The open source container technology, Docker yesterday unveiled new capabilities that strengthen the portability of multi-container distributed applications. The new capabilities cover Docker's multi-host SDN, enhancements for its three orchestration tools and a swappable plugin architecture. The enhancement also includes a new Docker networking stack that allows developers to take their networked Docker containers from one platform to another without having to recreate the network.
According to Docker, the multi-host SDN is now available as a native platform functionality that ensures multi-container distributed applications can seamlessly communicate across IP networks, while being portable across any network infrastructure. Docker’s three orchestration tools, Docker Machine, Docker Compose and Docker Swarm, all have new individual feature enhancements, added the company. Docker Compose defines the containers that comprise the distributed application and how they are connected together. Through integration with Docker Swarm, the multi-container application can be immediately networked across multiple hosts and can communicate seamlessly across a cluster of machines with a single command.
In addition, the company said that its team in collaboration with its ecosystem partners – most notably ClusterHQ, Glider Labs and Weaveworks – has created a new dynamic plugin architecture, which allows companies to more easily integrate their own technologies with Docker.
Solomon Hykes, CTO and chief architect of Docker
By bringing SDN directly to the application itself and into the hands of the developers, Docker is driving multi-container application portability throughout the application development lifecycle. Individual developers, through a single command, can establish the topology of the network to connect discrete Dockerized services into a distributed application. And then through a set of commands, be able to inspect, audit and change the topology on the fly.
