Containerizing IT Infrastructure ...

Containerizing IT Infrastructure ...

   “Container” is the new buzz word in the IT realm. As the name indicates, containers provide capabilities to box your application individually in to one piece of software program. This software program is very similar to a virtual machines and it operates on top of your Operating System. Containers effectively divide your OS in to smaller boxes where each application can be hosted independently.

What is the need of container like environment? Containers can separate CPU intensive applications from lightweight applications and hence improving overall performance. Containers provide modularity to each applications making it easier to migrate to higher versions or altogether different infrastructure platform. 

Running containers is the first step to achieve infrastructure automation. Containerization enables orchestration and scheduling layers. The Container as a Service platforms now plays the role of provisioning and resource management, freeing I&O from mundane tasks of creating customized environments.

Most popular Public cloud-based CaaS platforms like Amazon ECS, Microsoft ACS or Google Container Engine can create lock-in with a particular cloud provider. Also, it injects dependency on the public cloud provider for integration with their services, which are often proprietary. An application deployed within a public CaaS platform cannot be easily deployed on-premises or into another cloud provider. A CaaS platform can run on-premises, in a public IaaS or simultaneously in both, and it can fully leverage the inherent portability of containers. Such platforms can ultimately make the multi Cloud deployments seamless, a key benefit of containers.

CaaS solutions might evolve into building blocks for a newer generation of lighter platform as a service offerings in which container images are retrieved from a registry. Both app dev and operations teams will benefit from utilizing a CaaS solution. Functionality such as load balancing, which was traditionally offered by PaaS, can now be built outside of the PaaS by stitching together platform-independent containers. Some of these functions can also be offered by CaaS.

CaaS can become a key enabler of enterprise DevOps because it brings together the infrastructure, operations and app dev teams. CaaS platforms broker the communication between a continuous integration/continuous deployment (CI/CD) pipeline and the infrastructure provider via the CaaS API and manage the container's ecosystem life cycle.

CaaS paired with Microservices and CI/CD can provide next generation fully managed and automated platform for IT projects development and operations.