[Info-vax] Container files are set to grow in importance on the IT road ahead

[Stephen Hoffman]

On 2016-02-03 05:10:46 +0000, IanD said:

> Container files are set to grow in importance on the IT road ahead it 
> would seem...

Roll back several months for the most recent discussion of this topic 
around here.

> http://www.serverwatch.com/server-news/application-containers-gain-traction-among-it-pros.html 
> 
> 
> VMS has a poor man's equivalent in LD but perhaps it could form the 
> base of extending into something like Docker?

OpenVMS Logical Disk (LD) "containers" are unrelated to Docker "containers."

Containers in the Docker sense refer to something rather closer to what 
are called jails or sandboxes, a concept which does not exist on 
OpenVMS.   The jail or sandbox blocks application access to other 
applications.   Mechanisms to register application startups and 
shutdown sequences, etc.    Class scheduling would occur only within 
the container.  Lock resources within the container, etc.   Licenses 
within the container.  Global sections and mailboxes and event flags, 
etc.    Somebody will have to sort out the HPE SSL and SSL1 kits here, 
too — that either goes into the container as a dependency, or somebody 
has to untangle the conflicts.    Having application bundles with 
embedded dependencies would be handy here too, as more than a few 
OpenVMS applications spread their dreck all over SYS$SYSROOT.

An LD container is closer to an ISO image containing an application and 
its files.  No mechanisms for keeping different applications from 
slamming into each other, other than by convention and luck.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LXC
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FreeBSD_jail

> I know docker is one of the research areas VSI was looking at and for 
> good reason it would seem

Docker and various other options based on LXC, and there are some other 
products that are relatively similar.   Such as the aforementioned BSD 
jails.

> Anyhow, the market is speaking, or so the article suggests
> 
> Virtualisation of whole systems and the growing VM sprawl are starting 
> to cause some companies headaches. I know where I work, the amount of 
> systems coming under VMware for example is growing rapidly and the 
> management headache for administering 1000's of servers is growing
> Could VSI perhaps one day distribute VMS + Application 'on a stick' so 
> to speak?
> Fully self contained OS + Application, all configured and ready to run, 
> selectable as a download via a click and pay interface and deployed on 
> a server near you (free set of steak knives included!)

First, you need applications that folks would need and want to deploy.  
 OpenVMS doesn't have all that many of those right now.

VSI also doesn't have the staff or the budget to catch up with what 
various other platforms and vendors are rolling out, either.

> How to deploy a cluster in this type of set-up I wonder? Rolled up 
> containers of containers perhaps? Will we need a cluster manager 
> application sitting above it all?

Clustering isn't particularly special, in this context.   It's a group 
of servers that would be selected and used, little different than 
running a deployment that might need to share an IP subnet or a FC SAN 
connection or a particular data center or other such factors.


-- 
Pure Personal Opinion | HoffmanLabs LLC