Appease DevOps concerns with container as a service Docker deployments

Walking around the exhibition floor at any big conference is always a great way to quickly identify the bones of contention that users are experiencing, while at the same time identifying the upcoming trends that will start to dominate the field in the months ahead.

At DockerCon 2016 in Seattle, it would seem that every other vendor booth had a banner that mentioned either Docker performance or container security. Programmers have long been advocating the benefits of using Docker containers on their local development teams, as NoSQL databases, big data processing tools and server software needed for both running web applications and running enterprise microservices are easy to containerize and incorporate in test-driven, continuously deployed Agile projects. But for many organizations, moving beyond the developer's laptop has been a challenge, and convincing middle managers and DevOps teams to push containers into the production space is often an uphill battle, with questions about security and performance being common roadblock. Judging by the number of vendors promoting secure and scalable Docker deployments, it's clear that a great deal of work is being done to appease these concerns.

Emerging trends in the Docker ecosystem

In terms of trends, the term container as a service is one that wasn't really on the radar just 12 months ago, but is now emerging as a serious deployment strategy. Given the challenges surrounding the clustering of containers, not to mention the exciting yet turbulent advances in container automation technology, it's not surprising to discover that many organizations that are looking to adopt a container deployment strategy would like to outsource the operational overhead to experts in the field.

One of the vendors hosting a booth at the DockerCon exhibit hall that was capitalizing on all of the big keywords and trending topics was Triton, a container as a service platform from Joyent. To hear how the big players on the market are addressing the container security concerns, how Docker performance is being optimized, and the types of benefits that can be garnered by adopting a container as a service approach to the software development lifecycle, listen to the associated podcast between TheServerSide's Cameron McKenzie and Elijah Zupancic, Joyent's director of solutions engineering.

Has container as a service offerings helped you adopt a Docker strategy? Let us know.

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