What Is Container Orchestration? Working, Importance, Challenges and Tools

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Container orchestration is defined as a solution for automating the deployment, scaling, load balancing, and other operations required for running containerized services and workloads. This article covers the working, importance, challenges and top tools of container orchestration in detail.

What Is Container Orchestration?

Container orchestration solutions automate the operations needed for running containerized services and workloads.

Organizations leverage container orchestration for numerous processes in the container lifecycle that are otherwise manually conducted by software teams. These include container provisioning and deployment, networking, load balancing, and scaling.

Containerization 

Containerization is a method that simplifies the creation, packaging, and deployment of software applications. Similar to a virtual machine, a container is packaged with comprehensive code as well as the dependencies required for its execution. Containers are isolated from the underlying infrastructure required for them to run.

Containerized applications can run in any computing environment. Development teams can easily move containerized workloads between various cloud platforms without the need for rewriting lots of code. Containerization also can enhance developer productivity, as it fosters consistency in code writing and removes the challenges faced while attempting to ensure cross-platform deployment.

Using containers effectively boosts the speed at which an application is developed, deployed, and updated. Using containerized microservices allows developers to break up monolithic software architecture into small, easy-to-manage parts. Tech teams can deploy, update, or retire individual container-powered microservices independently without the need to modify and redeploy the complete application.

Finally, containers are transient and lightweight in nature, thus consuming fewer resources and allowing for large-scale deployments without the need for extensive infrastructure upgrades.

Orchestration

In the world of music, the orchestrator analyzes inputs from the music composer and assigns instruments and singers to create the best possible performance. Similarly, a container orchestrator can configure, deploy, and scale containerized applications to ensure accurate and smooth operations.

Simply put, orchestration is defined as a process through which enterprises can manage large-scale container deployments. Orchestrated containers coordinate to form a cohesive application framework.

So why is orchestration necessary? We discussed how containers are lightweight and transient, which means a large-scale enterprise with a relevant use case can end up having to manage thousands of containers, in production, at the same time. This can quickly become overwhelming, especially when a container deployment includes microservices (which generally come with their own containers).

While it is possible to manage a container deployment manually, doing so will often lead to significant complexities. That’s where container orchestration comes into the picture. Container orchestration solutions help automate the management of the complexities associated with container development and operations.

DevOps teams leverage container orchestration as a declarative method to automate container-related processes. These solutions are a perfect fit for the culture associated with DevOps teams as they constantly aim to operate with maximum agilityOpens a new window and speed when compared to traditional software teams.

Container orchestration unlocks a wide variety of benefits associated with containers. The primary benefit of container orchestration is streamlined operations. Apart from this, these solutions boost the resilience of the container infrastructure of an enterprise. Finally, they enhance organizational cybersecurity through an automated approach that minimizes human intervention and, thus, error.

See More: What Is an API (Application Programming Interface)? Meaning, Working, Types, Protocols, and Examples

How Does Container Orchestration Work?

Today, containerization is a sought-after facet of software development. At its core, containerization involves packaging code along with its dependencies and libraries in a way that allows for it to be executed uniformly and consistently across computing platforms.

Developers leverage containerization for developing and deploying applications more quickly, effectively, and securely than traditional methods. Simply put, containerization allows developers to write the code for an application once and then run it anywhere they need. Containerization is similar to virtualization and can serve as an alternative for it.

Container orchestration solutions primarily serve as a layer between containers and resource pools, using configuration files for controlling enterprise containers. These files are usually written in JSON or YAML.

Container orchestration solutions rely on these configuration files to locate container images and access container logs. The rules for mounting containers in storage volumes are also stored in these files. Finally, configuration files are responsible for establishing network connections among containers.

Container orchestration software is capable of scheduling container deployment, as well as replicating container groups, to hosts or host clusters. Scheduling and replicating occur based on numerous factors, including the availability of memory and processing power availability. The other factors considered during container deployment include metadata, labels, and location in relation to other hosts.

After container deployment at the host level is completed, the container orchestration solution works by taking over the management of containers. The administrator must create a definitions file for the container to ensure the effective management of container automation.

Configuring the applications being executed in containers; monitoring the health of hosts and containers; and provisioning, deploying, deleting, and gauging the availability of containers are the processes automated using container orchestration.

Container orchestration solutions also scale containers up or down according to workload requirements, shift containers to another host if the current host does not have sufficient resources for handling them, handle resource allocation among containers, and take care of load balancing to ensure the correct distribution of workloads among containers. Finally, these solutions allow for simplified discovery by exposing the container services being executed to other applications on the chosen network.

The versatility of container orchestration solutions has led to increased adoption among development teams for both public cloud platforms and on-premise servers. Support from leading vendors of cloud services, such as Google Cloud, Amazon Web Services, and Microsoft Azure, has also contributed to the increased demand for container orchestration.

Importance of Container Orchestration

To understand the importance of container orchestration, let’s look at a common business scenario: five applications running on one server. In this scenario, the server administrator is responsible for managing these applications’ deployment, security, and scaling. It sounds easy enough, especially if the applications are developed on the same operating system and coded using the same language.

Importance of Container Orchestration

Now, imagine the same scenario, except that the deployments have been scaled up to over 1,000 and distributed across cloud platforms and local servers. Suddenly, managing these applications does not seem that easy! Tracking the utilization rates of hosts, implementing updates and rollbacks for all the applications, load balancing, service discovery, and service management all become huge tasks requiring a lot of resources.

Today, many software-first enterprises deal with application deployments at a scale similar to the one described above. Even one small application can have dozens of containers, and organizations routinely deploy thousands of containers across their applications and services. It is not feasible to provide the resources required for managing such deployments manually, and that is what makes container orchestrator solutions so important.

In the above sections, we have already covered how container orchestration is ideal for automating container operations, monitoring container health, and managing container lifecycles.

Let’s now take a look at the top advantages that container orchestration offers businesses:

1. Boosts resource management efficiency

Container orchestration solutions automate the execution of critical lifecycle management functions, making them swifter and limiting the need for human intervention.

Orchestration solutions can scale container deployments up and down when required. This helps enterprises boost resource management efficiency due to the optimization of memory and processing resources. 

2. Augments application development process

A core function of container orchestration is mediation between services or applications and container runtimes for performing scheduling, resource management, and services management.

This allows development teams to focus on higher-value tasks, augmenting the development process and making testing, patching, production, and deployment faster and more accurate.

Additionally, with container orchestration, new versions of applications with added features can be moved into production quickly and rolled back effortlessly whenever such a need arises. This makes it ideal for teams that follow Agile practices. DevOps efficiency is augmented by container orchestration, too, as containerized applications can be executed practically anywhere.

3. Minimizes costs

Container orchestration is used for creating and managing complex container systems without the need for too much time and human capital, thus reducing costs drastically.

Containers are already lighter than traditional software applications as they do not include OS images. Apart from this, they are easier to run and manage than virtual machines for users operating in virtualized environments. Container orchestration tools further reduce the already low resource requirements of containers.

Container orchestration also gives enterprises the advantage of economies of scale–the average number of containers per host is greater in organizations that use container orchestration as compared to those that do not.

4. Enhances agility

Agile processes are extremely popular in the corporate landscape of today. Intense competition compels software-first organizations to respond to evolving requirements and conditions as quickly as possible. Container orchestration solutions make the management of software applications rapid and effortless, thus enhancing agility.

5. Simplifies installation and deployment

Container orchestration allows users to take complete advantage of the repeatable building blocks and modular design of container systems. Container orchestration solutions also simplify application installation as all the components required for the application to run already reside within the containers and are managed efficiently by the orchestrator. Additionally, container orchestration enables users to set up new instances easily whenever a need to scale up to meet increased demand arises.

6. Increases scalability and interoperability

Regardless of the development environment of an enterprise, developers do not need to rewrite the code for containerized applications if a need to deploy them on a different platform arises. Container orchestration solutions help simplify the deployment process by increasing scalability and interoperability automatically.

For instance, an application that needs to be deployed in both a public cloud environment and a private cloud environment can benefit from management through container orchestration.

7. Complements microservices architecture

Unlike traditional monolithic applications that feature tightly coupled components, the application components in a microservices architecture are loosely coupled. Each service (executed within an individual container) must be modified and scaled separately, which can be overwhelming without container orchestration.

Orchestrators allow containerized microservices to exhibit maximized flexibility. Container orchestration solutions can also be used to create a robust management framework that complements large-scale microservices deployments.

8. Improves security and governance

Containers isolate applications and enable them to operate independently from the underlying host architecture. This improves governance and decreases security risks. Container orchestration solutions enhance this property of containers and further improve security and governance by regulating the resources shared among users.

See More: Top 15 DevOps Interview Questions to Prepare for in 2022 (And How to Answer Them)

Challenges of Container Orchestration

Finally, let’s take a look at some of the challenges presented by container orchestration:

1. Securing container images

To avoid having to build containers from scratch, users can leverage reusable images to create containers. However, images, code, and related dependencies are all vulnerable to cybersecurity threats. This challenge can be mitigated through the implementation of robust scanning measures; for instance, users can secure the CI pipeline with a vulnerability scanning solution.

2. Selecting the ideal container technology

As the demand for containers increases, the ecosystem for container tools expands too. This can make it challenging to choose a container technology.

The simplest way to select the best container technology is through a thorough evaluation of each tool with the aim of choosing one that fulfills the specific business needs of the enterprise.

Pro tip: Choosing a container platform compatible with the server’s operating system is always preferable. For instance, Docker is ideal for deploying applications on Linux.

3. Managing ownership

The development team writes the code that is deployed using containers, while the operations team is generally responsible for managing deployed containers. Overseeing the container orchestration process can be a function of either team; however, there is scope for ambiguity and thus, conflict. This challenge can be addressed through the implementation of DevOps practices.

4. Addressing security concerns

Security concerns related to containers go beyond the challenges presented by container images. In fact, security is a key challenge when it comes to container orchestration in general. One of the primary reasons for this is the significant complexity of container ecosystems when compared to other infrastructures.

For instance, unlike virtual machines, containers rely on the host’s operating system. Therefore, container orchestration systems must be configured correctly to prevent the containers as well as their hosts from being exposed to threats. The complexities introduced by automation can also increase the attack surface of container infrastructure.

A security-conscious approach by the development team can help ensure a secure runtime and component suite for the enterprise technology stack. Security teams should also note that improperly secured container orchestration solutions can lead to expensive breaches–a single infected container can damage the whole cluster. Adopting a robust container orchestration strategy can help.

5. Dealing with cultural issues

Finally, the culture followed by the technology team and other relevant stakeholders can affect the adoption and efficacy of container orchestration.

Implementing container orchestration is a complicated process requiring maximum accountability and transparency across stakeholders. If the culture of the organization lacks these attributes, even the best-implemented container orchestration solution will not yield the desired results.

For instance, a reluctance to embrace short feedback cycles can decrease the efficacy of container orchestration.

See More: What Is DevSecOps? Definition, Pipeline, Framework, and Best Practices for 2022

Top 3 Tools for Container Orchestration

Container orchestration solutions include tools and managed services. Before choosing the best one for your organization, important factors must be considered: availability, scalability, ease of deployment & maintenance, security, and support & community.

The top three container orchestration tools in 2022 are:

1. Kubernetes

Kubernetes is a leading container orchestration solution that is renowned for its highly productive platform-as-a-service (PaaS) delivery capabilities.

Combined with Docker and other products in the container landscape, Kubernetes allows developers to focus on innovation and code by automating and addressing issues related to container infrastructure and operations. Kubernetes simplifies the development of cloud applications.

The primary advantage that Kubernetes has over other container orchestration tools is its extensive and cutting-edge functionality in the following areas:

  • Container deployment: Kubernetes can be used to deploy a specific number of containers to a particular host. These containers then stay active in the desired state.
  • Cloud interoperability: Kubernetes operates and enjoys a wide support base across cloud providers, a critical feature for enterprises developing and deploying containerized applications in hybrid cloud and multicloud environments.
  • Service visibility: Kubernetes can be used to automate container exposure over the internet or a local network using an IP address or DNS name. 
  • Rollouts & storage provisioning: With Kubernetes, users can start, suspend, restart, and undo changes to a deployment, as well as mount persistent cloud or local storage for containers as required.
  • Scalability & load balancing: Kubernetes automates the scaling and load balancing process during traffic spikes to containers. The solution automates the distribution of traffic across the network to enhance performance and stability. Additionally, with Kubernetes, developers do not have to set up a load balancer separately.
  • High availability through automated healing: Kubernetes automates the restarting or replacement of failed containers and even deletes containers that fail the health-check criteria set by users.
  • Strong community: Finally, Kubernetes is known for its expanding portfolio of open-source tools that can be used to increase its usability and networking capabilities through the Kubernetes API.

2. Google Kubernetes Engine

Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE) is a solution that enables users to run containerized applications in a production-ready, managed environment. GKE automates and simplifies the deployment, management, and scaling of Kubernetes.

Google has consistently been the largest contributor to the Kubernetes platform on the engineering front, allowing GKE to offer effortless container orchestration through the following features:

  • Single-click cluster creation and scaling up to 15,000 nodes
  • Four-way autoscaling to minimize operational overheads
  • Portability and pre-built templates for deployment
  • Built-in security that includes vulnerability scanning and data encryption for container images
  • High-availability control plane that includes multi-zonal and regional clusters
  • Support for stateless, serverless, and application accelerators allows for the development of numerous applications
  • Kubernetes-native CI/CD tooling for making application development swifter without compromising on security
  • Cost-effective; pay only for running pods
  • Monitoring of cluster networking, storage, and computing resources by Google site reliability engineers
  • Release channel selection (regular, stable, rapid) as per business needs
  • Autopilot mode for a hands-off, fully managed approach to cluster infrastructure
  • Standard mode for complete user control over nodes, as well as for running and fine-tuning custom administrative workloads
  • Simplified licensing and consolidated billing
  • GKE Sandbox for increased workload security – a second line of defense between containerized workloads

3. Amazon Elastic Container Service (ECS)

Amazon ECS is a fully managed solution for container orchestration that enables the scaling, management, and deployment of containerized applications. ECS features seamless integration with Amazon Web Services (AWS), thus providing a simple and secure solution for operating container workloads in both, on-premise and cloud environments through Amazon ECS Anywhere.

Key features of Amazon ECS:

  • Preferred automation and CI/CD tools for promptly launching containers at scale across numerous AWS compute options
  • Minimization of compute costs through autonomous handling of autoscaling and provisioning for resources that have been paid for and configured by users
  • AWS Fargate serverless technology to enable autonomous container operations and minimize efforts spent for patching, security, and configuration
  • Windows compatibility and Docker support
  • Consistent implementation of Amazon ECS operator console and tools through Amazon ECS Anywhere for maintaining local container workloads
  • Management features such as programmatic control, task definitions, new container version updates, container auto-recovery, and blue/green deployments for minimizing downtime during application updates
  • AWS Copilot CLI for creating, releasing, and managing production-ready containers
  • Amazon Elastic File System (EFS) compatibility
  • Networking features such as service mesh, service discovery, load balancing, and task networking
  • Service scheduling, task scheduling, daemon scheduling, and task placement
  • Monitoring and logging capabilities
  • Granular permission assignment at the individual container level, thus allowing for high level of isolation during application building
  • Compliance with global regulatory and security requirements

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Takeaway

Software development teams are increasingly adopting containerization and leveraging its many benefits. This has propelled the demand for container orchestration solutions as stakeholders strive to minimize the costs and complexity associated with the deployment, management, and scaling of container applications. Adopting container orchestrators allows DevOps teams to focus on higher-value tasks.

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