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  5. Docker Compose vs Docker Swarm vs Kubernetes

Docker Compose vs Docker Swarm vs Kubernetes

OverviewDecisionsComparisonAlternatives

Overview

Kubernetes
Kubernetes
Stacks61.2K
Followers52.8K
Votes685
Docker Compose
Docker Compose
Stacks22.3K
Followers16.5K
Votes501
GitHub Stars36.4K
Forks5.5K
Docker Swarm
Docker Swarm
Stacks779
Followers990
Votes282

Docker Compose vs Docker Swarm vs Kubernetes: What are the differences?

Introduction

This markdown provides a comparison between Docker Compose, Docker Swarm, and Kubernetes, highlighting their key differences.

  1. Docker Compose: Docker Compose is a tool that allows defining and running multi-container Docker applications. It focuses on defining and managing the interdependencies of containers. Docker Compose is suitable for local development and small-scale deployments, as it lacks advanced scaling and orchestration features.

  2. Docker Swarm: Docker Swarm is a native clustering and orchestration solution for Docker. It enables the creation and management of a swarm of Docker nodes, turning them into a single virtual Docker host. Docker Swarm is built into Docker Engine and provides basic orchestration capabilities, such as service discovery and load balancing, ideal for simple container deployments.

  3. Kubernetes: Kubernetes is a powerful container orchestration platform that automates deployment, scaling, and management of containerized applications. It offers advanced features like self-healing, scaling, multi-container scheduling, and fault tolerance. Kubernetes is highly scalable, fault-tolerant, and suitable for large-scale containerized deployments.

  4. Scalability: Docker Compose lacks built-in scaling capabilities. It is designed for single host/container environments and does not offer native scaling options. Docker Swarm provides some scaling features, allowing the replication of services across multiple nodes. However, Kubernetes excels in scalability, providing auto-scaling capabilities based on resource utilization, custom metrics, or even by time of day.

  5. Advanced Scheduling: Docker Compose and Docker Swarm offer simple service discovery and load balancing capabilities. In contrast, Kubernetes offers advanced scheduling features, allowing fine-grained control over where and how containers are deployed. Kubernetes supports various scheduling strategies, such as affinity, anti-affinity, node selectors, etc., providing greater flexibility in workload distribution.

  6. Service Discovery and Load Balancing: Docker Compose has limited support for service discovery, often relying on environment variables or custom scripts. Docker Swarm comes with built-in service discovery capabilities, allowing containers to communicate with each other using service names. Kubernetes provides a highly scalable and dynamic DNS-based service discovery mechanism, allowing containers to discover and communicate with each other using the service name or DNS record.

In summary, Docker Compose is suitable for small-scale local development, Docker Swarm provides basic clustering and orchestration capabilities, while Kubernetes offers advanced container orchestration features and scalability, making it ideal for large-scale containerized deployments.

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Advice on Kubernetes, Docker Compose, Docker Swarm

Simon
Simon

Senior Fullstack Developer at QUANTUSflow Software GmbH

Apr 27, 2020

DecidedonGitHubGitHubGitHub PagesGitHub PagesMarkdownMarkdown

Our whole DevOps stack consists of the following tools:

  • @{GitHub}|tool:27| (incl. @{GitHub Pages}|tool:683|/@{Markdown}|tool:1147| for Documentation, GettingStarted and HowTo's) for collaborative review and code management tool
  • Respectively @{Git}|tool:1046| as revision control system
  • @{SourceTree}|tool:1599| as @{Git}|tool:1046| GUI
  • @{Visual Studio Code}|tool:4202| as IDE
  • @{CircleCI}|tool:190| for continuous integration (automatize development process)
  • @{Prettier}|tool:7035| / @{TSLint}|tool:5561| / @{ESLint}|tool:3337| as code linter
  • @{SonarQube}|tool:2638| as quality gate
  • @{Docker}|tool:586| as container management (incl. @{Docker Compose}|tool:3136| for multi-container application management)
  • @{VirtualBox}|tool:774| for operating system simulation tests
  • @{Kubernetes}|tool:1885| as cluster management for docker containers
  • @{Heroku}|tool:133| for deploying in test environments
  • @{nginx}|tool:1052| as web server (preferably used as facade server in production environment)
  • @{SSLMate}|tool:2752| (using @{OpenSSL}|tool:3091|) for certificate management
  • @{Amazon EC2}|tool:18| (incl. @{Amazon S3}|tool:25|) for deploying in stage (production-like) and production environments
  • @{PostgreSQL}|tool:1028| as preferred database system
  • @{Redis}|tool:1031| as preferred in-memory database/store (great for caching)

The main reason we have chosen Kubernetes over Docker Swarm is related to the following artifacts:

  • Key features: Easy and flexible installation, Clear dashboard, Great scaling operations, Monitoring is an integral part, Great load balancing concepts, Monitors the condition and ensures compensation in the event of failure.
  • Applications: An application can be deployed using a combination of pods, deployments, and services (or micro-services).
  • Functionality: Kubernetes as a complex installation and setup process, but it not as limited as Docker Swarm.
  • Monitoring: It supports multiple versions of logging and monitoring when the services are deployed within the cluster (Elasticsearch/Kibana (ELK), Heapster/Grafana, Sysdig cloud integration).
  • Scalability: All-in-one framework for distributed systems.
  • Other Benefits: Kubernetes is backed by the Cloud Native Computing Foundation (CNCF), huge community among container orchestration tools, it is an open source and modular tool that works with any OS.
12.8M views12.8M
Comments
Anis
Anis

Founder at Odix

Nov 7, 2020

Review

I recommend this : -Spring reactive for back end : the fact it's reactive (async) it consumes half of the resources that a sync platform needs (so less CPU -> less money). -Angular : Web Front end ; it's gives you the possibility to use PWA which is a cheap replacement for a mobile app (but more less popular). -Docker images. -Kubernetes to orchestrate all the containers. -I Use Jenkins / blueocean, ansible for my CI/CD (with Github of course) -AWS of course : u can run a K8S cluster there, make it multi AZ (availability zones) to be highly available, use a load balancer and an auto scaler and ur good to go. -You can store data by taking any managed DB or u can deploy ur own (cheap but risky).

You pay less money, but u need some technical 2 - 3 guys to make that done.

Good luck

115k views115k
Comments
Michael
Michael

CEO at asencis Ltd

Jan 5, 2021

Needs advice

We develop rapidly with docker-compose orchestrated services, however, for production - we utilise the very best ideas that Kubernetes has to offer: SCALE! We can scale when needed, setting a maximum and minimum level of nodes for each application layer - scaling only when the load balancer needs it. This allowed us to reduce our devops costs by 40% whilst also maintaining an SLA of 99.87%.

272k views272k
Comments

Detailed Comparison

Kubernetes
Kubernetes
Docker Compose
Docker Compose
Docker Swarm
Docker Swarm

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.

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.

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.

Lightweight, simple and accessible;Built for a multi-cloud world, public, private or hybrid;Highly modular, designed so that all of its components are easily swappable
--
Statistics
GitHub Stars
-
GitHub Stars
36.4K
GitHub Stars
-
GitHub Forks
-
GitHub Forks
5.5K
GitHub Forks
-
Stacks
61.2K
Stacks
22.3K
Stacks
779
Followers
52.8K
Followers
16.5K
Followers
990
Votes
685
Votes
501
Votes
282
Pros & Cons
Pros
  • 166
    Leading docker container management solution
  • 130
    Simple and powerful
  • 108
    Open source
  • 76
    Backed by google
  • 58
    The right abstractions
Cons
  • 16
    Steep learning curve
  • 15
    Poor workflow for development
  • 8
    Orchestrates only infrastructure
  • 4
    High resource requirements for on-prem clusters
  • 2
    Too heavy for simple systems
Pros
  • 123
    Multi-container descriptor
  • 110
    Fast development environment setup
  • 79
    Easy linking of containers
  • 68
    Simple yaml configuration
  • 60
    Easy setup
Cons
  • 9
    Tied to single machine
  • 5
    Still very volatile, changing syntax often
Pros
  • 55
    Docker friendly
  • 46
    Easy to setup
  • 40
    Standard Docker API
  • 38
    Easy to use
  • 23
    Native
Cons
  • 9
    Low adoption
Integrations
Vagrant
Vagrant
Docker
Docker
Rackspace Cloud Servers
Rackspace Cloud Servers
Microsoft Azure
Microsoft Azure
Google Compute Engine
Google Compute Engine
Ansible
Ansible
Google Kubernetes Engine
Google Kubernetes Engine
Docker
Docker
Docker
Docker

What are some alternatives to Kubernetes, Docker Compose, Docker Swarm?

Rancher

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.

Tutum

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

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

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.

CAST.AI

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.

k3s

k3s

Certified Kubernetes distribution designed for production workloads in unattended, resource-constrained, remote locations or inside IoT appliances. Supports something as small as a Raspberry Pi or as large as an AWS a1.4xlarge 32GiB server.

Flocker

Flocker

Flocker is a data volume manager and multi-host Docker cluster management tool. With it you can control your data using the same tools you use for your stateless applications. This means that you can run your databases, queues and key-value stores in Docker and move them around as easily as the rest of your app.

Kitematic

Kitematic

Simple Docker App management for Mac OS X

Docker Machine

Docker Machine

Machine lets you create Docker hosts on your computer, on cloud providers, and inside your own data center. It creates servers, installs Docker on them, then configures the Docker client to talk to them.

Harbor

Harbor

Harbor is an open source cloud native registry that stores, signs, and scans container images for vulnerabilities. Harbor solves common challenges by delivering trust, compliance, performance, and interoperability. It fills a gap for organ

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