{"id":945,"date":"2018-12-24T20:47:47","date_gmt":"2018-12-24T20:47:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.appservgrid.com\/paw93\/?p=945"},"modified":"2018-12-28T19:48:24","modified_gmt":"2018-12-28T19:48:24","slug":"devops-and-containers-on-prem-or-in-the-cloud","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.appservgrid.com\/paw93\/index.php\/2018\/12\/24\/devops-and-containers-on-prem-or-in-the-cloud\/","title":{"rendered":"DevOps and Containers, On-Prem or in the Cloud"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"The cloud vs.
\non-premises debate is an old one. It goes back to the days when the
\ncloud was new and people were trying to decide whether to keep workloads
\nin on-premises datacenters or migrate to cloud hosts. But the Docker
\nrevolution has introduced a new dimension to the debate. As more and
\nmore organizations adopt containers, they are now asking themselves
\nwhether the best place to host containers is on-premises or in the
\ncloud. As you might imagine, there\u2019s no single answer that fits
\neveryone. In this post, we\u2019ll consider the pros and cons of both cloud
\nand on-premises container deployment and consider which factors can make
\none option or the other the right choice for your organization.<\/p>\n

DevOps, Containers, and the Cloud<\/h3>\n

First, though, let\u2019s take a quick look at the basic relationship
\nbetween DevOps, containers, and the cloud. In many ways, the combination
\nof DevOps and containers can be seen as one way\u2014if not the native
\nway\u2014of doing IT in the cloud. After all, containers maximize
\nscalability and flexibility, which are key goals of the DevOps
\nmovement\u2014not to mention the primary reasons for many people in
\nmigrating to the cloud. Things like virtualization and continuous
\ndelivery seem to be perfectly suited to the cloud (or to a cloud-like
\nenvironment), and it is very possible that if DevOps had originated in
\nthe Agile world, it would have developed quite naturally out of the
\nprocess of adapting IT practices to the cloud.<\/p>\n

DevOps and On-Premises<\/h3>\n

Does that mean, however, that containerization, DevOps, and continuous
\ndelivery are somehow unsuited or even alien to on-premises deployment?
\nNot really. On-premises deployment itself has changed; it now has many
\nof the characteristics of the cloud, including a high degree of
\nvirtualization, and relative independence from hardware constraints
\nthrough abstraction. Today\u2019s on-premises systems generally fit the
\ndefinition of \u201cprivate cloud,\u201d and they lend themselves well to the
\nkind of automated development and operations cycle that lies at the
\nheart of DevOps. In fact, many of the major players in the
\nDevOps\/container world, including AWS and Docker, provide strong support
\nfor on-premises deployment, and sophisticated container management tools
\nsuch as Rancher are designed to work seamlessly across the
\npublic\/private cloud boundary. It is no exaggeration to say that
\ncontainers are now as native to the on-premises world as they are to the
\ncloud.<\/p>\n

Why On-premises?<\/h3>\n

Why would you want to deploy containers on-premises? Local Resources
\nPerhaps the most obvious reason is the need to directly access and use
\nhardware features, such as storage, or processor-specific operations.
\nIf, for example, you are using an array of graphics chips for
\nmatrix-intensive computation, you are likely to be tied to local
\nhardware. Containers, like virtual machines, always require some degree
\nof abstraction, but running containers on-premises reduces the number of
\nlayers of abstraction between the application and underlying metal to a
\nminimum. You can go from the container to the underlying OS\u2019s hardware
\naccess more or less directly\u2014something which is not practical with VMs
\non bare metal, or with containers in the public cloud. Local
\nMonitoring In a similar vein, you may also need containers to monitor,
\ncontrol, and manage local devices. This may be an important
\nconsideration in an industrial setting, or a research facility, for
\nexample. It is, of course, possible to perform monitoring and control
\nfunctions with more traditional types of software\u2014The combination of
\ncontainerization and continuous delivery, however, allows you to quickly
\nupdate and adapt software in response to changes in manufacturing
\nprocesses or research procedures. Local Control Over Security
\nSecurity may also be a major consideration when it comes to deploying
\ncontainers on-premises. Since containers access resources from the
\nunderlying OS, they have potential security vulnerabilities; in order to
\nmake containers secure, it is necessary to take positive steps to add
\nsecurity features to container systems. Most container-deployment
\nsystems have built-in security features. On-premises deployment,
\nhowever, may be a useful strategy for adding extra layers of security.
\nIn addition to the extra security that comes with controlling access to
\nphysical facilities, an on-premises container deployment may be able to
\nmake use of the built-in security features of the underlying hardware.
\nLegacy Infrastructure and Cloud Migration What if you\u2019re not in a
\nposition to abandon existing on-premises infrastructure? If a company
\nhas a considerable amount of money invested in hardware, or is simply
\nnot willing or able to migrate away from a large and complex set of
\ninterconnected legacy applications all at once, staying on-premises for
\nthe time being may be the most practical (or the most politically
\nprudent) short-to-medium-term choice. By introducing containers (and
\nDevOps practices) on-premises, you can lay out a relatively painless
\npath for gradual migration to the cloud. Test Locally, Deploy in the
\nCloud You may also want to develop and test containerized applications
\nlocally, then deploy in the cloud. On-premises development allows you to
\nclosely monitor the interaction between your software and the deployment
\nplatform, and observe its operation under controlled conditions. This
\ncan make it easier to isolate unanticipated post-deployment problems by
\ncomparing the application\u2019s behavior in the cloud with its behavior in
\na known, controlled environment. It also allows you to deploy and test
\ncontainer-based software in an environment where you can be confident
\nthat information about new features or capabilities will not be leaked
\nto your competitors.<\/p>\n

Public\/Private Hybrid<\/h3>\n

Here\u2019s another point to consider when you\u2019re comparing cloud and
\non-premises container deployment: public and private cloud deployment
\nare not fundamentally incompatible, and in many ways, there is really no
\nsharp line between them. This is, of course, true for traditional,
\nmonolithic applications (which can, for example, also reside on private
\nservers while being accessible to remote users via a cloud-based
\ninterface), but with containers, the public\/private boundary can be made
\neven more fluid and indistinct when it is appropriate to do so. You can,
\nfor example, deploy an application largely by means of containers in the
\npublic cloud, with some functions running on on-premises containers.
\nThis gives you granular control over things such as security or
\nlocal-device access, while at the same time allowing you to take
\nadvantage of the flexibility, broad reach, and cost advantages of
\npublic-cloud deployment.<\/p>\n

The Right Mix for Your Organization<\/h3>\n

Which type of deployment is better for your company? In general,
\nstartups and small-to-medium-size companies without a strong need to tie
\nin closely to hardware find it easy to move into (or start in) the
\ncloud. Larger (i.e. enterprise-scale) companies and those with a need to
\nmanage and control local hardware resources are more likely to prefer
\non-premises infrastructure. In the case of enterprises, on-premises
\ncontainer deployment may serve as a bridge to full public-cloud
\ndeployment, or hybrid private\/public deployment. The bottom line,
\nhowever, is that the answer to the public cloud vs. on-premises question
\nreally depends on the specific needs of your business. No two
\norganizations are alike, and no two software deployments are alike, but
\nwhatever your software\/IT goals are, and however you plan to achieve
\nthem, between on-premises and public-cloud deployment, there\u2019s more
\nthan enough flexibility to make that plan work.<\/p>\n

Source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The cloud vs. on-premises debate is an old one. It goes back to the days when the cloud was new and people were trying to decide whether to keep workloads in on-premises datacenters or migrate to cloud hosts. But the Docker revolution has introduced a new dimension to the debate. As more and more organizations … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “DevOps and Containers, On-Prem or in the Cloud”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-945","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-kubernetes"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.appservgrid.com\/paw93\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/945","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.appservgrid.com\/paw93\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.appservgrid.com\/paw93\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.appservgrid.com\/paw93\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.appservgrid.com\/paw93\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=945"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.appservgrid.com\/paw93\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/945\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":987,"href":"https:\/\/www.appservgrid.com\/paw93\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/945\/revisions\/987"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.appservgrid.com\/paw93\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=945"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.appservgrid.com\/paw93\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=945"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.appservgrid.com\/paw93\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=945"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}