Most of today’s forward-thinking companies are investigating container technology as a potentially better way to deliver software. Containers let developers bundle all of the necessary components of an application into one package that can easily be shared and distributed, which can greatly simplify deployment to test, user acceptance, and production environments. However… Containers by themselves solve only a fraction of the challenges enterprises face as they try to deliver high-quality software, quickly and securely, with adherence to compliance standards and industry regulations.
The usual release challenges do not disappear just by implementing containers. And in many cases, containers create additional complexity and dependencies that must be managed. In addition, it will be a long time (if ever) before enterprises work exclusively with containers. So for many years to come, companies still need to manage diverse infrastructures and hybrid environments. Containers are a great technology for software delivery, but if you want to use them at enterprise scale; beyond individual green-field experiments, there are critical management considerations that you can’t overlook, or you will create a painful and costly minefield. So how do companies take advantage of container technology and at the same time consider their broader needs?
To be successful with containers in the enterprise, they need to be able to scale with a consistent deployment process across hybrid environments. They also need to carefully manage and orchestrate the entire release pipeline. And they need visibility into the overall release process, including status of all components, dependencies between parts, and which versions and configurations are present in all environments. And although containers give developers the power to package software for deployment, enterprises still need to enforce control over the delivery process and log all activities to ensure compliance. As companies move to container technologies, these enterprise needs must be addressed.
