Containerization technology is the most feasible and go-to approach for cloud-native development. It provides OS-level virtualization with minimum configuration to run cloud-native applications. It is evident that containers are crazy fast and can boot up within seconds as compared to VMs that usually take a couple of minutes to boot up. This is due to the fact that rather than booting the whole OS, containers share the OS kernel with the host allowing them to boot up fast. Let’s have a look at a few benefits of containerization technology and try to uncover how containers are capable of speeding up the application delivery process?
Resource Optimization
Containers give users the ability to run applications as they run natively across any operating system, server, or cloud-native environment. Containers contain OS kernels rather than the full OS and hence are considered lightweight. Moreover, they are resource-efficient as they are smaller in capacity compared to VMs.
Container's workloads are isolated from one another while running on the same server. Even in the unlikely event of container failure, the impact will be limited to the container only, and the rest of the operations will be functioning normally.
Fault isolation and recovery
The fact that containers remain independent of other containers is crucial for fault isolation and tolerance as well. Similarly, for repairing the faulty container, the whole application needs not be taken down. Rather, the container itself should be switched off. This makes it relatively easy to find out which container is faulty and saves a lot of time.
Simplified operations and centralized backup
While deploying containerized applications, one needs to deploy, run and manage multiple containers. Containerization technology is blessed with a tool known as a container orchestration platform. This can help you with this task by providing automation, coordination, and management capabilities.
In terms of backup strategies, configurations are stored in a version control system like Git. This helps in rolling out the changes while the data is backed up using a generic backup mechanism. Keeping the process simple and sound makes it easier for faster application delivery.
DevOps adoption with containerization
The maturity of an organization’s team for software development lifecycle(SDLC) can impact product delivery. It also has a massive impact on DevOps adoption. Without a mature SDLC, achieving continuous delivery is challenging.
Enter DevOps, and the software delivery becomes far more efficient with shorter increments. Add Agile to the mix, and it’s a perfect recipe with incremental iterations. However, teams with lower SDLC maturity often find it challenging to cope with the agility of DevOps.
Containerization enables support for Agile and allows the organization to overcome the lack of maturity in SDLC. You don’t need to pack too much with containers and have termination flexibility.
Final thoughts
Containerization is an enterprise’s best bet toward virtualization. Not only does it helps organizations to isolate their processes, but it also offers a higher degree of flexibility. It can be used to leverage workload portability, reliable architecture, cloud-native capabilities, and many more. Let us know which of the above benefit you think will boost the speed of application delivery.
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