Container adoption is spreading fast. Docker, a leader in container technology, has documented the rapid growth in the use of its product. “Docker adopters approximately quintuple the average number of running containers they have in production between their first and tenth month of usage.” Additionally, based on a sample of 10,000 companies and 185 million containers in real-world use, Docker reports that the average user runs approximately seven bare metal containerized servers simultaneously on each host. This indicates that companies are finding tools like Docker as a lightweight way to share compute resources, not just for providing a versioned runtime environment. In fact, 25% of companies run an average of 14+ containers simultaneously, and 15% of hosts monitored are running Docker.
Most tools incorporate a highly visible ‘dashboard’ approach, providing dynamic views into the status and performance of resources, in real-time. These tools come in many different shapes, sizes, and purposes, but most collect traditional metrics such as the utilization of CPU, memory, I/O, and network metrics. However, they also take things a step further by breaking down network traffic by image and container. Thus, in the case of a failure, engineers can immediately see which service is overloaded or causing other services to fail—and they can aggregate these service metrics across any number of hosts. Yes, visibility tools increase visibility with container use, but what other benefits exist? Below are some key insights and capabilities that visibility tools may provide:
With the right mix of visibility tools, you can best understand container behaviors, prevent resource drain, embrace the benefits of virtualization, all while maintaining a more secure environment.
When properly managed, containers can increase the speed and ease of application deployment, making it easier to port application stacks across different types of environments. The benefits of working with containers are many, and by transitioning to their use, IT can see value like increased continuous delivery, reduced operational costs, and consistency in code and application deployment. However, it’s important to be vigilant in monitoring container use to avoid sprawl and conflicts when accessing shared resources.
Next Steps: Learn more about containers by reading our tech brief, “A Checklist for Preparing for Containers.”