Last updated on 13 February 2025
What are Containers
Containers are isolated development environments that prioritize compatibility and efficiency when developing applications. Containers are portable, lightweight, and secure development environments that can bring tremendous workflow improvements to light.
Containers provide fluidity in a rigid development environment. Development with containers provides a boost in both compatibility and efficiency for creating and distributing your apps and programs. They are easy to build, easy to ship, easy to deploy, and easy to scale.
History of Containers
Containers have been utilized in some capacity since 1982 , but begun to see a resurgence in their use within the past decade. Historically used to quarantine rogue applications, containers have since shifted into one-size-fits-all development environments that are custom tailored based on the needs of the application they contain.
Traditional Deployment
In traditional deployment, apps access a shared pool of libraries and dependencies on the machine. Apps may require the same libraries and dependencies, but even the version needed can vary from one app to another. Apps without the proper resources to call on do not work the way they are supposed to.
As a developer who needs to distribute and test an application, some of the issues you would run into are created from the lack of required libraries and dependencies on your deployed machines. This can present itself as a significant problem
Container Deployment
Containers ship with their required libraries and dependencies, meaning you don’t need to ensure the recipient has them natively available on their system. The app contained within is built with a specific set of libraries and dependencies that allow it to function, and it ships with those same requirements.
The nature of containers makes them easy to build, easy to ship, easy to deploy, and easy to scale up. As a network grows and software needs to be distributed to its devices, containers streamline the process to maximize compatibility and efficiency. Another bonus of containers is they’re run in an isolated environment; you do not need to worry about security flaws that would accompany software in a traditional deployment.
Containers are stored as images and become containers at runtime. Containers utilize a virtualized environment in order to run and execute the application that is inside. If you are already familiar with virtual machines and virtualization in general this will be a familiar process to you.
A container draws lots of similarities to a virtual machine, but the most notable difference is that a container does not contain an operating system like a virtual machine does. Instead, the ‘hypervisor’ of a container-supported deployment is called the container engine, which functions almost like an adapter for the containers to be operable on the host device. This makes a container very lightweight and is part of what makes them very easy to distribute. Virtual machines being larger and including an operating system are not ideal for distribution.
While a virtual machine can provide an isolated environment to develop in like a container, the challenges with distribution and demand for more computer resources to run the guest operating system makes them less proficient than containers for development purposes.
Containers and virtual machines can be deployed together to provide even more flexibility and control over how compute resources are managed and used.
Workflow Improvements
When you consider a typical development workflow, containers can help streamline the process the entire way through. When an individual creates a branch of a code to make modifications and changes, they would put the branch upstream when it is done being worked on and modified. From here, it usually will go through different processes like staging and quality assurance. There are times when an upstream branch can take a very long time to reach the rollout stage, but this process can be vastly improved through the use of containers because they eliminate the variance caused by differing hardware and software.
Common Container Programs
These following programs are ones commonly used in the IT industry, and are seen as the standard for which containerization programs should follow.
Docker
Docker is the frontrunner in the design of modernized development container technology. To this day it is still the tried-and-true system to go with for container needs.
- Open source
- Highly portable container images
- Union Filesystem
- Cloud Integration
- Plethora of plugins available
Google Kubernetes
Kubernetes is an online IaaS environment that provides tools and infrastructure to run containers inside the Google ecosystem.
- Integration with Google infrastructure
- Networking through GCloud and VPN
- Quick and easy setup in GCloud
- Docker image support
Microsoft Azure
Microsoft continues its goal of providing as many internet services as it can within its platform. Azure is a suite that offers customized services for your own needs.
- Scalable with Microsoft services
- Fully managed platform
- On-site or cloud operation
- Built-in insights and log analytics
Each of these programs and suites offer container functionality that is suitable for both personal use and corporate deployment. If you’re curious and want to know more about any of them, click the button to be redirected to their homepage where you can learn more of the intricacies of each and what sets them out from the crowd!
Thank you for reading!