Containers and virtualization

Support a guest security policy with endpoint hardening

Guest security relies not only on a series of tools and best practices, but also on a security mindset that starts with endpoint hardening and follows the deployment of every VM. Continue Reading

Can container communication cross over to noncontainerized apps?

Can an application have Python as a container, run SQL queries on an external Microsoft SQL database and publish the results on an Apache web server container? Continue Reading

Fail at scale: Build failure into virtual infrastructure design

It's better to be over-prepared than surprised. Design virtual infrastructure around the possibility that it might fail and have a plan in mind for when it does. Continue Reading

GCP Marketplace beats AWS, Azure to Kubernetes app store

Google is the first major public cloud provider to sell prepackaged apps for container orchestration clusters, but expect AWS and Azure to follow quickly with Kubernetes marketplaces of their own. Continue Reading

Container security emerges in IT products enterprises know and trust

Established IT security vendors add containers to their repertoire, and IT pros must decide between trusted platform integration and the latest features from startups. Continue Reading

Istio service mesh tech boosts Kubernetes' work, with trade-offs

Why wouldn't IT teams use a tool that enables developers to focus on writing app code and operations to focus on IT resources? For all its benefits, Istio does require a study on pros and cons. Continue Reading

Can virtual SAN performance create VM performance issues?

Monitor the performance of your VSAN and VMs to ensure one isn't affecting the other. Performance metrics and alerts can make it easy to spot VSAN issues before they affect VMs. Continue Reading

How can VSAN network requirements affect performance?

Virtual SAN network configuration problems can detract from performance and availability. Update your drivers and check that no security products are blocking connections. Continue Reading

How do VSAN compatibility issues affect performance?

Effective VSAN performance requires compatible hardware and software. Review compatibility guides and use diagnostic tools to keep your system updated. Continue Reading

Will the Kubernetes sidecar deliver container happiness?

IT teams tasked with managing containerization -- or that might be imagining a future full of containers -- may want to take a look at Kubernetes sidecar software. This proxy technology built into the service mesh architecture could prove useful in the ongoing battle to solve network management troubles.

Proponents tout the technology's ability to sort out the complicated network relationships that result from the use of containers and microservices. The Kubernetes sidecar technology found in service mesh technology first proved useful in giant online operations where conventional networking configurations weren't up to the task of managing microservices. But is there that same type of usefulness for organizations not named Twitter and Google? Does an IT shop that's not on the leading edge of DevOps need to look at Kubernetes sidecar software?

That's the question TechTarget's Beth Pariseau takes up in this edition of Modern Stack. She explores how the service mesh architecture works and how realistically its benefits might be applied to real-world IT scenarios. Some will see these advanced capabilities as unnecessary, at least for their current configurations. Others may be intrigued by the enhancements to security and greater control of traffic afforded by Kubernetes sidecar software in the mesh architecture.

If service mesh isn't in your near-term plans, it might be something to work toward, especially if your business intends to do more with containers and microservices in the years to come.

Also in this issue are features and columns delving into the practicality of the serverless approach; how developers influence an organization's decisions about cloud platforms; where containers, cloud computing and other emerging strategies affect application componentization practices; what no-code/low-code trends mean for the pace of application development; and how managing cloud spending can easily become a source of frustration even for those organizations that consider themselves especially prudent planners.

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Service mesh architecture radicalizes container networking

Containerization is the IT industry's favorite superhero, so it's only fitting that containers have a powerful sidekick in service mesh. Together, they fight network management chaos. Continue Reading

Service mesh architecture radicalizes container networking

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Docker pledges Kubernetes for Windows support in Docker EE

Docker Enterprise Edition will add Kubernetes for Windows features in the coming months, but Microsoft shops haven't decided on a container orchestration strategy. Continue Reading

Docker roadmap champions multi-cloud container management

Docker Enterprise Edition will roll out multi-cloud container management in beta later in 2018 and go head-to-head with Red Hat OpenShift and Rancher. Continue Reading

Small-scale infrastructure testing requires transparency

Use small-scale tests for a cheaper alternative to expensive, duplicate test environments, but be wary of limitations, such as hardware functionality and performance. Continue Reading

What are containers and how do they work?

Containerization is a new approach to application provisioning for many enterprises and requires a fundamental understanding of how containers operate, where they differ and the pros and cons. Continue Reading

Chef Habitat early adopters sing app automation praises

Chef Habitat can ease application deployments and updates, and ensure high availability, but there's still a lot of confusion among IT pros about precisely where it fits in the DevOps toolchain. Continue Reading

Build a virtualized development environment with these guidelines

Save time and stress by designing virtualized test environments that include migration preparation and sandbox testing, and that, in certain cases, mix test and production hardware. Continue Reading

Set up BSD jails as a form of virtualization

Using the ezjail tool, you can easily create and install a BSD jail. Execute these simple commands to get started and take advantage of key ezjail features. Continue Reading

Container cluster management tools ease cloud operations

Container ops is full of hurdles, even in the cloud. Managed Kubernetes services from the major providers offer a wealth of services to float a process along more easily. Continue Reading

Serverless infrastructure calls for updated IT ops expertise

IT ops participation is necessary for successful serverless infrastructure management, but operations pros will need to sharpen their skills in systems engineering and infrastructure as code. Continue Reading

Serverless deployment lifts enterprise DevOps velocity

Mainstream companies see mounting demand for serverless deployments for their new apps, but for existing apps, it's another story. Continue Reading

Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform adds CoreOS automation

Red Hat plans to swiftly integrate technology recently acquired from CoreOS into its current product line, but the CoreOS name will stick around. Continue Reading

Cisco and CoreOS Kubernetes integrations swell IT buyer choices

Cisco and CoreOS added to a growing number of Kubernetes integration options, prompting enterprise IT buyers to consider whether they should rely on one vendor or take on heavy lifting themselves. Continue Reading

Google gVisor serves up container security isolation

There are other VM-like approaches for container security isolation, but Google's Kubernetes cred could make its gVisor a multi-cloud standard for security-sensitive enterprise apps. Continue Reading

Kubernetes distributions vs. the open source option

There are always benefits to going it alone on open source software, such as Kubernetes, but with containers, there's equal benefit to hitching the cart to a vendor distribution. Continue Reading

VMware NSX portfolio aims to unify local and cloud workloads

VMware's NSX strategy aims to help enterprises stitch together data centers and cloud environments, though it could be overkill for IT shops with simpler needs that are more specific. Continue Reading

Cloud Foundry users grapple with stateful cloud-native apps

Cloud Foundry shops can refactor stateless apps according to cloud-native principles, but would like to bring stateful applications on board as well. Continue Reading

CF community debates Cloud Foundry and Kubernetes integration

Cloud Foundry PaaS and Kubernetes container orchestration each appeal to DevOps shops, and users want consolidation, as the two camps continue to negotiate. Continue Reading

Serverless technology obfuscates workflows, performance data

Serverless and microservices reshape the application stack into something that looks like a swath of stars in the sky. How do you find a slow, misconfigured component in this interconnected galaxy? Continue Reading

Best practices for sizing a server

Serving sizing requires a number of comparisons, especially between having a few large servers or many popcorn servers. Compare use cases to find what fits. Continue Reading

Master application scalability in cloud computing alongside devs

Just because cloud scales endlessly doesn't mean every component in an application should, too. Teams throw money away and degrade app performance when ops isn't involved in design and test. Continue Reading

Docker vs. Mesosphere battleground shifts focus to Kubernetes

Kubernetes integrations in Docker and Mesosphere are generally available, vying for enterprise attention with a focus on ease of use. Continue Reading

Get started with this Nutanix Community Edition installation guide

Install Nutanix Community Edition to test its features in your infrastructure for free. Learn about the download, installation, configuration and VM creation processes. Continue Reading

Bharti Airtel overhauls test/dev with container infrastructure

Startup AppOrbit's approach to container infrastructure deployment beat out Red Hat's OpenShift as a large Indian telco overhauled its test environments for speedier development. Continue Reading

Serverless technology obfuscates workflows, performance data

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Migrate virtual machines from development to production

Administrators must prepare carefully before moving test or development VMs to production. Check connectivity, security, compliance and licensing before beginning a migration. Continue Reading

AWS' managed Kubernetes service faces tough competition in GKE

Amazon's native integration of Kubernetes puts all the major cloud providers on the same playing field, but it's not an even match. Continue Reading

Hunt zombie VMs and control virtualization sprawl

VM tagging is an effective tactic for discovering and eliminating zombie VMs. Cut useless VMs, redundant data and confusing configurations to enable efficient resource consumption and limit VM sprawl. Continue Reading

Select the best container monitoring tools for your environment

Organizations that run containers should monitor them, too. Choose container monitoring that integrates into other systems monitoring tools, or take a different route. Continue Reading

512e disks attempt to bridge the gap between 512n and 4Kn

It's important to ensure that your OS and hypervisor support 512e and 4Kn disks, but there are always alternatives to work around any incompatibilities. Continue Reading

Microservices management tools harmonize polyglot chaos

IT ops must replenish its toolkit to standardize infrastructure management and let developers experiment with the latest programming languages and application designs. Continue Reading

Monoliths-to-microservices move refactors IT ops skills

As enterprises seek speed and efficiency with microservices, IT ops pros must learn skills and consolidate tools to deal with increased infrastructure and application complexity. Continue Reading

Build the Kubernetes home lab that's right for your job

Kubernetes and the growing number of commercial container management tools based on it require specialized skills and experience from the application to the infrastructure. Continue Reading

Follow this Minikube tutorial to brew up a Kubernetes home lab

Set up a Minikube home lab, and begin exploring Kubernetes container orchestration before the coffee in your mug turns cold. Continue Reading

Learn Kubernetes infrastructure in a personal lab

Live servers are not the place to build up Kubernetes skills. Instead, set up a Kubernetes cluster, and start experimenting with it on a laptop in a lab. Continue Reading

Kubernetes 1.10 release hits mature enterprise container market

Kubernetes 1.10 adds incremental feature updates, but enterprises will look to third-party products to integrate upstream code before they embrace it. Continue Reading

Plan ahead: Build a container network for scalability

Container connectivity is no small problem for enterprises with large Docker and Kubernetes deployments. Bring in tools designed to support the workload. Continue Reading

Considerations for creating a VM for a development environment

Just because admins are working in a test/dev environment doesn't mean they can be lax about creating VMs. There are several items to consider, including licensing and compliance. Continue Reading

Ten lessons for enterprises deploying containers

The majority of medium to large enterprises surveyed by EMA foresee containers replacing VMs in two to five years. Unsurprisingly, container management and shadow containers are pressing concerns. Continue Reading

Six simple cloud security policies you need to know

Data protection takes center stage in modern IT. Step through this cloud security checklist to ensure your organization is covering all its bases. Continue Reading

Aqua Security 3.0 architecture supports AWS Fargate

Aqua Security's MicroEnforcer deployed without a sidecar container supports containers on public cloud services such as AWS Fargate and Azure Container Instances. Continue Reading

Azure Container Instances provide an opt-out option for cluster ops

Containers-as-a-service platform Azure Container Instances doesn't support clustering on its own, but features an open source connector tool for increased scalability. Continue Reading

The role of container management software in IT ops

Containers are a useful technology, but give some thought to how you'll manage them. Here's what to know about what's available and how to find the right fit. Continue Reading

Integrate DevOps and containers with simple tool adjustments

Organizations with an established DevOps pipeline can migrate from VMs to containers without tossing out the entire toolstack. Focus on these steps to enable containers in production. Continue Reading

End of general support for vSphere 5.5 forces IT shops' hands

To position themselves for future needs and technologies, many vSphere 5.5 customers may have to move out of their comfort zones and upgrade to version 6.5. Continue Reading

Can container tools box out configuration management?

What will happen to your infrastructure programming skills when containers take over? Continue Reading

IT turns to VMware encryption for added VM security

Encryption features in recent vSphere and vSAN updates aim to balance security with simplicity and performance. For VMware shops, there is little standing in the way of adoption. Continue Reading

What's our future if we don't secure IoT devices?

When everything from the coffee maker to the manufacturing plant's robots to the electric grid is connected, shouldn't security be IT's primary concern? Continue Reading

Container security tools abound, but IT pros await big vendors

Container security startups peddle unique approaches, but while some early adopters jump on board with fledgling vendors, a majority will watch for industry consolidation first. Continue Reading

Nutanix Acropolis hypervisor components and capabilities

Nutanix hypervisor components, including controller VMs, and Prism, its management control plane, help simplify management. Learn more about how these components work together. Continue Reading

What's our future if we don't secure IoT devices?

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Hype for future of container development gets dose of reality

Realistic timelines have replaced the big promises of container disruption. Virtualization administrators should expect security and microservices features as the market matures. Continue Reading

VMware NSX integration push ramps up to reinforce IT ties

With tighter integration between its NSX and its cloud and virtualization offerings, VMware aims to reinforce its networking chops with enterprise IT. Continue Reading

Preserve Hyper-V security from Meltdown and Spectre vulnerabilities

Protect Hyper-V VMs from Meltdown and Spectre security vulnerabilities, and install patches from Microsoft. Watch out for future revisions, performance impacts and recalls. Continue Reading

Small business virtualization grows in mature market

Virtualization isn't only for large enterprises anymore. New technology at cheaper prices has made SMB virtualization practical, while increased competition has made it necessary. Continue Reading

Container adoption stats reveal a ramp up in production

There's a 50/50 chance your IT organization will provision and support container-based applications by 2020. See how organizations approach container deployment, including how much they need to spend. Continue Reading

Follow these VM network configuration best practices

Set up and operate a VM network using proven strategies to ensure security and performance. With a little planning, virtualization admins can avoid potential issues down the road. Continue Reading

Network security features available in a virtual switch

Virtual switch security is achieved through a number of features. Virtualization admins can create and enforce policies, lock down MAC addresses and block forged traffic from VMs. Continue Reading

NIC teaming software enables load balancing and failover

Load balancing and failover capabilities help optimize performance and achieve resiliency in your virtual infrastructure. Learn how NIC teaming provides both functionalities. Continue Reading

Navigate different network ports, from physical to virtual

Physical network ports, virtual network ports, uplink ports and group ports all have different functions in virtual infrastructures. Learn more with this in-depth breakdown. Continue Reading

VM networking: Physical and virtual switches explained

In order for VMs to communicate, they must utilize VM networking technologies that enable them to emulate and access the existing physical network and provide additional features. Continue Reading

Unikernels vs. containers: See the lightweight championship fight

The drive to minimize app hosting resources yielded unikernels and containers, the IT equivalent of a tiny house and apartment. Containing only the barest essentials, unikernels pose unique benefits and challenges. Continue Reading

CoreOS acquisition burnishes Red Hat containers profile

Most IT shops don't deploy containers in production, but more might be enticed by the addition of CoreOS tools to Red Hat's OpenShift. Continue Reading

OpenShift on OpenStack aims to ease VM, container management

In this Q&A, Red Hat's Brian Gracely discusses managing a virtual environment that has both VMs and containers and how OpenShift on OpenStack can help. Continue Reading

Container orchestration tools ease distributed system complexity

Containers simplify some aspects of enterprise apps, but the deployment process is no walk in the park. Orchestration tools bring standardization and automation to complex hosting scenarios. Continue Reading

How to choose the best hardware for virtualization

Selecting the best hardware for virtualization is the foundation of maintaining or designing a robust, reliable and scalable data center. Continue Reading

Ensure container monitoring and control via smart tooling

Don't try to stick with traditional monitoring tools when your organization matures to containers; they won't do enough. Seek out monitoring and management tools with targeted capabilities. Continue Reading

Docker Enterprise Edition prospects mull vendor strategy

Uncertain about Docker's future business growth, some enterprise IT pros are on the fence about whether to invest in its container orchestration tools. Continue Reading

Container infrastructure a silver lining amid Intel CPU flaw fixes

Containers aren't immune to Meltdown and Spectre vulnerabilities, but they could lighten the operational burden of fixes for IT pros. Continue Reading

Address bulk VMM agent updates with PowerShell automation

The SCVMM agent upgrade process is a regular, but sometimes laborious, part of VM management. Use PowerShell to make light work of bulk updates through commands and loops. Continue Reading

Make the case to follow a container strategy at your company

Sorting through container management software can be overwhelming. Determine what your organization actually needs in terms of security and cloud capabilities before leaping in. Continue Reading

Container OS options abound: Make the right selection

There is an assortment of OSes that support containerized applications, so go into the decision with a set of wants, needs and must-avoids. Continue Reading

The future of cloud computing looks foggy

The concept of cloud, while never sharply defined, may be growing even less clear. The intenet of things, for example, means more connected devices are showing up in more places, an unstoppable trend that will affect the future of cloud computing.

These edge devices and related functions further blur lines between what's cloud and what isn't. To be sure, there's a good reason these initiatives are often talked about as fog computing.

TechTarget contributor Alan Earls explores all this in the cover story of this issue of Modern Infrastructure. He speaks with experts and IT professionals about how edge and fog computing make a difference in how business is conducted. The ability to meaningfully process data as close as possible to the source is potentially powerful for certain types of organizations, though not an easy task to execute. Having both data and the capability to process it so widely distributed -- rather than collected and centralized -- is a shift in thinking. It's also an acknowledgement that the future of cloud computing is headed in some unexpected directions. IT infrastructures will need to adapt.

The cloud will be a key component in this evolution, a fact that may further stretch our understanding of what -- and where -- cloud computing is.

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Paravirtualization advantages, disadvantages and use cases

Despite a promising start, paravirtualization comes with significant disadvantages that limit the number of use cases that make sense for enterprise IT, but it still has its place. Continue Reading

Know how container host machine resources get used?

What's a container's resource limit? How do they scale? What OS does a host machine need? Answer 10 questions to prove your container deployment knowledge. Continue Reading

Docker-supported OS list expands with Enterprise Edition update

Docker Enterprise Edition fired back at Kubernetes with new support for mixed clusters and applications, as well as advanced security features that target large enterprises. Continue Reading

Should you run MySQL on VMs or physical machines?

Take stock of your current environment, including instance types, orchestration systems and storage devices, before deciding whether to deploy MySQL to VMs or physical machines. Continue Reading

The art of managing IT risk is never quite mastered

Risks abound, and no amount of preparation or caution will eliminate them entirely from our lives. This is as true now as it was in the past, and it likely will remain true in the future.

While technology enables us all to work more effectively and productively, the necessity of managing IT risk remains. Risk follows wherever we go -- from the data center to the cloud, from virtualized workloads to containers. Smart IT organizations are continuously assessing threats and then devising ways to minimize them. That's the goal, at least.

This issue of Modern Infrastructure examines some of the current approaches to managing IT risk, from maintaining security to handling costs.

In our cover story, TechTarget's Beth Pariseau writes about the particular challenges of container security. IT shops have been reluctant to put containers in production in large part because of the uncertainty about how secure they might be. Updates from Docker and more disciplined app development practices are making containers less risky, Pariseau writes. And there's reason to think that containers could be even more secure than VMs.

Getting comfortable with containers is a process not unlike how technology professionals learned how to safely use cloud services. It takes some time and effort, but managing IT risk can bring exciting and powerful new tools safely into the fold.

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Machine learning algorithms make life easier -- until they don't

Algorithms govern many facets of our lives. But imperfect logic and data sets can make results worse instead of better, so it behooves all of us to think like data scientists. Continue Reading

Machine learning algorithms make life easier -- until they don't

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When to use Docker alternatives rkt and LXD

Docker can't meet the needs of every IT scenario. LXD and CoreOS rkt are additional container formats to try out when Docker doesn't make sense. Continue Reading

Note these ops issues before you deploy with Docker containers

Docker regularly updates its containerization offering, but it's not click-to-deploy ready for production. Ops professionals should acknowledge these points before deploying Docker containers. Continue Reading

When the big cloud infrastructure providers aren't the right fit

When a business chooses one of the major providers for its cloud services, there shouldn't be a lot of surprises. You do your homework, consider the available services, select instance types, compare costs and then make a decision. At that point, you should know what you are getting. But what if you don't want what you're getting?

There are scenarios where a business seeks out the services of one of the specialty cloud infrastructure providers. These niche providers compete against behemoths such as Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud Platform, but not by trying to match them service for service. Nor can they keep pace on price. Instead, these smaller providers focus on particular niches, trying to offer specialized services, customer care and flexibility that the hyperscale providers may struggle to furnish.

The cover story for this issue of Modern Infrastructure delves into the reasons a business might choose a niche player instead of one of the major cloud infrastructure providers. TechTarget's Kristin Knapp reports on how these situations arise and how businesses respond. The right fit, she finds, might not always be found in one of the expected places.

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How well do you know Docker components and services?

With Docker containers moving into more enterprise IT shops, it's imperative to grasp how the technology works. Test your knowledge of Docker components and services with this quiz. Continue Reading

Staring down the security issues in cloud computing

Adoption of cloud computing has no doubt been slowed by worries about the security of those out-of-sight servers and resources. While reasonable, those worries have given way over time to acceptance and even optimism.

In this month's Modern Infrastructure cover story, TechTarget’s Trevor Jones writes about why security issues in cloud computing are not the impediment to adoption that they once were. In fact, some organizations are coming to the conclusion that their workloads run more securely in a public cloud than in an on-premises environment. Cloud service providers possess security expertise and experience at levels that aren’t as readily available on a typical IT staff, and certifications give confidence that providers can actually do all they claim to do.

The public cloud is not a risky place to do business, though its safeguards are different from those you've put in place to protect your own data center. These differences are most clearly seen when looking at the shared-responsibility model, which addresses many of the security issues in cloud computing. Users and providers must each do their part. Otherwise, the risks will become apparent, and cloud computing won't be what you need it to be.

This issue also looks at how a new wave of products in development brings memory and storage technologies closer together. Nonvolatile dual-inline memory modules, for example, combine the speed of memory with the persistent qualities of storage in some interesting ways. Also included is an article on how some IT shops that have adopted flash storage are simultaneously impressed and disappointed with the results. Costly flash products invariably improve performance, but they won't solve every problem or clear every bottleneck.

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Shipyard floats a Docker GUI for easier container management

Deploying new Docker images is the easy part; managing and reporting on those instances is tricky. IT teams can use the Shipyard GUI to stop, start, orchestrate and manage Docker. Continue Reading

Application support and maintenance add up to operational ALM

An application isn't fully grown when it moves from development to production -- it still needs nurturing to meet its full potential. Continue Reading

Set up Docker container networking for real production workloads

A technology as old as data centers -- networking -- threatens to derail the next new thing. Smart networking choices make Docker container deployments functional and organized. Continue Reading

The future of containerization goes more abstract

Containers have benefits over VMs in the data center, but the future of containerization is broader than that. Continue Reading