On Thu, May 29, 2014 at 05:00:57PM +0100, Matthew Law via smartos-discuss wrote:
> On Thu, May 29, 2014 4:47 pm, Robin Bowes via smartos-discuss wrote: > > As I understand it, Linux containers (which is what docker uses) are > > equivalent to solaris/smartos/bsd zones. > > Conceptually, it appears so. I was wondering if it would be possible to > deploy these containerised apps designed for the Docker environment > directly in zones, rather than having to start up a KVM VM to run them or > worse, Linux on bare metal. Being able to deploy them directly into OS > zones would be a major win. I suspect they are Linux x86-specific, which > would be a shame :( There are several things conflated here: 1. Running GNU/Linux software in SmartOS zones. This is not yet a supported/usable feature, but is an area of active development. See the mailing list archives here and on illumos-developer regarding 'lx brand'. 2. What containers are vs. what Docker does. In principle, Docker could use any containerisation mechanism; it's really just a bunch of deployment software. So with the necessary work, one could make Docker deploy software into zones instead of LXC containers. That would of course need to be SmartOS software, unless one were deploying into an lx-branded zone (which doesn't yet exist; see (1)) in which case it be GNU/Linux software. 3. LXC vs. Zones. While both are based on the general principle of OS virtualisation, Zones offer features and maturity not available in LXC. While the focus of LXC has been primarily around deployment of application software within a single-tenant hardware/paravirtualised guest, Zones are suitable for use as OS-virtualised guests on multi-tenant metal. In fact, that's what SmartOS does today. The natural combination of these technologies would enable automated deployment of applications into newly-created zones on multi-tenant metal, regardless of whether the application software is intended for SmartOS/illumos or GNU/Linux. But you can't do that today using Docker, and you can't do it today for GNU/Linux applications. ------------------------------------------- smartos-discuss Archives: https://www.listbox.com/member/archive/184463/=now RSS Feed: https://www.listbox.com/member/archive/rss/184463/25769125-55cfbc00 Modify Your Subscription: https://www.listbox.com/member/?member_id=25769125&id_secret=25769125-7688e9fb Powered by Listbox: http://www.listbox.com
