Optimization of the IT infrastructure in companies with Docker containers

About Dockers

Docker is revolutionizing the IT scene and runs on the Docker engine, which makes it possible Docker containers to create and manage. This is a scripting framework that allows containers - in which e.g. software applications are running - to be dynamically switched on, switched off, copied, restored as required or according to the system status (e.g. after usage peaks), available for new customers and run on various underlying physical infrastructures (e.g. in the cloud or on servers). This flexibility therefore offers significant advantages over classic solutions such as virtual machines.

The Docker Engine was developed using the Go programming language and is open source. Constructed with more than 27.000 commits and around 1.500 contributors, this is one of the largest open source projects in the world. Technically, Docker containers reside between the operating system (OS) and our applications. A Linux kernel is required to work with Docker, since the containers are based on Linux.

The structure of the Docker Engine

Docker consists of three central components and is not built monolithically. This means that different functions and tools can be used depending on the needs. The central components of Docker are a server with the Docker daemon, which runs on a host OS (usually Linux) and creates and manages Docker objects such as containers. This provides a REST API for integrating applications into the engine. The third main component, the Docker CLI is a command line tool that uses the API to make all functions easy to use.

Application areas of a Docker container

• Offline development: To use the same environment on a local system
• Continuous integration and continuous delivery
• Optimization of the development process
• Distributed "Collaborative Development" in the team
• Moving / running the same application on multiple cloud platforms
• Implementation of the "Immutable Infrastructure Pattern" and the blue-green deployments
• Production in local development environments
• High volume hosting

Docker in use

As Docker continues to gain popularity among developers, container technology is now increasingly digging into enterprise IT solutions. CTOs and CIOs are getting ever closer to their goal of giving their developers more convenience and control in application development and increasing the availability of their applications if, for example, an application has to be replaced or a container fails. Many IT decision-makers see the container strategy as an opportunity to structure and manage their Microsoft architectures within large, distributed infrastructures.

Companies rely heavily on clusters to implement their own security and performance requirements. There are two strategies: on-premise deployments and Docker hosting services. The on-premises deployments are primarily built on bare-metal along with open-stack cloud software to take full advantage of open-source technology.

Advantages of a Docker container

Docker "standardizes" software in containers. This means that they can be quickly reproduced or changed and migrated between different platforms. At the beginning it is often not possible to answer the questions about the virtualization level, the hardware costs and the software licenses. Docker's flexibility can help here.

Docker containers offer a number of advantages:

• The automated provisioning of applications: Processor, RAM, network and block storage remain isolated;
• The applications can be operated autonomously. With Docker, the applications, including the libraries, can be organized and encapsulated in a virtual container.
• Docker containers are portable and applications can thus be easily moved from server A to server B without having to constantly adapt the prerequisites for deployment and operation.

Why Docker will lead to a better organized company

The main benefit is that Docker provides a more consistent development environment for all developers involved in a project. Consistent development environment eliminates worrying about programming language version, dependency management, database version or server configuration as it is all unified in Docker.

When working on multiple projects, a unified development environment makes it possible to reduce development time and costs. It also ensures that Docker-based applications written in e.g. RoR or PHP run on all machines and operating systems and not just a few on which they were developed.

Security of a Docker container

Docker containers are generally relatively secure. The kernel namespace isolates processes within the container, and each container has its own network stack. If you do not run the processes in the container as root, you can significantly minimize security risks.