ISSUE 193: Docker Goes Back to Its Roots

“We believe that Docker Enterprise has some of the very, very best cloud native infrastructure people in the world today — fantastic engineers — and they will fit very well with our engineering culture at Mirantis.”

Docker. You know it. You use it. You might well be confused by it. Is it Docker? Or is it docker? And why has Docker (or docker) taken a back seat to Kubernetes? There are so many questions regarding this technology. But one question that has been on the hearts and minds of many a container administrator is security. Although you might fully understand how to deploy a containerized application and scale it out to meet the needs of your company, are you taking the necessary steps to ensure that application, and the hosting environment, is as secure as possible? What can you do?

Listen to The New Stack Makers podcast as Jack Wallen discusses what to do about it with Scott McCarty, principal product manager for containers at Red Hat.

Docker Goes Back to Its Roots

The news this week comes from Mirantis, which just bought up the Docker enterprise business. With the deal, 300 of Docker’s 400 employees are now Mirantis employees. 

But wait, there’s more. Docker’s long-time project manager, Scott Johnston, is now the company’s CEO. And with his new role, comes what looks like a return to Docker’s roots. In a blog post, Johnston writes that Docker will return to its vision of serving developers.

That’s a relief. Docker came on the scene in 2013 with Solomon Hykes sending developers into gaga land with a whole new look at containers that made developers chuckle with glee. It was a new experience that developers craved — the energy was palpable in the development community.

But then ... sigh.

Docker lost its way, trying to make a business by making the container less a process and more a virtual machine, most specifically by integrating Docker Swarm, the orchestrator it developed. We know what happened next with Kubernetes — the power shifted entirely. Docker came around, built an enterprise business. But it was just not able to match the momentum of its peers. 

Now we have a Docker that just received an additional $35 million to focus on its core back to its roots. We’ll now see what is to come of Docker Swarm and the company’s future with Docker Desktop, Docker Hub and who knows what additional developer tools they will introduce.

Good luck, Docker!

Mirantis Acquires Docker Enterprise

Mirantis, the cloud consulting company with OpenStack roots and a more recent focus on Kubernetes, has acquired Docker’s enterprise business, which consists of the Docker Enterprise Technology Platform and all associated intellectual property, 300 of approximately 400 employees, 750 enterprise customers, and all enterprise partnerships. Mirantis CEO and co-founder Adrian Ionel said that the acquisition accounts for “probably about 90% of Docker’s business” and that it would also encompass partnerships with Microsoft and others, all with the intention of accelerating Kubernetes efforts within Mirantis.

Are Your Microservices Overly Chatty?

Amir Souchami of ironSource writes about how breaking apps into fine-grained microservices introduces complications that might end up in a mega disaster, and what you can do to avoid it. Using a microservices approach to application development enables companies to improve resilience and expedite their time to market. It’s easier to develop, test, deploy, and most importantly, change and maintain their entire application stack when it’s broken up into little pieces.

That said, breaking an app into smaller units does not mean that everything works perfectly right away. In this article, Souchami delves into one of the techniques that has helped R&D teams enjoy the full benefit of microservices, allowing them to sleep well at night.

What Happened When Popular Mechanics Tried to Predict the Future?

As the internet celebrated its 50th birthday last month, the website for Popular Mechanics went all in, running a series of special articles in an event they’d dubbed “Internet Week.” It includes a collection of the 1990’s “most cringe-worthy internet guides,” and their list of “the 50 greatest moments in internet history.” But there was also a fun collection of predictions they’d made about the future — some right and some wrong — offering a poignant reminder of where we thought humanity would be in the 21st century.