Enterprises can combine containers with microservices to create a more consistent and lightweight development framework, which is the best choice for cloud computing. Container and microservice are two cutting-edge technologies that can achieve higher efficiency in cloud computing. Although they do not need to be used together, they can provide more benefits when used together.

Container:

With containers, developers can work faster and better by creating virtual "sandboxes", so that they can write, manage, and manipulate software code. The advantage is that you can do this without affecting other applications and systems running on the server or virtual machine (VM). Containers can improve efficiency, reduce costs, and even improve security. These easy to package and lightweight components can run with other components in the same virtual machine.

The great flexibility introduced by containers has driven rapid adoption, which increasingly relies on container technology. Container has become a substitute for virtual machine. Forrester, a research organization, pointed out that 58% of developers plan to use containers in the next year or are planning to use containers. At the same time, the report of 451 Research, a research institution, shows that the market size of application containers will grow from US $762 million in 2016 to US $2.7 billion in 2020.

Microservices:

The main attraction of containers is microservices. These software components, which may include code, runtime, system tools, system libraries, and settings as unique and prudent processes, introduce a more modular and advanced development framework. Microservices are usually provided through toolbars or menus, allowing organizations to deploy software and make changes faster and more consistently. This capability is particularly important for organizations that use DevOps and other agile methods.

The root of microservices lies in Web services. By combining code components into functional applications, organizations can use these small pre designed applications for software development. This enables enterprises to roll out products faster and make changes more dynamically. Remember that although microservices do not need containers, they benefit a lot from them. Containers with microservices allow organizations to create more consistent and lightweight cloud computing development frameworks.

Here are five key truths and facts about using containers and microservices:

(1) Complexity can be a problem

The accumulation of solutions (in this case, microsystems that span multiple containers) may bring new problems, sometimes even thorny problems. Although these two tools (especially when combined) can simplify and speed up development, they also bring new challenges, sometimes difficult challenges.

The number of microservices and all their intersections with the container translate into a constantly changing environment. This may force the organization to handle too much granularity, and may introduce latency if too much is used or the mapping is incorrect. It may also increase testing requirements.

Some components are open source, while others are provided by commercial companies, which may further complicate the problem. Ultimately, gaps in the overall framework can affect scalability, reliability, and many other factors.

The key to success is to establish a strategy and a strong framework to support microservices and containers. This requires experienced developers to provide up-to-date training to key members of the team, so that they can lead the plan and use tools and systems to maximize their advantage.

(2) The organization needs new processes

Continuous delivery (CD) and continuous integration (CI) frameworks are the focus of most enterprises. These methods can unleash outstanding business innovation. They are particularly suited to today's agile and DevOps development frameworks, which facilitate rapid, incremental, and continuous deployment of applications and updates.

Containers and microservices support this approach to a large extent. However, there is a problem: without the correct workflow, it is difficult for organizations to obtain the maximum value from continuous delivery (CD) and continuous integration (CI), and ultimately from containers and microservices.

Releasing these tools without establishing a foundation and framework can increase complexity and undermine progress. Therefore, for the development and operation teams, focus on two key issues:

• Build a knowledge base: Before accepting microservices and containers, business and development teams must thoroughly understand the concepts and methods of continuous delivery (CD) and continuous integration (CI).
• Collaboration foundation must be established: the organization must develop a framework for partners to work together in the most effective and efficient way to integrate containers and microservices.

(3) Monitoring is critical

Since the development environment that depends on containers and microservices may become quite complex and involve a large number of tools and components, monitoring is the core of a successful plan. In addition, code monitoring must take place inside the container. It is important to focus on several key issues:

• Understand the scope and nature of the monitoring required. Inadequate monitoring can cause development teams to feel frustrated and overwhelmed. One problem is that microservices can be very different between containers and components. This means that monitoring across the entire container and microservice collection must be deployed.
• Understand that traditional monitoring is limited. Traditional monitoring methods (i.e., the method using instruments) are not necessarily effective. Containers benefit from small, isolated processes with as few dependencies as possible.
• Monitoring tools must address the unique challenges of containers and microservices. Identify the location of defects, errors and production problems, and take measures to correct these problems involving more complex and nuanced methods. Monitoring containers and microservices may include various tools, including application performance monitoring, code analysis, direct error tracking, centralized logging, and metrics around applications and components.
• Fix problems quickly and seamlessly. When the development team can determine where the problem exists, it can quickly roll back or fix the problem. This may involve deletion or change, otherwise it may be difficult to find and populate the changed microservices in the container.

(4) Choreography is critical to success

The collection of containers and microservices will not automatically solve the organization's DevOps or agility challenges. These systems and components need to be effectively coordinated.

Orchestration basically clusters containers in an intelligent way, which is a key part of this problem. It makes scalability easy to manage. The container orchestration platform Kubernetes is open source and can be used with most tools and platforms. It addresses the need for automation and expansion.

Many potential solutions include Kubernetes, including open source Docker, which is more effective for managing a single image instance. The solution can also include commercial services from cloud computing companies such as AWS, Google Cloud and Windows Azure, which can be used to solve more complex distributed applications. These services can accomplish the following key tasks:

• Connect a large number of microservices.
• Automate a range of tasks and processes.
• Manage service expansion.
• Achieve a higher level of flexibility by deploying containers and microservices in a wider range of environments (including hybrid cloud deployment).

(5) Security cannot be an afterthought

Containers and microservices introduce some important security advantages, especially through sandboxes to isolate code and applications, but they also create new vulnerabilities.

One of the greatest risks revolves around specific libraries and microservices that are vulnerable to specific threats. Therefore, organizations using containers and microservices should:

• Use specialized tools to manage container security, including solutions for image scanning, image management, and maintaining a trusted registry. Organizations also benefit from application security software to address dynamic and static scanning of code, as well as software that handles policy based task execution.
• Use the operating system or software that protects the container at the boundary. This method is important because it prevents the host kernel from leaving the container and protects the connection between containers.
• Make container orchestration a key element of security. This includes which containers are deployed to which hosts, host capacity, how containers can be discovered and connected, how container health is managed, and the extent to which developer self-service is incorporated into the environment.
• Understand how networking is configured for container and microservices security, including whether traffic can be segmented to isolate different users, teams, applications, and environments within a single cluster. This may require more advanced SDN tools to address the complexity of identifying IP addresses and clusters. Similarly, organizations must address storage issues, including how and where containers are at rest.

Organizations that properly address these issues and take a systems approach to containers and microservices will be well positioned to align their development efforts, with the opportunities and challenges of today's digital business frameworks.