Docker Swarm vs k3s

Overview

Docker Swarm

Stacks779

Followers990

Votes282

k3s

Stacks97

Followers252

Votes16

Docker Swarm vs k3s: What are the differences?

Introduction

Docker Swarm and k3s are both container orchestration platforms used to manage and scale containerized applications. While they share similarities, there are key differences between the two.

Scalability and Complexity: Docker Swarm is a more mature and feature-rich orchestration tool compared to k3s. It allows scaling to thousands of nodes and supports advanced features like service discovery, load balancing, and rolling updates. On the other hand, k3s is designed to be lightweight and lightweight, suitable for resource-constrained environments like IoT devices or edge computing. It sacrifices some advanced features for simplicity and ease of use.
Installation and Resource Requirements: Docker Swarm requires a Docker daemon on each node, which leads to higher resource utilization. It also needs a dedicated manager node for cluster coordination. In contrast, k3s is a single binary that includes both the Kubernetes components and container runtime. It has minimal resource requirements, making it easier to install and run on low-spec devices.
Community Support and Ecosystem: Docker Swarm has a larger and more established community compared to k3s. It has been around for a longer time, resulting in a wider range of tools, integrations, and community support available. Conversely, k3s is relatively new but has gained popularity due to its lightweight nature. However, the ecosystem around k3s is still evolving and may have fewer options compared to Docker Swarm.
Networking and Service Discovery: Docker Swarm uses an embedded DNS server for service discovery and assigns a virtual IP to each service. It supports overlay networks for multi-host communication. K3s, being a lightweight Kubernetes distribution, relies on Kubernetes networking models like Service Objects and DNS for service resolution. It provides more advanced networking capabilities and integrates seamlessly with other Kubernetes components.
Security and Authentication: Docker Swarm uses Docker's built-in security mechanisms for authentication and access control, such as TLS certificates and role-based access control (RBAC). It provides a simplified approach to security and is well-suited for environments where Docker is already being used extensively. K3s, being Kubernetes-based, leverages its robust security features, including RBAC, pod security policies, and network policies. It offers granular control and can be integrated into existing Kubernetes security frameworks.
Ease of Management and Operation: Docker Swarm has a straightforward and intuitive management interface, allowing users to quickly set up and scale their clusters. It provides a simple API and CLI for managing services, nodes, and configurations. K3s, although lighter, follows the Kubernetes tooling and workflows. It provides a flexible and powerful command-line interface for managing and configuring Kubernetes resources but requires familiarity with Kubernetes concepts and YAML-based configuration files.

In summary, Docker Swarm is a mature and feature-rich orchestration platform suitable for large-scale deployments, while k3s is a lightweight Kubernetes distribution geared towards resource-constrained environments. Docker Swarm offers advanced features and a larger ecosystem, while k3s prioritizes simplicity, ease of installation, and performance on low-spec devices.

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Advice on Docker Swarm, k3s

Simon

Senior Fullstack Developer at QUANTUSflow Software GmbH

Apr 27, 2020

Decidedon

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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.

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Detailed Comparison

Docker Swarm	k3s
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.	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.
-	ARM64 and ARMv7 support; Simplified installation; SQLite3 support; etcd support; Automatic Manifest and Helm Chart management; containerd, CoreDNS, Flannel support
Statistics
Stacks 779	Stacks 97
Followers 990	Followers 252
Votes 282	Votes 16
Pros & Cons
Pros 55 Docker friendly 46 Easy to setup 40 Standard Docker API 38 Easy to use 23 Native Cons 9 Low adoption	Pros 6 Lightweight 4 Easy 2 Replication Controller 2 Open Source 2 Scale Services
Integrations
Docker	Kubernetes SQLite

What are some alternatives to Docker Swarm, k3s?

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.

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.

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.

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

Simple Docker App management for Mac OS X

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.

Related Comparisons

Docker Swarm vs k3s: What are the differences?

Introduction

Docker Swarm and k3s are both container orchestration platforms used to manage and scale containerized applications. While they share similarities, there are key differences between the two.

Scalability and Complexity: Docker Swarm is a more mature and feature-rich orchestration tool compared to k3s. It allows scaling to thousands of nodes and supports advanced features like service discovery, load balancing, and rolling updates. On the other hand, k3s is designed to be lightweight and lightweight, suitable for resource-constrained environments like IoT devices or edge computing. It sacrifices some advanced features for simplicity and ease of use.
Installation and Resource Requirements: Docker Swarm requires a Docker daemon on each node, which leads to higher resource utilization. It also needs a dedicated manager node for cluster coordination. In contrast, k3s is a single binary that includes both the Kubernetes components and container runtime. It has minimal resource requirements, making it easier to install and run on low-spec devices.
Community Support and Ecosystem: Docker Swarm has a larger and more established community compared to k3s. It has been around for a longer time, resulting in a wider range of tools, integrations, and community support available. Conversely, k3s is relatively new but has gained popularity due to its lightweight nature. However, the ecosystem around k3s is still evolving and may have fewer options compared to Docker Swarm.
Networking and Service Discovery: Docker Swarm uses an embedded DNS server for service discovery and assigns a virtual IP to each service. It supports overlay networks for multi-host communication. K3s, being a lightweight Kubernetes distribution, relies on Kubernetes networking models like Service Objects and DNS for service resolution. It provides more advanced networking capabilities and integrates seamlessly with other Kubernetes components.
Security and Authentication: Docker Swarm uses Docker's built-in security mechanisms for authentication and access control, such as TLS certificates and role-based access control (RBAC). It provides a simplified approach to security and is well-suited for environments where Docker is already being used extensively. K3s, being Kubernetes-based, leverages its robust security features, including RBAC, pod security policies, and network policies. It offers granular control and can be integrated into existing Kubernetes security frameworks.
Ease of Management and Operation: Docker Swarm has a straightforward and intuitive management interface, allowing users to quickly set up and scale their clusters. It provides a simple API and CLI for managing services, nodes, and configurations. K3s, although lighter, follows the Kubernetes tooling and workflows. It provides a flexible and powerful command-line interface for managing and configuring Kubernetes resources but requires familiarity with Kubernetes concepts and YAML-based configuration files.

Docker Swarm vs k3s

Overview

Docker Swarm vs k3s: What are the differences?