Dapr vs Docker

Overview

Docker

Stacks194.2K

Followers143.8K

Votes3.9K

Dapr

Stacks96

Followers336

Votes9

GitHub Stars25.2K

Forks2.0K

Dapr vs Docker: What are the differences?

Introduction

Dapr and Docker are both widely used technologies in the software development and deployment space. While they serve different purposes, understanding the key differences between them is crucial for developers and operators.

1. Containerization vs. Runtime for Microservices:

Docker is primarily a containerization platform that allows developers to package applications along with their dependencies into containers. It provides an isolated and consistent runtime environment for applications across different platforms. On the other hand, Dapr is a runtime for microservices that abstracts away the complexities of distributed systems. It provides a set of building blocks and APIs to make it easier to build microservices-based applications with features like service invocation, pub/sub messaging, and state management.

2. Level of Abstraction:

Docker provides a high level of abstraction by encapsulating the entire application stack into containers. It allows developers to focus on building and packaging their applications without worrying about the infrastructure details. Dapr, on the other hand, operates at a higher level of abstraction by providing a runtime that abstracts away the complexities of distributed systems. It allows developers to focus on building the business logic of their microservices without worrying about the underlying infrastructure.

3. Dependency Management:

Docker handles dependencies by bundling all the required dependencies and libraries into the container image. This ensures that the application runs consistently across different environments. Dapr, on the other hand, relies on external dependencies that can be managed and accessed via its runtime. It allows developers to leverage existing infrastructure components like message brokers, databases, and caching systems.

4. Portability:

Docker provides a high degree of portability as containers can run on any platform that supports Docker. This enables developers to easily deploy their applications on different environments without any modifications. Dapr, on the other hand, is also designed to be portable, but it requires the underlying infrastructure to have Dapr runtime installed. While Dapr supports multiple programming languages, portability may be constrained by the availability of Dapr runtime on the target platform.

5. Composability:

Docker allows developers to compose complex applications by orchestrating multiple containers using tools like Docker Compose and Kubernetes. It provides a unified way to define and manage the composition of containers. Dapr, on the other hand, focuses on the runtime aspects of microservices and provides building blocks for composing microservices-based applications. It allows developers to define interactions and connections between different microservices using Dapr APIs.

6. Management and Monitoring:

Docker provides tools for managing and monitoring containers, such as Docker Swarm and third-party tools like Prometheus and Grafana. It allows operators to monitor the containerized applications, scale them, and manage their lifecycle. Dapr, on the other hand, provides observability features like distributed tracing and metrics collection as part of its runtime. It also integrates with existing monitoring and observability tools to provide insights into the microservices-based applications.

In Summary, Docker is a containerization platform that abstracts away the complexities of packaging and deploying applications, while Dapr is a runtime for microservices that provides building blocks for building distributed systems.

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Advice on Docker, Dapr

Florian

IT DevOp at Agitos GmbH

Oct 22, 2019

Decided

lxd/lxc and Docker aren't congruent so this comparison needs a more detailed look; but in short I can say: the lxd-integrated administration of storage including zfs with its snapshot capabilities as well as the system container (multi-process) approach of lxc vs. the limited single-process container approach of Docker is the main reason I chose lxd over Docker.

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Detailed Comparison

Docker	Dapr
The Docker Platform is the industry-leading container platform for continuous, high-velocity innovation, enabling organizations to seamlessly build and share any application — from legacy to what comes next — and securely run them anywhere	It is a portable, event-driven runtime that makes it easy for developers to build resilient, stateless and stateful microservices that run on the cloud and edge and embraces the diversity of languages and developer frameworks.
Integrated developer tools; open, portable images; shareable, reusable apps; framework-aware builds; standardized templates; multi-environment support; remote registry management; simple setup for Docker and Kubernetes; certified Kubernetes; application templates; enterprise controls; secure software supply chain; industry-leading container runtime; image scanning; access controls; image signing; caching and mirroring; image lifecycle; policy-based image promotion	Event-driven Pub-Sub system with pluggable providers and at-least-once semantics; Input and Output bindings with pluggable providers; State management with pluggable data stores; Consistent service-to-service discovery and invocation; Opt-in stateful models: Strong/Eventual consistency, First-write/Last-write wins; Cross platform Virtual Actors; Rate limiting; Built-in distributed tracing using Open Telemetry; Runs natively on Kubernetes using a dedicated Operator and CRDs; Supports all programming languages via HTTP and gRPC; Multi-Cloud, open components (bindings, pub-sub, state) from Azure, AWS, GCP; Runs anywhere - as a process or containerized; Lightweight (58MB binary, 4MB physical memory); Runs as a sidecar - removes the need for special SDKs or libraries; Dedicated CLI - developer friendly experience with easy debugging; Clients for Java, Dotnet, Go, Javascript and Python
Statistics
GitHub Stars -	GitHub Stars 25.2K
GitHub Forks -	GitHub Forks 2.0K
Stacks 194.2K	Stacks 96
Followers 143.8K	Followers 336
Votes 3.9K	Votes 9
Pros & Cons
Pros 823 Rapid integration and build up 692 Isolation 521 Open source 505 Testability and reproducibility 460 Lightweight Cons 8 New versions == broken features 6 Documentation not always in sync 6 Unreliable networking 4 Moves quickly 3 Not Secure	Pros 3 Manage inter-service state 2 Zipkin app tracing "for free" 2 MTLS "for free" 2 App dashboard for rapid log overview Cons 1 Additional overhead
Integrations
Java Docker Compose VirtualBox Linux Amazon EC2 Container Service Docker Swarm boot2docker Kubernetes Docker Machine Vagrant	.NET Core Java Python Microsoft Azure Kubernetes JavaScript Google Cloud Platform Golang

What are some alternatives to Docker, Dapr?

LXD

LXD isn't a rewrite of LXC, in fact it's building on top of LXC to provide a new, better user experience. Under the hood, LXD uses LXC through liblxc and its Go binding to create and manage the containers. It's basically an alternative to LXC's tools and distribution template system with the added features that come from being controllable over the network.

Istio

Istio is an open platform for providing a uniform way to integrate microservices, manage traffic flow across microservices, enforce policies and aggregate telemetry data. Istio's control plane provides an abstraction layer over the underlying cluster management platform, such as Kubernetes, Mesos, etc.

Azure Service Fabric

Azure Service Fabric is a distributed systems platform that makes it easy to package, deploy, and manage scalable and reliable microservices. Service Fabric addresses the significant challenges in developing and managing cloud apps.

LXC

LXC is a userspace interface for the Linux kernel containment features. Through a powerful API and simple tools, it lets Linux users easily create and manage system or application containers.

Moleculer

It is a fault tolerant framework. It has built-in load balancer, circuit breaker, retries, timeout and bulkhead features. It is open source and free of charge project.

Express Gateway

A cloud-native microservices gateway completely configurable and extensible through JavaScript/Node.js built for ALL platforms and languages. Enterprise features are FREE thanks to the power of 3K+ ExpressJS battle hardened modules.

rkt

Rocket is a cli for running App Containers. The goal of rocket is to be composable, secure, and fast.

ArangoDB Foxx

It is a JavaScript framework for writing data-centric HTTP microservices that run directly inside of ArangoDB.

Zuul

It is the front door for all requests from devices and websites to the backend of the Netflix streaming application. As an edge service application, It is built to enable dynamic routing, monitoring, resiliency, and security. Routing is an integral part of a microservice architecture.

linkerd

linkerd is an out-of-process network stack for microservices. It functions as a transparent RPC proxy, handling everything needed to make inter-service RPC safe and sane--including load-balancing, service discovery, instrumentation, and routing.

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