Using Containers in Your Organization
This chapter has dived into some of the key characteristics and capabilities of
containers. Their immutable and prescriptive nature is unique in the IT world in
terms of really embracing the devops mentality and enabling it within an organization.
While some IT pros may use containers in isolation, this is for a minority of scenarios.
The real power of containers is achieved when developers embrace containers and use
them throughout the entire life cycle of application development and deployment.
Certainly consider using a Docker Trusted Repository instance on-premises for your
custom applications if you are not comfortable saving content even to a private
repository on Docker Hub.
Many developers understand Linux containers but don’t know that Windows now
supports containers. Therefore, developers need to be educated about this capability
and learn how containers can integrate with developer tools such as Visual Studio.
The next question may be whether to use Windows or Linux containers. Remember
that the management fabric is the same: Docker. The difference between containers
on Windows vs. Linux boils down to two main factors:
The underlying capabilities of Windows vs. Linux will likely be the biggest factor in
determining the platform for an application. Now that Windows has containers, it
removes that as a potential block for organizations that have bought into
containers.
Levels of isolation required. Containers on Windows enable the use of Hyper-V
containers and kernel mode isolation as a deployment mode choice.Nano Server and containers are like peanut butter and jelly, and most organizations
looking at Nano Server today are also looking at using it closely with containers, as
they complement each other so well in terms of small footprint, fast provisioning, and
the “cattle” mentality.