot of talk currently about ‘Dockers’ and ‘containerisation’’. Today’s blog, written by our Chairman, explains what you need to know.
Containers in computing are portable packages of software applications that will run on any platform in exactly the same way. Docker is a company providing containerisation, hence the name.
Unlike virtual machines (VM’s) that we are familiar with now a container doesn’t hold a guest operating system such as Windows Server or Linux. Instead the container holds the application code (the program) and things like the runtime and libraries that it needs to function.
Multiple containers can run on a computing platform (like a server) and share the kernel and underlying hardware just like a VM would. The real difference is that without the guest OS they start up and shut down many times more quickly than a VM.
Containers are inherently secure as they are completely isolated. Their portability and isolation together with near instant start stop makes for rapid and simple software development and system administration.
A conventional VM stack consists of a hardware infrastructure (server/disk/IO etc.), a Host operating system (like Windows or Linux), a hypervisor (Like VMWare, HyperV or KVM), a guest OS then the application and its binaries and libraries.
A container stack eliminates the hypervisor layer and the guest OS and has a platform OS and a container engine (like Docker)
The traditional virtualisation players are aware of the interest in containerisation but at the moment it’s the preserve of the techie community. Until a container standard evolves it will probably remain so.
Written by: Jeff Orr, Chairman of the Stack Group
Jeff Orr founded the Stack Group in 1984, and prior to this owned and ran several other successful IT businesses. He is a qualified chartered engineer and winner of the Bibby Prize for Engineering from the University of Liverpool.
Jeff Orr is highly respected in the industry and consults for some of the biggest football clubs in the world.
About Stack Group
The Stack Group deliver solutions and support in the areas of IT Management and Cloud services, Telecoms, Infrastructure and Networks. If you would like any help and advice regarding any of our solutions please do not hesitate to get in touch and one of our experts will assist you.
Phone: +44 (0) 151 521 2202
Email: [email protected]
Containers in computing are portable packages of software applications that will run on any platform in exactly the same way. Docker is a company providing containerisation, hence the name.
Unlike virtual machines (VM’s) that we are familiar with now a container doesn’t hold a guest operating system such as Windows Server or Linux. Instead the container holds the application code (the program) and things like the runtime and libraries that it needs to function.
Multiple containers can run on a computing platform (like a server) and share the kernel and underlying hardware just like a VM would. The real difference is that without the guest OS they start up and shut down many times more quickly than a VM.
Containers are inherently secure as they are completely isolated. Their portability and isolation together with near instant start stop makes for rapid and simple software development and system administration.
A conventional VM stack consists of a hardware infrastructure (server/disk/IO etc.), a Host operating system (like Windows or Linux), a hypervisor (Like VMWare, HyperV or KVM), a guest OS then the application and its binaries and libraries.
A container stack eliminates the hypervisor layer and the guest OS and has a platform OS and a container engine (like Docker)
The traditional virtualisation players are aware of the interest in containerisation but at the moment it’s the preserve of the techie community. Until a container standard evolves it will probably remain so.
Written by: Jeff Orr, Chairman of the Stack Group
Jeff Orr founded the Stack Group in 1984, and prior to this owned and ran several other successful IT businesses. He is a qualified chartered engineer and winner of the Bibby Prize for Engineering from the University of Liverpool.
Jeff Orr is highly respected in the industry and consults for some of the biggest football clubs in the world.
About Stack Group
The Stack Group deliver solutions and support in the areas of IT Management and Cloud services, Telecoms, Infrastructure and Networks. If you would like any help and advice regarding any of our solutions please do not hesitate to get in touch and one of our experts will assist you.
Phone: +44 (0) 151 521 2202
Email: [email protected]