The latest version of Docker Enterprise Edition (EE) makes it possible to manage and secure applications running on Kubernetes in heterogeneous environments and provides workflows to simplify the day-to-day management of a Kubernetes environment.
Announced at DockerConf Europe 2017, the integration of Kubernetes into Docker EE makes it possible to mix Swarm and Kubernetes orchestrators side by side and manage applications using the same control plane regardless of the orchestrator that deployed them. Additionally, developers can migrate their apps from Swarm to Kubernetes without changing anything in their Compose files. As mentioned, Docker EE also strives to make the basic configuration and management of a Kubernetes environment easier by supporting a number of workflows out of the box, such as adding new nodes to a cluster, access to console and logs, security configuration and others. Besides simplifying the management of Kubernetes, these workflows bring the additional benefit of unifying basic operation of Swarm and Kubernetes environments, thus making it possible to switch from one to another without having to change an organization’s processes.
Other significant features provided by Docker EE 2.0 are the following:
-
Support for heterogeneous environments including multiple versions of Linux, Windows, and on-premises or public clouds. This aims to give developers the freedom to deploy on a variety of different platforms.
-
Secure zones to make sure users get the appropriate privileges to access a resource set based on their roles. With Docker EE 2.0, the concept of resource sets has been extended to support Kubernetes namespaces.
-
Project Calico, a CNI plugin for Kubernetes aiming to provide secure and scalable networking and routing, is now included in Docker EE 2.0 and comes pre-configured to work in overlay mode. Calico distributes routes for every Kubernetes pod and makes it easier to integrate a Kubernetes cluster with existing data center infrastructure. Calico has two components, a Calico Kube Controller, which is deployed as a single-pod Kubernetes deployment to mediate between Calico and Kubernetes API, and a Calico Node, which is deployed as a daemon set that runs on each host to implement the desired routing strategy in the Linux kernel.
If you already run Docker EE, you can upgrade it to version 2.0 by executing
docker run --rm -it --name ucp -v /var/run/docker.sock:/var/run/docker.sock docker/ucp:3.0.0 upgrade --interactive