container management software

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Categories: Cloud

Container management software is a range of products for automating the creation, destruction, deployment and scaling of containers. Containers are used to create cloud-native, distributed applications and to package legacy applications for increased portability and deployment simplicity. They bind libraries and dependencies into one deployable unit and reduce complexity and resource usage when compared to virtual machines (VMs).

Since many more containers than VMs can reside on a server host, the chief benefit of container management software lies in the simplified administration of densely populated hosting environments. Without the automation provided by container management software, the sheer number of containers can quickly outstrip a human operator’s ability to keep up with changes, particularly at rapid speed.

Another advantage of containers over VMs is that they are lightweight and have separate application configuration information from the host OS. This provides containerized applications with increased interoperability, regardless of whether they are supported by heterogeneous server OSes or public cloud infrastructures.

The lines between different container management software categories — including orchestration, security and networking — blur as container orchestration platforms, such as Kubernetes and Docker’s Swarm mode, add native support for additional management capabilities. Container management technology is also being folded into or connected with larger software suites that manage underlying server hosts and VMs.