Containers have revolutionized the application development processes.
Applications developed or deployed on the cloud used to be OS-dependent (Operating System). It meant that you could not just move your application from one cloud or service provider to another, even when you host it remotely.
Today, however, cloud computing with containers has thoroughly changed the way we store data and execute applications. It enables users to use modern computing technology without taking the time to write out code-heavy applications.
Applications with containers are efficient, lightweight, and adaptable to future migrations.
In this article, we will elaborate on how containers work, and everything else that you need to know about them. We will also introduce the Ridge Managed Container Service and how it enables you to deploy your containerized applications on the cloud!
What Exactly Is a Container?
Are these massive storage crates the first thing you thought of when you heard “containers”?
The truth is, you’re not too far off. Computing concepts are not too different from real-life concepts. Just as physical containers make transport easy for all kinds of goods, software containers simplify the movement of applications and services.
The Definition of Container
A container is a software solution that wraps your software process or microservice to make it executable in all computing environments. In general, you can store all kinds of executable files in containers, for example, configuration files, software code, libraries, and binary programs.
Computing environments are the local systems, on-premises data centers, and cloud platforms managed by various service providers.
What Is a Container in the Cloud?
Containers in the cloud are hosted in an online environment. Users access them from anywhere. However, application processes or microservices in cloud-based containers remain separate from cloud infrastructure.
Containers can be understood as a Virtual Operating System that runs your application so that it is compatible with any OS.
Because the application is not bound to any particular cloud, operating system, or storage space, containerized software can execute in any environment.
What Is Containerization?
At this point it may be clear that applications hosted in containers have different coding standards than regular applications. But how do you create containerized applications?
Containerization in cloud computing is the process of building software applications for containers. The final product of packaging and designing a container app is acontainer image.
These are the essential elements of a typical container image:
- The application code
- Configuration files
- Software dependencies
- Libraries
- Environment variables
The image includes everything needed to run containerized applications irrespective of the infrastructure that hosts them.
Container Orchestration
Container orchestration is the process of creating an environment that automates most of the maintenance tasks for containerized workloads, applications, and services. Like Ridge, most companies rely on container orchestration platforms that provide fully managed container services to their users.
Containers vs Virtual Machines – What’s the Difference?
Virtual machines and containers may appear similar, but they function in very different ways.
While virtual machines use hypervisors that bind them directly to the server hardware, containers sit directly on the host’s OS. Applications in containers can directly run on the host OS. On the other hand, apps in a virtual machine need a Guest OS per app for execution.
Here is a quick Containers vs VMs illustration to simplify both concepts for you:
How Do Containers Work?
The standardized container management process has four stages for apps and the services they contain:
- Creation
- Deployment
- Scaling/Expansion
- Destruction
Containerization ensures that none of these stages depend on an OS kernel. Therefore, containers do not carry any Guest OS with them the way a VM must.
Containerized applications are tied to all their dependencies as a single deployable unit. Leveraging the features and capabilities of the host OS, containers enable these software apps to work in all environments.
Containers Examples
- All Google applications, like GMail and Google Calendar, are containerized and run on their cloud server.
- A gaming or media streaming application that you create using Ridge’sKubernetes service.
What Are the Benefits of Containerization?
Container solutions are highly beneficial for businesses as well as software developers due to multiple reasons. After all, container technology has made it possible to develop, test, deploy, scale, re-build, and destroy applications for various platforms or environments using the same method.
Advantages of containerization include:
- Containers requirefewer system resourcesthan virtual machines as they do not bind operating system images to each application they store.
- They arehighly interoperableas containerized apps can use the host OS.
- Optimized resource usageas container computing lets similar apps share libraries and binary files.
- No hardware-level or implementation worriessince containers are infrastructure-independent.
- Better portability because you can migrate and deploy containers anywhere smoothly.
- Easy scaling and development because containerization technology allows gradual expansion and parallel testing of apps.
What Are Containers Used for?
Enterprises and other organizations use containers because it enables:
- Agile development
- High efficiency
- Future-ready solutions
If you are not sure about when and why containers are useful for your business, let’s take a look at a few of their major use-cases:
Container-Native Development
Future-proof solutions must have the fewest dependencies possible. Keeping this in mind, many companies work primarily with containerized apps.. “Container-native” development can reduce the difficulty and expense of migration in the future.
Application Refactoring or Modernization
What if you have a legacy, non-containerized app that you want to move to the cloud? Depending on how much improvement your application needs, you can “lift and shift” existing applications to containers or re-factor them for better deployment.
This action ensures that you get all benefits of containers without having to entirely transform your cloud infrastructure.
Continuous integration and Deployment (CI/CD)
Containers make it simple forDevOps developers to build applications that can be deployed, scaled, and integrated without interruption. With containers and server containerization allowing seamless and continuous deployment, development teams can streamline the development and testing process.
Batch Processes
Batch processes interact with other applications and run in the background. They don’t need inputs from end-users directly. They may share information and execution space.
Containers enable sharing of operating systems, libraries, and other dependencies among similar applications. That’s why they are ideal for deploying and executing batch processes.
Businesses can save memory space and achieve better performance through the use of containers for such applications.
Microservices
Containers are used to develop apps that follow a microservices architecture. Such an architecture utilizes multiple containers to deploy one app, creating a container cluster—a group of containers in a containerized environment. Etsy, Netflix, and Uber are a few apps that follow the microservices model.
Distributed Cloud
Applications in a distributed cloud architecture stay inmulti-cloud or hybrid-cloud environments in general. Organizations share resources and data center container deployments when using distributed systems. Portability and interoperability in a distributed cloud architecture can be challenging.
Containers make a perfect pick for application development to solve these issues. When you use containers, you set yourself up for easy data and application migration and resource sharing between clouds.
You can read more on this topic in our article onwhat is distributed computing.
How Secure are Containers?
Containers offer multiple layers of security. Containers offer multiple layers of security. Including the innermost application layer, there are four levels to prevent security vulnerabilities:
- At the application/code level, developers may add validations and align their code to security standards.
- At the container level, developers can use a secure container service, such as Kubernetes.
- At the cluster level, network administrators can add restrictions to filter out unauthorized traffic.
- At the cloud level, a reliable container platform, such as that offered by Ridge, offers top-level security.
Containers, Docker, and Kubernetes – How Does It Work?
Docker and Kubernetes work together in containerized app deployments, but they serve different purposes. Docker is a containerization platform. Kubernetes allows the management of multiple containers. To learn more, read this article on Docker vs. Kubernetes.
Dockers and containers work together. Docker — a famous runtime environment for containers — provides an execution space for applications in containers.
On the other hand, Kubernetes can store multiple containers to form a cluster while providing a managed environment for containers’ collaboration.
Docker Image vs Container
A container/docker image is standalone, so it can exist and run with or without a container. However, a container requires an image to make it functional and work in a runtime environment.
Containers and Ridge
Ridge has a fully managed container service – Ridge Managed Container Service – that developers access programmatically to deploy and manage fleets of containers all over the world. With Ridge’s container service, developers build applications without concern for the underlying infrastructure. They can easily deploy containers when and where they’re needed across networks and geographies.
Request a demo you are interested.
Frequently Asked Questions about Containers
What problems do containers solve?
Containers use the host operating system for containerized applications rather than a guest OS for each app, like virtual machines. This featurereduces the size of containers to a few MBs, making them a great alternative to Virtual Machines.
Also, they help companies easily migrate applications to the cloud or between clouds by being OS-independent.
What is a containerized application?
Containerized applications follow the development and deployment standards of containers that ensure that there is no dependency on the host infrastructure when an application. They carry dependency files, configuration files, and binaries with them.
What are containers and Kubernetes?
Containers and Kubernetes work in parallel. While containers hold your application and let you deploy them anywhere, Kubernetes container clusters to ensure that they function correctly in collaboration.
What is the difference between Docker and Container?
Acontaineris software that contains your applications and their dependencies to make those apps infrastructure-independent.
Dockeris a runtime environment to create and deploy containerized applications.
Is Docker container a VM?
Both use virtualization technologies, but they are different. Virtual machines have guest OS, whereas the docker container shares host OS. This makes Docker containers much more efficient and light-weighted than VMs.
What is a container in Kubernetes?
A container in Kubernetes is a software solution capable of binding containerized applications to the host OS — irrespective of the infrastructure. Kubernetes is a platform to build and run such a container.
Is a pod a container?
Yes, and no. A pod is the tiniest deployment unit in a cluster in Kubernetes. It may contain one or multiple containers. If a pod has one container, you can use the terms pod and containers interchangeably, but not if it contains multiple containers.
