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Docker Swarm vs Harbor: What are the differences?
Differences Between Docker Swarm and Harbor
Docker Swarm and Harbor are both popular tools in the DevOps world, but they serve different purposes and have distinct features. Here are the key differences between Docker Swarm and Harbor:
1. Clustering and Orchestration: Docker Swarm focuses on clustering and orchestration of Docker containers, allowing for easy deployment and management of containerized applications across multiple hosts. It provides features like load balancing, scaling, and container replication to ensure high availability and fault tolerance. On the other hand, Harbor is a container registry that enables users to store, distribute, and manage container images. It acts as a centralized repository for storing and sharing container images across a cluster of Docker hosts.
2. High Availability and Fault Tolerance: While both Docker Swarm and Harbor prioritize high availability and fault tolerance, they achieve it in different ways. Docker Swarm ensures high availability by distributing containers across multiple nodes and using load balancing to handle traffic efficiently. It automatically reschedules containers on different hosts if a node fails. In contrast, Harbor achieves high availability by supporting replication of its storage and database components. It utilizes a multi-master architecture to eliminate single points of failure and ensures continuous access to container images.
3. Security and Access Control: Docker Swarm and Harbor both focus on security and access control, but they have different approaches. Docker Swarm supports secure communication between its components by using Transport Layer Security (TLS) encryption. It also provides role-based access control (RBAC) to manage user permissions. Harbor, on the other hand, offers fine-grained access control with support for LDAP and Active Directory integration. It allows administrators to define user roles and permissions for accessing repositories, projects, and individual images.
4. Container Image Management: Docker Swarm primarily focuses on the deployment and management of containers, whereas Harbor emphasizes container image management. Harbor provides advanced features like vulnerability scanning, image replication, and image promotion across different environments. It also supports vulnerability database integration to identify and mitigate security risks in container images. Docker Swarm, though it can pull container images from a registry like Harbor, does not provide as many image management capabilities.
5. Scalability: Docker Swarm and Harbor have different approaches to scalability. Docker Swarm allows users to scale their services horizontally by adding more replicas on different nodes. It uses a routing mesh to distribute incoming requests to the appropriate containers. Harbor, on the other hand, focuses on scalability at the registry level. It supports the deployment of multiple Harbor instances configured in a replication mode, allowing users to distribute the load across multiple instances.
6. Community Support and Ecosystem: Docker Swarm benefits from being a part of the larger Docker ecosystem. It has a vast community of developers and users, providing extensive documentation, tutorials, and support. Docker Swarm integrates well with other Docker tools and services, making it easy to incorporate into existing workflows. Harbor, while it has its own community, is more focused on container image management and might have a smaller user base compared to Docker Swarm.
In summary, Docker Swarm is an orchestration tool for managing Docker containers across multiple hosts, providing clustering, scaling, and high availability features. Harbor, on the other hand, is a container registry that focuses on container image management, with advanced features like vulnerability scanning and replication.
Our whole DevOps stack consists of the following tools:
- GitHub (incl. GitHub Pages/Markdown for Documentation, GettingStarted and HowTo's) for collaborative review and code management tool
- Respectively Git as revision control system
- SourceTree as Git GUI
- Visual Studio Code as IDE
- CircleCI for continuous integration (automatize development process)
- Prettier / TSLint / ESLint as code linter
- SonarQube as quality gate
- Docker as container management (incl. Docker Compose for multi-container application management)
- VirtualBox for operating system simulation tests
- Kubernetes as cluster management for docker containers
- Heroku for deploying in test environments
- nginx as web server (preferably used as facade server in production environment)
- SSLMate (using OpenSSL) for certificate management
- Amazon EC2 (incl. Amazon S3) for deploying in stage (production-like) and production environments
- PostgreSQL as preferred database system
- Redis 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.
Pros of Docker Swarm
- Docker friendly55
- Easy to setup46
- Standard Docker API40
- Easy to use38
- Native23
- Free22
- Clustering made easy13
- Simple usage12
- Integral part of docker11
- Cross Platform6
- Labels and annotations5
- Performance5
- Easy Networking3
- Shallow learning curve3
Pros of Harbor
- Good on-premises container registry4
- Container Replication1
- Nice UI1
- Vulnerability Scanner1
- Supports LDAP/Active Directory1
- Supports OIDC1
- Support multiple authentication methods1
- Perfect for Teams and Organizations1
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Cons of Docker Swarm
- Low adoption9