Overview

Docker

Stacks179.0K

Followers143.8K

Votes3.9K

Flocker

Stacks13

Followers59

Votes15

GitHub Stars3.4K

Forks288

Docker vs Flocker: What are the differences?

Introduction

Docker and Flocker are both technologies used in the field of containerization. While Docker focuses on creating and managing isolated containers, Flocker aims to enable the portability and data persistence of containers.

Portability: Docker provides a highly portable environment by packaging applications and their dependencies into containers. These containers can be run on any system that supports Docker, making it easy to deploy applications across different environments. On the other hand, Flocker goes beyond container portability by allowing the movement of containers along with their associated data across different hosts or clusters.
Data Management: Docker containers are designed to be stateless, meaning they do not store data persistently. Flocker, however, addresses this limitation by providing container-level data management. It allows data volumes to be moved and associated with containers, ensuring data persistence and availability even when containers are moved to different hosts.
Scalability: Docker's focus is on container orchestration and management, making it highly scalable. It provides features like automatic scaling, load balancing, and service discovery. Flocker, on the other hand, primarily focuses on data management and portability, and does not offer built-in scalability features. However, Flocker can be used in conjunction with container orchestration platforms like Kubernetes to achieve scalability.
Multi-Host Support: Docker primarily operates on a single host, with containers running independently on that host. Flocker, in contrast, supports multi-host deployments and allows the movement of containers and their associated data across different hosts or clusters. This enables distributed applications and data to be managed effectively.
Data Consistency: Docker containers are typically isolated from each other and do not share a common data source. Flocker provides a mechanism for managing data consistency across containers by enabling the movement of data volumes along with the containers. This ensures that containers always have access to the latest and consistent data.
Use Cases: Docker is widely used for application development, deployment, and scaling. It is commonly used by developers to package their applications and dependencies into containers for easy distribution and deployment. Flocker, on the other hand, is primarily used in scenarios where data persistence and portability are critical, such as database clusters and stateful applications.

In summary, Docker focuses on providing a highly portable and scalable environment for containerized applications, while Flocker emphasizes on data persistence and portability across hosts or clusters.

Advice on Docker, Flocker

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

Docker	Flocker
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	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.
Integrated developer tools; open, portable images; shareable, reusable apps; framework-aware builds; standardized templates; multi-environment support; remote registry management; simple setup for Docker and Kubernetes; certified Kubernetes; application templates; enterprise controls; secure software supply chain; industry-leading container runtime; image scanning; access controls; image signing; caching and mirroring; image lifecycle; policy-based image promotion	Move containers and their data together between hosts Run multiple containers on multiple machines Define your application as a set of connected containers Easily move between dev, staging and production
Statistics
GitHub Stars -	GitHub Stars 3.4K
GitHub Forks -	GitHub Forks 288
Stacks 179.0K	Stacks 13
Followers 143.8K	Followers 59
Votes 3.9K	Votes 15
Pros & Cons
Pros 823 Rapid integration and build up 692 Isolation 521 Open source 505 Testability and reproducibility 460 Lightweight Cons 8 New versions == broken features 6 Documentation not always in sync 6 Unreliable networking 4 Moves quickly 3 Not Secure	Pros 4 Open-Source 3 Easily manage Docker containers with Data 2 Only requires docker 2 Multi-host docker-compose support 2 Easy setup
Integrations
Java Docker Compose VirtualBox Linux Amazon EC2 Container Service Docker Swarm boot2docker Kubernetes Docker Machine Vagrant	Amazon EC2 Amazon EBS Mesosphere Kubernetes Docker Compose Docker Swarm CoreOS

What are some alternatives to Docker, Flocker?

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.

LXD

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.

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.