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Docker

173.6K
139.5K
+ 1
3.9K
Packer

582
563
+ 1
42
Vagrant Cloud

32
46
+ 1
2

Docker vs Packer vs Vagrant Cloud: What are the differences?

Introduction:

Docker, Packer, and Vagrant Cloud are all popular tools used in the field of DevOps to streamline the development and deployment processes. Despite serving a similar purpose, these tools have distinct differences that set them apart. Let's explore the key differences between Docker, Packer, and Vagrant Cloud.

  1. Containerization vs. Image Creation: Docker focuses on containerization, allowing developers to create lightweight and isolated environments that contain all the necessary dependencies for an application to run. Packer, on the other hand, is primarily used for creating machine images that can be deployed on various platforms and cloud providers. Vagrant Cloud serves as a platform for sharing and distributing preconfigured Vagrant environments.

  2. Portability and Consistency: Docker emphasizes portability, enabling developers to package applications and dependencies into self-contained containers that can run consistently across different environments. Packer focuses on creating machine images that can be deployed on multiple platforms, cloud providers, and virtualization tools, ensuring consistency across these environments. Vagrant Cloud simplifies the sharing and distribution of development environments, making it easier for teams to maintain consistency in their development workflows.

  3. Orchestration and Scaling: Docker provides powerful orchestration capabilities through tools like Docker Swarm and Kubernetes, allowing users to run and manage clusters of containers. Packer, on the other hand, is mainly focused on image creation and does not offer built-in orchestration features. Vagrant Cloud, being a platform for distributing development environments, does not directly provide orchestration and scaling capabilities.

  4. Automation and Infrastructure-as-Code: Docker promotes the use of reusable container images and Dockerfiles, making it easier to automate the deployment and management of applications. Packer also supports automation through the use of JSON configuration files, allowing users to define their infrastructure as code. Vagrant Cloud enables developers to define their development environments using Vagrantfiles, allowing for easy automation and reproducibility.

  5. Community and Ecosystem: Docker has gained widespread popularity and has a vast community of developers and contributors. It has a rich ecosystem of tools, libraries, and prebuilt container images available in the Docker Hub. Packer, while not as popular as Docker, also has an active community and ecosystem with a variety of built-in builders and provisioners. Vagrant Cloud, being a platform for sharing Vagrant environments, offers a marketplace where users can discover and share development environments.

  6. Target Audience and Use Cases: Docker is widely adopted by developers, DevOps engineers, and organizations looking to containerize their applications for better scalability and efficiency. Packer is generally used by infrastructure engineers and DevOps teams to create machine images for various deployment targets. Vagrant Cloud primarily targets developers who want to easily manage and share development environments across teams.

In summary, Docker focuses on containerization and portability, Packer emphasizes image creation and consistency across different platforms, and Vagrant Cloud provides a platform for sharing and distributing development environments. Each tool has its own target audience and offers unique benefits in the field of DevOps.

Decisions about Docker, Packer, and Vagrant Cloud
Florian Sager
IT DevOp at Agitos GmbH · | 3 upvotes · 448K views
Chose
LXDLXD
over
DockerDocker

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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Pros of Docker
Pros of Packer
Pros of Vagrant Cloud
  • 823
    Rapid integration and build up
  • 692
    Isolation
  • 521
    Open source
  • 505
    Testa­bil­i­ty and re­pro­ducibil­i­ty
  • 460
    Lightweight
  • 218
    Standardization
  • 185
    Scalable
  • 106
    Upgrading / down­grad­ing / ap­pli­ca­tion versions
  • 88
    Security
  • 85
    Private paas environments
  • 34
    Portability
  • 26
    Limit resource usage
  • 17
    Game changer
  • 16
    I love the way docker has changed virtualization
  • 14
    Fast
  • 12
    Concurrency
  • 8
    Docker's Compose tools
  • 6
    Fast and Portable
  • 6
    Easy setup
  • 5
    Because its fun
  • 4
    Makes shipping to production very simple
  • 3
    It's dope
  • 3
    Highly useful
  • 2
    Does a nice job hogging memory
  • 2
    Open source and highly configurable
  • 2
    Simplicity, isolation, resource effective
  • 2
    MacOS support FAKE
  • 2
    Its cool
  • 2
    Docker hub for the FTW
  • 2
    HIgh Throughput
  • 2
    Very easy to setup integrate and build
  • 2
    Package the environment with the application
  • 2
    Super
  • 0
    Asdfd
  • 27
    Cross platform builds
  • 9
    Vm creation automation
  • 4
    Bake in security
  • 1
    Good documentation
  • 1
    Easy to use
  • 2
    Well Known

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Cons of Docker
Cons of Packer
Cons of Vagrant Cloud
  • 8
    New versions == broken features
  • 6
    Unreliable networking
  • 6
    Documentation not always in sync
  • 4
    Moves quickly
  • 3
    Not Secure
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      What is Docker?

      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

      What is Packer?

      Packer automates the creation of any type of machine image. It embraces modern configuration management by encouraging you to use automated scripts to install and configure the software within your Packer-made images.

      What is Vagrant Cloud?

      Vagrant Cloud pairs with Vagrant to enable access, insight and collaboration across teams, as well as to bring exposure to community contributions and development environments.

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      What companies use Docker?
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      What companies use Vagrant Cloud?

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      What tools integrate with Docker?
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      What are some alternatives to Docker, Packer, and Vagrant Cloud?
      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.
      rkt
      Rocket is a cli for running App Containers. The goal of rocket is to be composable, secure, and fast.
      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.
      Cloud Foundry
      Cloud Foundry is an open platform as a service (PaaS) that provides a choice of clouds, developer frameworks, and application services. Cloud Foundry makes it faster and easier to build, test, deploy, and scale applications.
      Vagrant
      Vagrant provides the framework and configuration format to create and manage complete portable development environments. These development environments can live on your computer or in the cloud, and are portable between Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux.
      See all alternatives