LXD vs containerd

Overview

LXD

Stacks104

Followers194

Votes68

containerd

Stacks81

Followers140

Votes5

LXD vs containerd: What are the differences?

Introduction

LXD and containerd are both popular container runtimes used in the field of software development and deployment. However, they differ in several key aspects. In this article, we will explore and highlight the main differences between LXD and containerd.

Container Management: LXD is a fully-fledged container manager that provides a high-level API for managing containers and virtual machines. It focuses on providing a user-friendly and comprehensive interface for managing containers with features like live migration, storage management, and networking configuration. On the other hand, containerd is a container runtime focused on executing containers and providing the basic functionalities required for container execution. It is primarily designed to be used as part of a larger container orchestration system like Kubernetes.
Image Management: LXD has built-in support for managing container images directly. It provides features for importing, exporting, and managing container images with versioning and snapshot capabilities. It also supports different image formats like OCI and LXC. In contrast, containerd does not have built-in image management capabilities. Instead, it relies on external tools or registries like Docker for image management. Containerd mainly focuses on executing containers rather than managing the images themselves.
Environment Isolation: LXD utilizes lightweight operating system-level virtualization to provide strong isolation between containers. It achieves this through its use of Linux containers (LXC) and system containers, which provide a level of separation equivalent to running a full virtual machine. Containerd, on the other hand, provides a more lightweight isolation mechanism by leveraging Linux namespaces and cgroups. It focuses on providing process-level isolation to ensure that containers can run securely and efficiently.
Further Container Abstractions: LXD offers additional container abstractions beyond traditional containers. It provides support for system containers, which allow running services on the host with the same level of isolation as containers. LXD also provides virtual machine (VM) support, enabling the creation and management of virtual machines alongside containers. In contrast, containerd primarily focuses on running traditional containers and does not provide additional abstractions like system containers or VM management.
User Interface and Management Tools: LXD offers a comprehensive command-line interface (CLI) and a web-based graphical interface (GUI) called LXDUI, providing a user-friendly experience for managing containers and virtual machines. It also integrates well with tools like LXC and ZFS for advanced container management functionalities. Containerd, on the other hand, does not provide a built-in user interface or management tools. It is primarily intended to be used as a backend for higher-level container orchestration systems and does not offer user-friendly management interfaces out of the box.

In Summary, LXD provides a feature-rich container management solution with built-in image management, comprehensive UI tools, and support for system containers and virtual machines. On the other hand, containerd focuses on providing a lightweight container runtime with a minimalistic approach, relying on external tools for image management and lacking user-friendly management interfaces.

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Advice on LXD, containerd

Florian

IT DevOp at Agitos GmbH

Oct 22, 2019

Decided

lxd/lxc and Docker aren't congruent so this comparison needs a more detailed look; but in short I can say: the lxd-integrated administration of storage including zfs with its snapshot capabilities as well as the system container (multi-process) approach of lxc vs. the limited single-process container approach of Docker is the main reason I chose lxd over Docker.

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Detailed Comparison

LXD	containerd
LXD isn't a rewrite of LXC, in fact it's building on top of LXC to provide a new, better user experience. Under the hood, LXD uses LXC through liblxc and its Go binding to create and manage the containers. It's basically an alternative to LXC's tools and distribution template system with the added features that come from being controllable over the network.	An industry-standard container runtime with an emphasis on simplicity, robustness, and portability
-	OCI Image Spec support; OCI Runtime Spec support (aka runC); Image push and pull support; Container runtime and lifecycle support; Network primitives for creation, modification, and deletion of interfaces; Multi-tenant supported with CAS storage for global images; Management of network namespaces containers to join existing namespaces
Statistics
Stacks 104	Stacks 81
Followers 194	Followers 140
Votes 68	Votes 5
Pros & Cons
Pros 10 More simple 8 Open Source 8 API 8 Best 7 Cluster	Pros 3 No Need for docker shim 2 Supports Kubernetes version greater than 1.21 0 Needs docker shim to work on kubernetes 0 No kubernetes support after 1.22
Integrations
LXC	No integrations available

What are some alternatives to LXD, containerd?

Docker

The Docker Platform is the industry-leading container platform for continuous, high-velocity innovation, enabling organizations to seamlessly build and share any application — from legacy to what comes next — and securely run them anywhere

Kubernetes

Kubernetes is an open source orchestration system for Docker containers. It handles scheduling onto nodes in a compute cluster and actively manages workloads to ensure that their state matches the users declared intentions.

Rancher

Rancher is an open source container management platform that includes full distributions of Kubernetes, Apache Mesos and Docker Swarm, and makes it simple to operate container clusters on any cloud or infrastructure platform.

Docker Compose

With Compose, you define a multi-container application in a single file, then spin your application up in a single command which does everything that needs to be done to get it running.

Docker Swarm

Swarm serves the standard Docker API, so any tool which already communicates with a Docker daemon can use Swarm to transparently scale to multiple hosts: Dokku, Compose, Krane, Deis, DockerUI, Shipyard, Drone, Jenkins... and, of course, the Docker client itself.

Tutum

Tutum lets developers easily manage and run lightweight, portable, self-sufficient containers from any application. AWS-like control, Heroku-like ease. The same container that a developer builds and tests on a laptop can run at scale in Tutum.

Portainer

It is a universal container management tool. It works with Kubernetes, Docker, Docker Swarm and Azure ACI. It allows you to manage containers without needing to know platform-specific code.

Codefresh

Automate and parallelize testing. Codefresh allows teams to spin up on-demand compositions to run unit and integration tests as part of the continuous integration process. Jenkins integration allows more complex pipelines.

LXC

LXC is a userspace interface for the Linux kernel containment features. Through a powerful API and simple tools, it lets Linux users easily create and manage system or application containers.

CAST.AI

It is an AI-driven cloud optimization platform for Kubernetes. Instantly cut your cloud bill, prevent downtime, and 10X the power of DevOps.

Related Comparisons

LXD vs containerd: What are the differences?

Introduction

Container Management: LXD is a fully-fledged container manager that provides a high-level API for managing containers and virtual machines. It focuses on providing a user-friendly and comprehensive interface for managing containers with features like live migration, storage management, and networking configuration. On the other hand, containerd is a container runtime focused on executing containers and providing the basic functionalities required for container execution. It is primarily designed to be used as part of a larger container orchestration system like Kubernetes.
Image Management: LXD has built-in support for managing container images directly. It provides features for importing, exporting, and managing container images with versioning and snapshot capabilities. It also supports different image formats like OCI and LXC. In contrast, containerd does not have built-in image management capabilities. Instead, it relies on external tools or registries like Docker for image management. Containerd mainly focuses on executing containers rather than managing the images themselves.
Environment Isolation: LXD utilizes lightweight operating system-level virtualization to provide strong isolation between containers. It achieves this through its use of Linux containers (LXC) and system containers, which provide a level of separation equivalent to running a full virtual machine. Containerd, on the other hand, provides a more lightweight isolation mechanism by leveraging Linux namespaces and cgroups. It focuses on providing process-level isolation to ensure that containers can run securely and efficiently.
Further Container Abstractions: LXD offers additional container abstractions beyond traditional containers. It provides support for system containers, which allow running services on the host with the same level of isolation as containers. LXD also provides virtual machine (VM) support, enabling the creation and management of virtual machines alongside containers. In contrast, containerd primarily focuses on running traditional containers and does not provide additional abstractions like system containers or VM management.
User Interface and Management Tools: LXD offers a comprehensive command-line interface (CLI) and a web-based graphical interface (GUI) called LXDUI, providing a user-friendly experience for managing containers and virtual machines. It also integrates well with tools like LXC and ZFS for advanced container management functionalities. Containerd, on the other hand, does not provide a built-in user interface or management tools. It is primarily intended to be used as a backend for higher-level container orchestration systems and does not offer user-friendly management interfaces out of the box.

LXD vs containerd

Overview

LXD vs containerd: What are the differences?