Containers deliver value to organizations that want to efficiently deploy software at scale. Adoption isn't easy, though, and running containers in production creates new management challenges. Container management tools can mitigate those difficulties -- if you find one that aligns with your strategy, goals and technical skills.
Containerization is one of those big-trend initiatives that people like to talk about. It's taken seriously, even if adoption isn't yet widespread. The technology is factoring into more organizations' planning, however, and a forecast from 451 Research estimates that spending on container technologies will reach $2.7 billion by 2020.
One of the reasons that adoption has so far been limited is the complexity factor. Containerization isn't the sort of technology that naturally fits with most organizations' existing infrastructure or skill sets. To make it work, you're going to want to have help in the form of container management tools.
So what should you be looking for in container management software? What's going to fit? What can your operation team work with comfortably? This handbook examines these important questions and provides a rundown of what container management tools are available and how you should approach that big selection decision.
Rancher, Docker Swarm and Mesosphere are among the many available tools, and Kubernetes has earned its place at the front of the pack. Maybe you'll want to implement a container management tool from your public cloud service provider. Whichever path you choose, make sure it gets you from where you are to where you want to be.
