Servers, Virtualization, and Containers
Nowadays, it could be said that the path between virtualization and servers, through containers, is an essential part. These three elements form a fundamental component of modern infrastructure, designed to provide a scalable and manageable solution for deploying applications, whether they are web or software. In this article, we will delve deeper into the world of servers, virtualization, and containers, exploring and discussing how they work. We will highlight their benefits and roles in providing a better-structured IT infrastructure compared to classic servers.
Servers: The Heart of IT Infrastructure
It is certainly true that the core, or heart, of any IT infrastructure is represented by servers. A server is a powerful computer dedicated to processing requests and delivering information to other computers (clients) via a network, whether it be the internet or an intranet. Servers come in various types, each serving a specific role in the IT world.
File Servers: Manage and store data accessed by users or the system.
Web Servers: Deliver content such as HTML pages (as the final product) of a web application, or media files to users over the internet.
Database Servers: Store and manage collections of data, allowing access and queries through applications. Personally, I see them as structured data tables.
Application Servers: Host and communicate with applications, sending data and various services to end users.
A modern aspect is that today we have both frontend web servers and backend servers, with intermediaries such as Next.js or Nuxt.js for Vue.js fans.
Traditional servers were essentially physical machines hosted in data centers. However, with their evolution, the concept of a server has extended beyond the first level of the development environment, leading to virtualization.
Personally, at my job, I have worked with AWS, and for personal cloud use, I have been using DigitalOcean for several years.
Virtualization is the process of creating virtual versions of a physical server, allowing multiple operations and applications to run on the same hardware. By using a hypervisor (software that processes and enables the virtualization environment), you can divide a single physical server into multiple virtual machines (VMs), each running its own independent operating system.
Looking back on my professional experience, I can say that I first used virtual machines in 2016 through VirtualBox on a Windows operating system. Around 2018, I discovered Docker, which I used for a few months, but by 2020, I unconsciously returned to VirtualBox. In 2021, however, I came back to the Docker world and have stayed in it ever since.
Since 2022, I’ve been using WSL (Windows Subsystem for Linux), virtualizing Ubuntu through Windows in my professional work, but personally, I prefer dual-boot and running Docker directly from Ubuntu, as WSL causes various issues.
Benefits of virtualization:
Cost efficiency: By consolidating multiple VMs on a single physical server, organizations reduce the need for more hardware units, saving money on both hardware and software.
Resource optimization: Virtualization offers better management of resources like CPU, memory, and storage. I can also add that Docker Desktop is quite helpful, even though Docker can be used without Docker Desktop on Linux. However, Docker Desktop is a good, free option.
Scalability: Virtual machines can be created, modified, and deleted quickly based on the company's needs.
Isolation: Each VM operates independently, ensuring that issues in one VM do not affect the others, unlike on a physical server.
Common hypervisors include VMware ESXi, Microsoft Hyper-V, and KVM (Kernel-based Virtual Machine). Virtualization has transformed the way IT infrastructure is managed, making it easier to dynamically allocate resources and run multiple environments on a single piece of hardware.
If you are not a fan of virtual machines like VirtualBox, fortunately, Hyper-V comes preinstalled with Docker Desktop.
Corectura în limba română:
- Containerele: Nivelul următor al virtualizării
Un punct important în revoluționarea virtualizării unei infrastructuri îl reprezintă containerele, fiind un pas înainte către viitor. Containerele oferă o modalitate curată și portabilă de a împacheta și reutiliza aplicațiile împreună cu toate dependențele lor, permițându-le să funcționeze constant în diverse medii, de la dezvoltare până la producție.
Spre deosebire de mașinile virtuale (VM-uri), care necesită un sistem de operare complet pentru fiecare instanță, containerele împart același kernel al sistemului de operare, ceea ce le face mai eficiente și mai rapide pentru a fi repornite de la zero. Această abordare duce la o mai bună utilizare a resurselor și la o scalabilitate sporită, în special pentru arhitecturile de tip microserviciu.
Diferențele cheie între containere și mașinile virtuale:
Mașinile virtuale: Fiecare VM rulează un sistem de operare complet, ceea ce duce la un consum mai mare de resurse, dar oferă o izolare mai mare între medii.
Containerele: Împart sistemul de operare al gazdei, ceea ce le face mai rapide, mai economice din punctul de vedere al resurselor și mai portabile, dar cu o izolare ușor mai redusă.
Traducerea în engleză:
- Containers: The Next Level of Virtualization
An important point in the revolution of infrastructure virtualization is containers, as they are a step forward into the future. Containers provide a clean, portable way to package and reuse applications with all their dependencies, allowing them to run consistently across different environments, from development to production.
Unlike virtual machines (VMs), which require a full operating system for each instance, containers share the same OS kernel, making them more efficient and faster to restart from scratch. This approach leads to improved resource efficiency and scalability, especially in microservices architectures.
Key Differences Between Containers and Virtual Machines:
Virtual Machines: Each VM runs a full operating system, resulting in more overhead but providing greater isolation between environments.
Containers: Share the host OS, making them faster, more resource-efficient, and more portable, but with slightly less isolation.
Popular Containerization Platforms:
Docker: One of the most popular platforms for developing, shipping, and running applications in containers. It simplifies the deployment process by creating consistent environments across different stages of the software lifecycle.
Kubernetes: A container orchestration platform that automates the deployment, scaling, and management of containerized applications. Kubernetes is often used to manage large-scale, distributed applications composed of multiple containers.
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