Need advice about which tool to choose?Ask the StackShare community!
Docker Compose vs Puppet Labs: What are the differences?
Developers describe Docker Compose as "Define and run multi-container applications with Docker". 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. On the other hand, Puppet Labs is detailed as "Server automation framework and application". Puppet is an automated administrative engine for your Linux, Unix, and Windows systems and performs administrative tasks (such as adding users, installing packages, and updating server configurations) based on a centralized specification.
Docker Compose and Puppet Labs are primarily classified as "Container" and "Server Configuration and Automation" tools respectively.
"Multi-container descriptor" is the top reason why over 111 developers like Docker Compose, while over 45 developers mention "Devops" as the leading cause for choosing Puppet Labs.
Docker Compose and Puppet Labs are both open source tools. Docker Compose with 16.4K GitHub stars and 2.52K forks on GitHub appears to be more popular than Puppet Labs with 5.34K GitHub stars and 2.1K GitHub forks.
According to the StackShare community, Docker Compose has a broader approval, being mentioned in 787 company stacks & 608 developers stacks; compared to Puppet Labs, which is listed in 181 company stacks and 48 developer stacks.
I'm just getting started using Vagrant to help automate setting up local VMs to set up a Kubernetes cluster (development and experimentation only). (Yes, I do know about minikube)
I'm looking for a tool to help install software packages, setup users, etc..., on these VMs. I'm also fairly new to Ansible, Chef, and Puppet. What's a good one to start with to learn? I might decide to try all 3 at some point for my own curiosity.
The most important factors for me are simplicity, ease of use, shortest learning curve.
I have been working with Puppet and Ansible. The reason why I prefer ansible is the distribution of it. Ansible is more lightweight and therefore more popular. This leads to situations, where you can get fully packaged applications for ansible (e.g. confluent) supported by the vendor, but only incomplete packages for Puppet.
The only advantage I would see with Puppet if someone wants to use Foreman. This is still better supported with Puppet.
If you are just starting out, might as well learn Kubernetes There's a lot of tools that come with Kube that make it easier to use and most importantly: you become cloud-agnostic. We use Ansible because it's a lot simpler than Chef or Puppet and if you use Docker Compose for your deployments you can re-use them with Kubernetes later when you migrate
Pros of Docker Compose
- Multi-container descriptor123
- Fast development environment setup110
- Easy linking of containers79
- Simple yaml configuration68
- Easy setup60
- Yml or yaml format16
- Use Standard Docker API12
- Open source8
- Go from template to application in minutes5
- Can choose Discovery Backend5
- Scalable4
- Easy configuration4
- Kubernetes integration4
- Quick and easy3
Pros of Puppet Labs
- Devops52
- Automate it44
- Reusable components26
- Dynamic and idempotent server configuration21
- Great community18
- Very scalable12
- Cloud management12
- Easy to maintain10
- Free tier9
- Works with Amazon EC26
- Declarative4
- Ruby4
- Works with Azure3
- Works with OpenStack3
- Nginx2
- Ease of use1
Sign up to add or upvote prosMake informed product decisions
Cons of Docker Compose
- Tied to single machine9
- Still very volatile, changing syntax often5
Cons of Puppet Labs
- Steep learning curve3
- Customs types idempotence1
