Docker vs Nomad

Overview

Docker

Stacks194.2K

Followers143.8K

Votes3.9K

Nomad

Stacks256

Followers344

Votes32

GitHub Stars15.9K

Forks2.0K

Docker vs Nomad: What are the differences?

1. **Containerization Technology**: Docker is a containerization platform that allows developers to deploy applications in lightweight, portable containers. These containers encapsulate all the dependencies required for an application to run. On the other hand, Nomad is a container orchestrator that can manage the scheduling and deployment of containers across a cluster of machines. It provides a more scalable and flexible solution for running applications in production environments. 2. **Supported Platforms**: Docker can be used on various operating systems including Linux, Windows, and macOS. It provides a consistent experience across different platforms, making it popular among developers. On the other hand, Nomad is designed to work primarily with Linux-based operating systems and does not provide the same level of compatibility as Docker. 3. **Focus on Orchestration**: While Docker provides some basic orchestration capabilities, its main focus is on the containerization of applications. It provides simple tools for managing containers locally or on a single machine. Nomad, on the other hand, is specifically designed for container orchestration and excels at scheduling and managing containers across a cluster of machines. 4. **Scalability**: Docker is suitable for smaller deployments or running applications on a single machine. It can easily be installed and used on a developer's local machine. Nomad, on the other hand, is built for large-scale deployments and can handle complex distributed systems. It can scale to thousands of containers across multiple machines. 5. **Community Ecosystem**: Docker has a large and vibrant community with extensive support and resources available. It has a wide range of pre-built images and a rich ecosystem of tools and services built around it. Nomad, although growing in popularity, has a smaller community and a more limited set of tools and integrations available. 6. **Architecture**: Docker follows a client-server architecture where the Docker daemon runs on the host machine and manages the creation and execution of containers. Nomad follows a server-agent architecture where a cluster of Nomad servers coordinate the scheduling and management of containers distributed across a cluster of Nomad clients.

In summary, Docker is primarily focused on containerization and provides a consistent experience across different platforms, while Nomad is designed for container orchestration and excels at managing large-scale deployments.

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Advice on Docker, Nomad

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	Nomad
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	Nomad is a cluster manager, designed for both long lived services and short lived batch processing workloads. Developers use a declarative job specification to submit work, and Nomad ensures constraints are satisfied and resource utilization is optimized by efficient task packing. Nomad supports all major operating systems and virtualized, containerized, or standalone applications.
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	Handles the scheduling and upgrading of the applications over time; With built-in dry-run execution, Nomad shows what scheduling decisions it will take before it takes them. Operators can approve or deny these changes to create a safe and reproducible workflow; Nomad runs applications and ensures they keep running in failure scenarios. In addition to long-running services, Nomad can schedule batch jobs, distributed cron jobs, and parameterized jobs; Stream logs, send signals, and interact with the file system of scheduled applications. These operator-friendly commands bring the familiar debugging tools to a scheduled world
Statistics
GitHub Stars -	GitHub Stars 15.9K
GitHub Forks -	GitHub Forks 2.0K
Stacks 194.2K	Stacks 256
Followers 143.8K	Followers 344
Votes 3.9K	Votes 32
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 7 Built in Consul integration 6 Easy setup 4 Bult-in Vault integration 3 Built-in federation support 2 Autoscaling support Cons 3 Easy to start with 1 HCL language for configuration, an unpopular DSL 1 Small comunity
Integrations
Java Docker Compose VirtualBox Linux Amazon EC2 Container Service Docker Swarm boot2docker Kubernetes Docker Machine Vagrant	Consul Vault

What are some alternatives to Docker, Nomad?

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.

Apache Mesos

Apache Mesos is a cluster manager that simplifies the complexity of running applications on a shared pool of servers.

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.

DC/OS

Unlike traditional operating systems, DC/OS spans multiple machines within a network, aggregating their resources to maximize utilization by distributed applications.

rkt

Rocket is a cli for running App Containers. The goal of rocket is to be composable, secure, and fast.

Mesosphere

Mesosphere offers a layer of software that organizes your machines, VMs, and cloud instances and lets applications draw from a single pool of intelligently- and dynamically-allocated resources, increasing efficiency and reducing operational complexity.

Vagrant Cloud

Vagrant Cloud pairs with Vagrant to enable access, insight and collaboration across teams, as well as to bring exposure to community contributions and development environments.

Gardener

Many Open Source tools exist which help in creating and updating single Kubernetes clusters. However, the more clusters you need the harder it becomes to operate, monitor, manage and keep all of them alive and up-to-date. And that is exactly what project Gardener focuses on.

YARN Hadoop

Its fundamental idea is to split up the functionalities of resource management and job scheduling/monitoring into separate daemons. The idea is to have a global ResourceManager (RM) and per-application ApplicationMaster (AM).

Atmosly

AI-powered Kubernetes platform for developers & DevOps. Deploy applications without complexity, with intelligent automation and one-click environments.

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Docker vs Nomad: What are the differences?

Docker vs Nomad

Overview