Docker Swarm vs Salt

Overview

Salt

Stacks410

Followers449

Votes165

GitHub Stars14.9K

Forks5.6K

Docker Swarm

Stacks779

Followers990

Votes282

Docker Swarm vs Salt: What are the differences?

Docker Swarm vs. Salt

Docker Swarm is a container orchestration platform that allows users to manage a cluster of Docker engines, making it easier to schedule and scale containerized applications across multiple nodes. On the other hand, Salt is a configuration management and remote execution tool that is used for automating the deployment and management of infrastructure.

1. Scalability: Docker Swarm is designed for managing clusters of Docker hosts and scaling containerized applications across nodes, providing a platform for seamless scaling and deployment. In contrast, Salt is focused on configuration management and remote execution, allowing for efficient and centralized management of infrastructure components.

2. Use Case: Docker Swarm is specifically tailored for container orchestration and managing Docker containers, making it ideal for organizations seeking simplified deployment and scaling of applications. Salt, on the other hand, is more versatile and can be used for a broader range of automation tasks beyond container management, such as configuring servers and managing network devices.

3. Communication Model: Docker Swarm operates on a loosely-coupled communication model where nodes communicate with each other through the Swarm manager. In contrast, Salt follows a master-slave communication model, where the Salt master node sends commands to execute on Salt minion nodes, enabling centralized control over distributed infrastructure.

4. Resource Utilization: Docker Swarm optimizes resource utilization by distributing containers across nodes based on available resources and predefined constraints, ensuring efficient use of computing resources. Salt also focuses on resource optimization but does so by allowing administrators to define and enforce configurations on managed systems, reducing manual intervention and enhancing system consistency.

5. Integration: Docker Swarm seamlessly integrates with Docker Compose and Docker Engine, providing a comprehensive ecosystem for container management and deployment. Salt, on the other hand, integrates with various cloud providers, orchestration tools, and third-party modules, offering extensive customization and integration capabilities for diverse infrastructure environments.

6. Learning Curve: Docker Swarm offers a relatively straightforward learning curve for users familiar with Docker containers, as it builds on existing Docker concepts and tools. In contrast, Salt may have a steeper learning curve due to its extensive feature set and configuration management functionalities, requiring users to invest time in understanding Salt's architecture and capabilities.

In Summary, Docker Swarm focuses on container orchestration and scaling applications, while Salt prioritizes configuration management and automation of infrastructure, each catering to different aspects of the DevOps workflow.

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Advice on Salt, Docker Swarm

Simon

Senior Fullstack Developer at QUANTUSflow Software GmbH

Apr 27, 2020

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Our whole DevOps stack consists of the following tools:

@{GitHub}|tool:27| (incl. @{GitHub Pages}|tool:683|/@{Markdown}|tool:1147| for Documentation, GettingStarted and HowTo's) for collaborative review and code management tool
Respectively @{Git}|tool:1046| as revision control system
@{SourceTree}|tool:1599| as @{Git}|tool:1046| GUI
@{Visual Studio Code}|tool:4202| as IDE
@{CircleCI}|tool:190| for continuous integration (automatize development process)
@{Prettier}|tool:7035| / @{TSLint}|tool:5561| / @{ESLint}|tool:3337| as code linter
@{SonarQube}|tool:2638| as quality gate
@{Docker}|tool:586| as container management (incl. @{Docker Compose}|tool:3136| for multi-container application management)
@{VirtualBox}|tool:774| for operating system simulation tests
@{Kubernetes}|tool:1885| as cluster management for docker containers
@{Heroku}|tool:133| for deploying in test environments
@{nginx}|tool:1052| as web server (preferably used as facade server in production environment)
@{SSLMate}|tool:2752| (using @{OpenSSL}|tool:3091|) for certificate management
@{Amazon EC2}|tool:18| (incl. @{Amazon S3}|tool:25|) for deploying in stage (production-like) and production environments
@{PostgreSQL}|tool:1028| as preferred database system
@{Redis}|tool:1031| as preferred in-memory database/store (great for caching)

The main reason we have chosen Kubernetes over Docker Swarm is related to the following artifacts:

Key features: Easy and flexible installation, Clear dashboard, Great scaling operations, Monitoring is an integral part, Great load balancing concepts, Monitors the condition and ensures compensation in the event of failure.
Applications: An application can be deployed using a combination of pods, deployments, and services (or micro-services).
Functionality: Kubernetes as a complex installation and setup process, but it not as limited as Docker Swarm.
Monitoring: It supports multiple versions of logging and monitoring when the services are deployed within the cluster (Elasticsearch/Kibana (ELK), Heapster/Grafana, Sysdig cloud integration).
Scalability: All-in-one framework for distributed systems.
Other Benefits: Kubernetes is backed by the Cloud Native Computing Foundation (CNCF), huge community among container orchestration tools, it is an open source and modular tool that works with any OS.

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Detailed Comparison

Salt	Docker Swarm
Salt is a new approach to infrastructure management. Easy enough to get running in minutes, scalable enough to manage tens of thousands of servers, and fast enough to communicate with them in seconds. Salt delivers a dynamic communication bus for infrastructures that can be used for orchestration, remote execution, configuration management and much more.	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.
Remote execution is the core function of Salt. Running pre-defined or arbitrary commands on remote hosts.;Salt modules are the core of remote execution. They provide functionality such as installing packages, restarting a service, running a remote command, transferring files, and infinitely more;Building on the remote execution core is a robust and flexible configuration management framework. Execution happens on the minions allowing effortless, simultaneous configuration of tens of thousands of hosts.	-
Statistics
GitHub Stars 14.9K	GitHub Stars -
GitHub Forks 5.6K	GitHub Forks -
Stacks 410	Stacks 779
Followers 449	Followers 990
Votes 165	Votes 282
Pros & Cons
Pros 47 Flexible 30 Easy 27 Remote execution 24 Enormously flexible 12 Great plugin API Cons 1 No immutable infrastructure 1 Bloated 1 Dangerous	Pros 55 Docker friendly 46 Easy to setup 40 Standard Docker API 38 Easy to use 23 Native Cons 9 Low adoption
Integrations
No integrations available	Docker

What are some alternatives to Salt, Docker Swarm?

Ansible

Ansible is an IT automation tool. It can configure systems, deploy software, and orchestrate more advanced IT tasks such as continuous deployments or zero downtime rolling updates. Ansible’s goals are foremost those of simplicity and maximum ease of use.

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 Compose

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.

Chef

Chef enables you to manage and scale cloud infrastructure with no downtime or interruptions. Freely move applications and configurations from one cloud to another. Chef is integrated with all major cloud providers including Amazon EC2, VMWare, IBM Smartcloud, Rackspace, OpenStack, Windows Azure, HP Cloud, Google Compute Engine, Joyent Cloud and others.

Terraform

With Terraform, you describe your complete infrastructure as code, even as it spans multiple service providers. Your servers may come from AWS, your DNS may come from CloudFlare, and your database may come from Heroku. Terraform will build all these resources across all these providers in parallel.

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.

Capistrano

Capistrano is a remote server automation tool. It supports the scripting and execution of arbitrary tasks, and includes a set of sane-default deployment workflows.

Puppet Labs

Puppet is an automated administrative engine for your Linux, Unix, and Windows systems and performs administrative tasks (such as adding users, installing packages, and updating server configurations) based on a centralized specification.

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.

Related Comparisons

Docker Swarm vs Salt: What are the differences?

Docker Swarm vs Salt

Overview

Docker Swarm vs Salt: What are the differences?