OPENSHIFT, KUBERNETES, AND DOCKER: A QUICK COMPARISON

Krishnendhu A
3 min readMay 10, 2022

Containerization and microservices have exploded in popularity in enterprise application delivery in recent years. Many CXOs of firms that want to stay ahead in digital innovation and bring agility to new service launches have turned their attention to containers. According to Portworx’s container adoption study, 89.7% of survey respondents are putting containers into production, which is significant.

Still, CXOs and IT managers face a few challenges with container solutions in terms of administration, scaling, agile deployment, and maintenance.

For containerization, there are three options: Docker, Kubernetes, and OpenShift.

Docker

Docker is a container technology and a container image runtime provided by Docker. Its ecosystem helps it manage and operate Docker container images and their dependencies. This is handled by Docker Enterprise Engine. Mirantis recently purchased the company.

Docker snuck into the data centers of several private and public clouds, bringing the container concept into sharp view. Docker Swarm was later released to handle orchestration and serve as Docker image schedulers. A Docker Enterprise Engine was made available as a commercial solution. However, for the images it was orchestrating, Docker EE was unable to deliver effective scaling and external load balancing.

Kubernetes

Cloud-Native Computing Foundation (CNCF) hosts Kubernetes, an open source container orchestration technology endorsed by Google, AWS, Microsoft, IBM, Intel, Cisco Systems, and Red Hat.

Where Docker EE has limitations, Kubernetes offers the ability to run containers on multiple servers, auto-scale containers, distribute load amongst containers, manage container storage, give container robustness in the event of failure, and more. Kubernetes provides features that complement Docker.

Kubernetes makes container runtime easier by managing Docker-based applications that are deployed on an underlying system that keeps many replicas of running applications. Kubernetes has made it possible for developers to design cloud-native applications faster and has built a self-driving and reusable ecosystem of services. As a result, we may see a variety of Kubernetes-as-a-service platforms being offered by vendors of various sizes.

OpenShift

Kubernetes is a community-driven project, as we all know. If you install Kubernetes on your infrastructure and run into problems, you’ll need to seek help from the community. Red Hat’s OpenShift platform as a service is based on Kubernetes and contains Docker for managing a wide range of workloads. Red Hat’s OpenShift solution is based on the Kubernetes and Docker projects. Red Hat OpenShift provides paid support for any bugs or help with implementation.

Let’s go over some more topics that will helps decision-makers understand the distinctions and relationships between Docker, OpenShift, and Kubernetes to assist them in choosing container management solutions.

Types of Workload

Docker EE is container management and orchestration tool from Docker. Because it is intimately linked with Docker API for intercommunication, Docker EE is best suited for orchestrating Docker images. However, Kubernetes can manage both Docker images and standalone containers, and it has a feature set that is suitable for all workloads. All workload types are supported by OpenShift, including Docker images and Kubernetes.

Patches and Upgrades

Kubernetes and Docker initially release upgrades and patches. After the release of Kubernetes, Docker, and other open-source platforms, OpenShift makes minor updates to its repository.

Operation of CI/CD

External extensions or tools, such as Jenkins, are supported for CI/CD in Kubernetes and Docker and must be installed separately. OpenShift comes with a pre-integrated Jenkins framework, making CI/CD setup a breeze.

Enabling Multiple Clouds

Public clouds such as Google Cloud, AWS EKA, and Azure AKS all support Kubernetes and Docker. OpenShift is accessible on Azure and as a dedicated online platform. Kubernetes is frequently regarded as a top choice for multi-cloud deployment.

Management and Deployment

When compared to Docker EE and OpenShift, which are known for their ease of setup and streamlined user interface, Kubernetes container deployment and maintenance might be complicated.

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