In IT, containers refer to lightweight, portable units that encapsulate an application and its dependencies, ensuring consistent and isolated execution across different environments. They enable efficient resource utilisation by sharing the host operating system's kernel, making them quicker to start and more scalable than traditional virtual machines.
In that sense, containerisation is an approach to deploying applications virtually in any IT environment by integrating them with the necessary components needed to run without concerns about compatibility. It lets developers package and deliver applications easily, quickly and in a scalable manner.
The method of containerisation essentially distributes applications virtually without launching a separate Virtual Machine (VM) for each app. Instead, containers include the applications integrated with their own OS, code, runtime, system tools, system libraries and settings needed to run the software.
Containers are a way to deploy applications without worrying about the IT infrastructure or servers where they will be run from. Whether it is in a desktop, mobile, private cloud, or public cloud – containers allow applications to run virtually anywhere without problems in networks, servers, or operating systems.
One of the features of containers is their portability, which allows them to run in any system and cloud without requiring any changes in codes since they use the same OS across all systems. Another is its scalability, wherein a developer can scale down or scale up applications depending on their needs. Containers are also isolated, so if one poses a problem, it cannot affect the others.
A known platform for containers is Docker, which is an open-source software that enables the creation, deployment, and management of virtualised application containers. Another is Kubernetes, an open-source system for automating deployment, scaling, and management of containerised applications.
