Containers

Containers are a main theme of #NoDrama DevOps and this is a curated set of posts that will help you learn about them. I have been delivering and operating containerized applications ‘on-premises’ and in AWS for years. I also co-authored Docker in Action, 2ed. I have a lot I want to share about containers with you.

Keep Your Computers and Datacenters Tidy with Containers

The Foundation

First, ground yourself in what a Docker application container is and what problems containers solve. Application containers help you package, deliver, and run applications on standardized compute infrastructure.

You can learn more about the packaging step in continuous integration of a containerized application.

Once you have an application packaged as a Docker image, you are probably interested in running it. Here’s how to do so (more) securely and in an operationally friendly way:

You can accomplish a ton with this knowledge locally, in continuous integration, or when deploying containers on a few machines. When you need to go bigger, you’ll need to understand container orchestrators.

Container Orchestrators

Start with the general concept of a container orchestrator. Hopefully you notice a few points where the foundation is coming in handy, especially around resource limits.

Next, you may want to explore the “Container Orchestrators are the Same but Different” series This series tries to help you identify which orchestrator is the best fit for your team and circumstances (spoiler: it matters):

And lastly, a bit of a cautionary tale that summarizes to ‘details matter; choose your container orchestrator wisely’: Why people replace Kubernetes clusters instead of upgrading them

Guidance

If you would like some private, personalized guidance on these topics, consider a Guidance Engagement.