What Has Stopped You From Making Docker Container Life cycle Effective?

Benefits of Docker :

Docker, as an open source technology, it makes it easy for developers to package and deploy applications to different environments quickly,

A developer can program applications on a laptop, capture them as a Docker image, and then deploy Docker containers to different environments.

Docker containers wrap up a piece of software in a complete file system that contains everything it needs to run: code, run-time, system tools, system libraries anything you can install on a server.

Making the application or service will run the same, regardless of the environment. This is an important benefit at a time when companies are moving to hybrid clouds and want application portability.

Challenges of Docker :

Behind every benefit of Docker there comes a dark side leading us to pandora's box of issues leading to low quality & vulnerable releases bundled with multi fold infra costs due to unused containers just because of its complexity it makes operation activities such as orchestration and governance, security, and monitoring of containers difficult:

Issues:

1. Lack of control by Dev for quicker creation, deployment, and testing application containers

2. Lack of governance while moving dockerized applications into production containers results in running containers that are unauthorized or have vulnerabilities,Increasing number of unused containers consuming resources.

3. Lack of coordination with increase in change frequency lack of integrated processes can impact time to delivery and release quality, and even allow to reach production without security test.

4. Complexities of scaling containers in virtualized or cloud infrastructure deployment of multi-host production systems across Docker hosts or Docker cluster managers (like Swarm or Kubernetes)

5. Vulnerability protection Because containers include parts of operating systems it requires security at the host layer, the container, and the images. Updating immutable containers.

6. Complexities in monitoring through traditional monitoring tools incapable of monitoring areas of docker environments like API-level integration with Docker, and instrumentation that is built into the Docker image.

Solution :

1. Design a simplyfied process specifically to manage Docker containers & make a practice to monitor container impacts with other container functionalities by Dev/RM-QA/IT people accross roles.

2. Manage application releases from development through production.with proper planning of deployment accross Docker hosts and containers into cloud environments.

3. Manage configuration and check security options, tests regularly.

4. Monitor dockers regularly through Post Deployment Analysis for effective management of docker environments & deployed containers.

Glossary:

Docker life cycle: It is divided into three stages, Development, Application Release, IT operations

1. Development stage - Developers quickly create and deploy Docker containers that include application code and libraries.

They then test the applications, fix bugs, add features or enhancements, Build new Docker images, and deploy them into new containers. Iterative process continues until the product meets specifications outlined in the Dev sprint.

2. Application release stage - Release managers coordinate the automation of application environments that include Docker building, testing, and deployment pipelines.

Usually a release engineer is responsible for managing application releases that consist of Docker containers.

3. Operations stage - The containers are deployed into production and maintained for performance and availability until they are decommissioned.

Docker file: Instructions that tell the image builder (e.g., Jenkins) what the image should look like.

Image:The components of a Docker container at rest. They are stored in a registry and instantiated in a container at runtime.

Container: Applications and their components (code, system tools, runtime, etc.) are instantiated in a container at runtime.

Docker Engine (Host): Lightweight runtime that pulls images and creates and runs containers. It can be installed on physical, virtual,or cloud hosts.

Registry (Hub): Repository for storing Docker images, available on premises or as a cloud service.

Docker Swarm: Docker tool for managing a cluster of Docker containers.

Docker Container Life Cycle (Development ->Release ->Operations )