Containers have become an increasingly popular way to package and deploy applications, but one of the key benefits of containers is their portability. This means that containers can be run on different platforms, including on-premises data centers, private clouds, and public clouds. In this blog post, we’ll explore the challenges and benefits of container portability.
First, let’s define what we mean by container portability. When we say that containers are portable, we mean that they can be moved between different environments without significant changes to the container itself. This is made possible by the fact that containers are designed to be lightweight and self-contained, with all the dependencies and configuration needed to run the application inside the container.
So, where is it possible to run containers? In general, containers can be run on any platform that supports containerisation technology. This includes on-premises data centres, private clouds, and public clouds. Some of the most popular platforms for running containers include Docker, Kubernetes, Amazon Web Services (AWS) Elastic Container Service (ECS), and Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS).
However, while containers are designed to be portable, there are still challenges to be aware of. One of the biggest challenges is the differences in infrastructure between different environments. For example, a container that is designed to run on a Linux host may not work on a Windows host without modifications. Similarly, different container orchestration platforms may have different configuration options or API calls, which can make it more difficult to move containers between platforms.
Another challenge is ensuring that the container is secure when moved between environments. For example, a container that is designed to run on a private cloud may need to be modified to run securely on a public cloud, where it may be exposed to more security threats.
Despite these challenges, container portability can still be a significant benefit for organisations. By making it easier to move applications between different environments, containers can help organizations achieve greater agility and flexibility. This can be particularly valuable in scenarios where organizations need to quickly deploy applications to new environments, such as during mergers and acquisitions or when moving workloads between clouds.
Portability can play a significant part when considering workload placement. There is no arguing that public cloud provides the greatest agility, flexibility and scalability over any other platform. However, if your dev teams, ops teams and architects are unfamiliar or lack skill confidence in public cloud, then it’s a huge consideration to switch infrastructure while simultaneously architecting your app in a fundamentally different way (app modernisation or net new apps).
Container portability enables you switch to microservice software architecture in familiar surroundings and move to public cloud with little risk later, once skill and knowledge confidence has grown. That same move to public cloud doesn’t require the large and lengthy migration project that other technologies do such as servers.
Container portability is a key benefit of containerisation technology, enabling containers to be run on different platforms, including on-premises data centres, private clouds, and public clouds. While there are challenges to container portability, these can be managed through careful planning and configuration. By leveraging container portability, organisations can achieve greater agility and flexibility in their application deployments.
The Automation Guy 