Docker and Kubernetes: Speed Matters, but these Tools Can Win Together

Not long ago, I covered the news that Google has released Kubernetes under an open-source license, making the technology nearly as high profile as Docker and other players in the container space. Contributors to the Kubernetes project include IBM, Microsoft, Red Hat, CoreOS, Mesosphere, and others. Now, Docker has submitted its container orchestration platform, Swarm, to third party tests, and the results characterize it as up to five times more efficient than Kubernetes.

Here are details, as more evidence comes in that many organizations will likely leverage multiple container management tools. .

Jeff Nickoloff, principal of All In Geek Consulting Services, was approached to conduct the container square-off. You can get detailed analysis of the results in this InformationWeek report.

It's important to note that solutions like Docker and Kubernetes can co-exist. IBM and other companies have shown a lot of interest in integrating technology with Docker, and Docker can play a central role in the Kubernetes project. As a Google blog post explains things:

"Kubernetes is an open source manager for Docker containers, based on Google’s years of experience using containers at Internet scale...Our shared goal is to allow a broad range of developers to take advantage of container technologies. Kubernetes was built from the ground up as a lean, extensible and portable framework for managing Docker workloads. It lets customers manage their applications the way that Google manages hyper-scale applications like Search and Gmail."

"Containers offer tremendous advantages for developers. Predictable deployments and simple scalability are possible because Docker packages all of a workload’s dependencies with the application. This allows for ultimate portability; you can avoid vendor lock-in and run containers in the cloud of your choice. It is just as important that the management framework has the same properties of portability and scalability, and that is what the community will bring to Kubernetes."

Scott Guthrie, Executive Vice President of the Cloud and Enterprise group at Microsoft has stated: “Microsoft will help contribute code to Kubernetes to enable customers to easily manage containers that can run anywhere. This will make it easier to build multi-cloud solutions including targeting Microsoft Azure.”

This week, the KubeCon conference is going on in London, and it will include lots of high-profile information on Kubernetes. Stay tuned for a report later this week.