Docker Compose vs Docker Swarm Visualizer

Overview

Docker Compose

Stacks22.3K

Followers16.5K

Votes501

GitHub Stars36.4K

Forks5.5K

Docker Swarm Visualizer

Stacks25

Followers108

Votes3

Docker Compose vs Docker Swarm Visualizer: What are the differences?

Introduction:

In the realm of container orchestration tools, Docker Compose and Docker Swarm Visualizer play crucial roles in simplifying container management and visualization. Understanding the key differences between the two can help users make informed decisions based on their specific requirements.

1. Scalability: Docker Compose is designed for single-host development environments, making it ideal for smaller projects where scalability is not a primary concern. On the other hand, Docker Swarm Visualizer is built for larger-scale deployments and offers advanced clustering capabilities for managing multiple containers across a cluster of hosts, enabling seamless scalability.

2. Architecture: Docker Compose focuses on defining and running multi-container Docker applications, providing a straightforward way to manage containers in isolated environments. In contrast, Docker Swarm Visualizer is tailored for orchestrating clusters of Docker hosts using Swarm mode, offering a centralized and unified view of the entire cluster's status and performance.

3. Monitoring and Visualization: Docker Compose lacks built-in monitoring and visualization features, requiring users to rely on third-party tools for tracking container performance and resource utilization. Conversely, Docker Swarm Visualizer offers a dedicated visualization tool that provides real-time insights into container placement, health, and networking within a Swarm cluster.

4. Load Balancing: Docker Compose does not natively support load balancing across multiple containers, potentially leading to uneven work distribution and performance bottlenecks in dynamic environments. In contrast, Docker Swarm Visualizer includes built-in load balancing mechanisms that automatically distribute incoming traffic among containers based on predefined rules, ensuring optimal load distribution and high availability.

5. High Availability: Docker Compose lacks built-in high availability features, making it less suitable for critical production environments that require continuous uptime and failover mechanisms. In contrast, Docker Swarm Visualizer includes robust high availability mechanisms, such as automatic container rescheduling and fault tolerance, to ensure applications remain accessible and resilient even in the event of host failures.

6. Integration with External Tools: Docker Compose provides basic integration capabilities with external tools through custom scripts or plugins, requiring manual configuration and maintenance for extended functionalities. In contrast, Docker Swarm Visualizer offers seamless integration with popular DevOps tools like Prometheus and Grafana, enabling advanced monitoring, logging, and analytics capabilities out of the box.

In Summary, understanding the differences between Docker Compose and Docker Swarm Visualizer is crucial for choosing the right tool based on scalability, architecture, monitoring, load balancing, high availability, and integration requirements.

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Advice on Docker Compose, Docker Swarm Visualizer

Michael

CEO at asencis Ltd

Jan 5, 2021

Needs advice

We develop rapidly with docker-compose orchestrated services, however, for production - we utilise the very best ideas that Kubernetes has to offer: SCALE! We can scale when needed, setting a maximum and minimum level of nodes for each application layer - scaling only when the load balancer needs it. This allowed us to reduce our devops costs by 40% whilst also maintaining an SLA of 99.87%.

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Detailed Comparison

Docker Compose	Docker Swarm Visualizer
With Compose, you define a multi-container application in a single file, then spin your application up in a single command which does everything that needs to be done to get it running.	Each node in the swarm will show all tasks running on it. When a service goes down it'll be removed. When a node goes down it won't, instead the circle at the top will turn red to indicate it went down. Tasks will be removed.
Statistics
GitHub Stars 36.4K	GitHub Stars -
GitHub Forks 5.5K	GitHub Forks -
Stacks 22.3K	Stacks 25
Followers 16.5K	Followers 108
Votes 501	Votes 3
Pros & Cons
Pros 123 Multi-container descriptor 110 Fast development environment setup 79 Easy linking of containers 68 Simple yaml configuration 60 Easy setup Cons 9 Tied to single machine 5 Still very volatile, changing syntax often	Pros 1 Easy to deploy 1 Reverse proxy support 1 Stateless
Integrations
Docker	Docker Docker Swarm

What are some alternatives to Docker Compose, Docker Swarm Visualizer?

Kubernetes

Kubernetes is an open source orchestration system for Docker containers. It handles scheduling onto nodes in a compute cluster and actively manages workloads to ensure that their state matches the users declared intentions.

Rancher

Rancher is an open source container management platform that includes full distributions of Kubernetes, Apache Mesos and Docker Swarm, and makes it simple to operate container clusters on any cloud or infrastructure platform.

Docker Swarm

Swarm serves the standard Docker API, so any tool which already communicates with a Docker daemon can use Swarm to transparently scale to multiple hosts: Dokku, Compose, Krane, Deis, DockerUI, Shipyard, Drone, Jenkins... and, of course, the Docker client itself.

Tutum

Tutum lets developers easily manage and run lightweight, portable, self-sufficient containers from any application. AWS-like control, Heroku-like ease. The same container that a developer builds and tests on a laptop can run at scale in Tutum.

Portainer

It is a universal container management tool. It works with Kubernetes, Docker, Docker Swarm and Azure ACI. It allows you to manage containers without needing to know platform-specific code.

Codefresh

Automate and parallelize testing. Codefresh allows teams to spin up on-demand compositions to run unit and integration tests as part of the continuous integration process. Jenkins integration allows more complex pipelines.

CAST.AI

It is an AI-driven cloud optimization platform for Kubernetes. Instantly cut your cloud bill, prevent downtime, and 10X the power of DevOps.

k3s

Certified Kubernetes distribution designed for production workloads in unattended, resource-constrained, remote locations or inside IoT appliances. Supports something as small as a Raspberry Pi or as large as an AWS a1.4xlarge 32GiB server.

Flocker

Flocker is a data volume manager and multi-host Docker cluster management tool. With it you can control your data using the same tools you use for your stateless applications. This means that you can run your databases, queues and key-value stores in Docker and move them around as easily as the rest of your app.

Kitematic

Simple Docker App management for Mac OS X

Related Comparisons

Docker Compose vs Docker Swarm Visualizer: What are the differences?

Introduction:

Docker Compose vs Docker Swarm Visualizer

Overview