7 reasons why your business should invest in container technology

Transcription

1 WHITE PAPER 7 reasons why your business should invest in container technology What are containers? Why are they changing the development landscape? And why does your business need to get on board?

2 Gartner predicts that, by 2020, more than 50% of global organisations will be running containerised applications in production, up from less than 20% today. Introduction Right now, businesses of all sizes are under pressure to respond to customers needs, while keeping costs low and productivity high. Staying ahead means delivering rich, dataled experiences. Typically, this means digitising assets and processes, and identifying new and more streamlined ways of hosting applications and getting them to market. It s for this reason that many businesses are embracing containers which enable technical teams to easily and quickly build, develop and deploy in nearly any infrastructure. With containers, businesses can truly embrace microservices, and work in the most agile way possible. Gartner predicts that, by 2020, more than 50% of global organisations will be running containerised applications in production, up from less than 20% today. 1 In keeping with this trend, Red Hat has recently launched its OpenShift Container Platform on Microsoft Azure. This allows developers to produce better applications, faster and more effectively, in an incredibly secure and reliable environment. In this whitepaper we provide an overview of containers in the context of this new technology from Red Hat and Microsoft. We also explain why containers are rapidly changing the development landscape, and why your business needs to get on board Microsoft + Red Hat 7 reasons why your business should invest in container technology 2

3 What are containers and why are they changing the development landscape? For developers to work effi ciently and effectively, they need to be able to easily move their applications from one computing environment to another. However, problems arise when the supporting environments, network topology, security policies or storage aren t the same. Containers solve this problem, by providing entire runtime environments in which underlying infrastructure differences are irrelevant. A container includes an application, all of its dependencies, libraries and other binaries, as well as the confi guration fi les needed to run it, bundled into the one, effi cient package. Containers, with a far lighter footprint than traditional server provide greater density making them ideal for businesses which require agility, effi ciency and fl exibility. They also have some key differences compared to virtual machines (VMs), as illustrated by the diagram below: Microsoft + Red Hat 7 reasons why your business should invest in container technology 3

4 So with containers poised to change the development landscape, here are seven specific reasons why your business should invest in this revolutionary technology: 1 Deploy more applications, with more agility Whether you re releasing your applications to market or using them internally, a container platform enables your development teams to produce better applications much faster and more effectively - in a way that s safe and secure and reliable. When compared with VMs, containers typically have faster start up times, which can add up to considerable time savings and effi ciency gains - across your business. According to U.S. technology fi rm, Channel Futures, a containerised application usually starts in a couple of seconds, whereas virtual machines could take a couple of minutes. 2 This time-saving benefi t is also highlighted in an article by CIO Magazine, which suggests that while virtual machines may take several minutes to boot up their operating systems and begin running the applications they host, containerised applications can be started almost instantly. That means containers can be instantiated in a just in time fashion when they are needed and can disappear when they are no longer required, freeing up resources on their hosts, the article says. 3 Additionally, according to Channel Futures, containers also boast better resource distribution, as they only use the system resources they need at a specifi c time. Virtual machines usually require some resources to be permanently allocated before the virtual machine starts. For this reason, virtual machines tie up resources on the host, even if they are not actually using them. Containers allow host resources to be distributed in an optimal way, it says Microsoft + Red Hat 7 reasons why your business should invest in container technology 4

5 2 Host your applications in a way that suits you IT organisations that want to decouple application dependencies from the underlying infrastructure are adopting container technology as a way to migrate and deploy applications across multiple cloud environments and data center footprints. With containers, you can also realise a true hybrid strategy with your hosting requirements, as there is a level of abstraction that makes it possible to host and manage workloads across different models whether hybrid, public or private. So if your business, like many, currently operates using a hybrid IT environment with some applications on premise and some in the cloud your containerised solution can fi t seamlessly into this existing set-up, without requiring additional investment or re-work. Red Hat s OpenShift Container Platform on Microsoft Azure provides a consistent application development and deployment platform, regardless of the underlying infrastructure, and provides operations teams with a scalable, secure, and enterprise-grade application platform and unifi ed container and cloud management capabilities. This infrastructure fl exibility also means important cost savings. According to an IDC report, developing on the OpenShift platform requires fewer testing and production servers due to its support of containerization, microservices, and multitenancy, contributing to lower infrastructure costs for interviewed organisations even as their application development efforts expand. IDC also calculates that interviewed organisations will save infrastructure- and platform-related costs at an average of $174,200 per 100 application developers per year over fi ve years ($0.78 million per organisation). 4 Windows Server with agent OMS Container Solution Azure Container Service VM VM with agent Portal Windows Server with agent VM VM with agent LOCAL AZURE 4. les/idc-business-value-of-openshift.pdf Microsoft + Red Hat 7 reasons why your business should invest in container technology 5

6 3 Use microservices to work faster and more effectively Importantly, containers also enable and support microservices development. This means that rather than an entire application needing to be managed and worked upon as a whole, it can be broken down into specifi c modules, and each component worked on separately. As such, your various development teams can work on different parts of an application, simultaneously, which has enormous benefi ts in terms of effi ciency and agility. By segmenting an application into its various service components, it also makes it much easier to test, develop and understand. Importantly, Red Hat s OpenShift Container Platform on Microsoft Azure provides a common platform for cloudnative, microservices applications to work alongside existing applications. It enables a broad choice of application frameworks, programming languages, and developer tools to enable customers to prototype innovative applications more quickly. OpenShift also enables access to a broad range of Red Hat and third party provided application and middleware services, API management, and storage services. OpenShift gives us a multitenant platform for deploying microservices so [that] we can layer them on top of each other. We re running a private cloud that includes IaaS, PaaS, and container as a service those are all different resources that can be used to build apps. OpenShift provides the ability for us to follow the microservice architecture paradigm as opposed to more traditional monolithic applications. Red Hat customer, via IDC whitepaper les/idc-business-value-of-openshift.pdf Microsoft + Red Hat 7 reasons why your business should invest in container technology 6

7 4 Work securely When it comes to development, security is a vital consideration. And according to Gartner, security can be a challenging issue for production container environments. Gartner suggests that the integrity of the shared host operating system is vital, and that containers should be monitored on an ongoing basis for vulnerabilities and malware to ensure a trusted service delivery. 6 With Red Hat s OpenShift Container Platform on Microsoft Azure, you get the peace of mind of knowing your precious data is stored in Australian datacentres, in Azure. You also have the confi dence of knowing that Azure has been fully certifi ed by the Australian Signals Directorate for Unclassifi ed and Protected Data, and has rigorous compliance processes and checks in place to ensure world-leading security and control. According to U.S based IT fi rm Channel Futures, containers also require less redundancy in the fi rst place: With virtual machines, you have to install an entire guest operating system, which duplicates a lot of the components already running on your host server. Containers don t require this, it says Microsoft + Red Hat 7 reasons why your business should invest in container technology 7

8 5 Raise the standards of your development work By standardising development across your business, you can eliminate quality problems, defects and issues and encourage your technical teams to work more consistently and collaboratively. According to a recent article on ZDNet, a key benefi t of containers is that due to their agility - they enable businesses to practice Continuous Integration/Continuous Deployment (CI/CD) DevOps methodology. ZDNet claims that by using CI/CD, a survey of 4,600 IT professionals, IT departments with a strong DevOps workfl ow deployed software 200 times more frequently than low-performing IT departments. They also recovered 24 times faster, and had three times lower rates of change failure. Simultaneously, these businesses are spending 50 percent less time overall addressing security issues, and 22 percent less time on unplanned work. 8 By facilitating this CI/CD methodology, containers can therefore deliver allimportant effi ciency and help businesses raise their overall development standards. As highlighted earlier, support for microservices also means you can break an app down into its parts, and assign different development teams to work on various components, simultaneously, which has enormous effi ciency benefi ts. In addition, the fact that OpenShift Container Platform on Microsoft Azure can be leveraged so quickly and easily, means your developers are able to take a more uniform and collaborative approach to development. By encouraging development teams to share and review each other s work, you can identify and resolve potential problems sooner - which benefi ts the organisation as a whole Microsoft + Red Hat 7 reasons why your business should invest in container technology 8

9 6 Help your development teams self-service Once you have implemented containers in your business, your developers can independently set up development environments in an instant, and work securely across a huge number of development languages. They can also get instant access to replica development environments, meaning you can quickly update and deploy revisions. This has enormous benefi ts in terms of effi ciency, and also empowers your developers to do their best work, every time. Research by IDC suggests that meeting demand for compelling and high-quality business applications and services on the OpenShift platform leads to improved business results and enhanced employee productivity levels. In fact, IDC puts the value of higher operating margin and employee productivity attributable to developing on OpenShift at an average of $291,100 per 100 application developers per year over fi ve years ($1.31 million per organisation). 9 What we like about OpenShift is that our infrastructure team can move apps around so that we can upgrade the underlying infrastructure without disrupting the application; that layer of abstraction between the applications and the infrastructure that they run on is made possible by container portability that OpenShift provides. Red Hat customer, via IDC whitepaper les/idc-business-value-of-openshift.pdf les/idc-business-value-of-openshift.pdf Microsoft + Red Hat 7 reasons why your business should invest in container technology 9

10 7 Scale quickly and easily Thanks to Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform on Microsoft Azure s smart container storage, you can store your applications incredibly densely meaning far less storage overhead. If you need more storage, you simply add more containers. In addition, containerisation allows for greater modularity. According to CIO Magazine, this is a key benefi t of being able to employ microservices. Applications built in this way are easier to manage because each module is relatively simple, and changes can be made to modules without having to rebuild the entire application. Because containers are so lightweight, individual modules (or microservices) can be instantiated only when they are needed and are available almost immediately, the article says Microsoft + Red Hat 7 reasons why your business should invest in container technology 10

11 So why choose Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform on Microsoft Azure? The OpenShift Container Platform on Microsoft Azure is a joint initiative from Red Hat and Microsoft. Together, we are able to offer the most comprehensive, up to date, enterprise-grade technology and services across hybrid environments in Australia. When you choose OpenShift Container Platform on Microsoft Azure, you receive access to professional, quality, co-located support for your end users. This means that if any problem occurs, it can be very quickly and easily rectifi ed. Plus, you benefi t from Microsoft Azure s renowned and world-leading security. With Azure, your data stays on shore in local data centres, and you can be assured of high availability and disaster resilience from the only global cloud in multiple Australian regions. Key benefits for your developers As with any new technology, success relies upon your IT teams adopting and using the solution. With the OpenShift Container Platform on Microsoft Azure, your IT teams receive: A single, powerful platform in which to develop and maintain all applications. Self-service and the ability to set up new development environments independently. A robust framework built on proven open source technologies including Red Hat Enterprise Linux, Kubernetes and Docker. Enterprise-grade security, compliance and container management. Extended app support with new and updated runtimes. How to get started If you re interested in getting started, you can simply contact Rhipe to sign up as a Red Hat Partner. This will provide you with access to the necessary SKUs to enable you to deploy OpenShift Container Platform on Microsoft Azure. Find out more To find out more about Red Hat s OpenShift Container Platform on Microsoft Azure, or about the benefits of container technology in general, visit Redhatonazure.com Microsoft + Red Hat 7 reasons why your business should invest in container technology 11