Containerizing the GUI separates your work and play. Virtualization has always been a rich man's game, and more frugal enthusiasts—unable to afford fancy server-class components—often struggle to keep up. Linux provides free high-quality hypervisors, but when you start to throw real workloads at the host, its resources become saturated quickly. No amount of spare RAM shoved into an old Dell desktop is going to remedy this situation. If a properly decked-out host is out of your reach, you might want to consider containers instead.

Linux container technology was introduced more than a decade ago and has recently jumped in adoption in IT environments. However, the OT (operational technology) environments, typically made up of heterogenous embedded systems, have lagged in the adoption of container technologies, due to both the unique technology requirements and the business models that relied on proprietary systems.

You've deployed Kubernetes, but now how are you going to get it into the hands of your developers and admins securely?

The software enabling this technology comes in many forms, with Docker as the most popular. The recent rise in popularity of container technology within the data center is a direct result of its portability and ability to isolate working environments, thus limiting its impact and overall footprint to the underlying computing system. To understand the technology completely, you first need to understand the many pieces that make it all possible. Join us this weekend as we learn about Containers. Before we get started, many ask what the difference is between a container and virtual machines? Editor Petros Koutoupis explains: Both have a specific purpose and place with very little overlap, and one doesn't obsolete the other. A container is meant to be a lightweight environment that you spin up to host one to a few isolated applications at bare-metal performance. You should opt for virtual machines when you want to host an entire operating system or ecosystem or maybe to run applications incompatible with the underlying environment.

Docker provides a powerful tool for creating lightweight images and containerized processes, but did you know it can make your development environment part of the DevOps pipeline too? Whether you're managing tens of thousands of servers in the cloud or are a software engineer looking to incorporate Docker containers into the software development life cycle, this article has a little something for everyone with a passion for Linux and Docker.

A look at using Kubernetes to create, deploy and manage thousands of container images.

Deploying and managing complex stateful applications on Kubernetes.

Part I of this Deep Dive on containers introduces the idea of kernel control groups, or cgroups, and the way you can isolate, limit and monitor selected userspace applications. Here, I dive a bit deeper and focus on the next step of process isolation—that is, through containers, and more specifically, the Linux Containers (LXC) framework.

Everyone's heard the term, but what exactly are containers? The software enabling this technology comes in many forms, with Docker as the most popular. The recent rise in popularity of container technology within the data center is a direct result of its portability and ability to isolate working environments, thus limiting its impact and overall footprint to the underlying computing system. To understand the technology completely, you first need to understand the many pieces that make it all possible.

The recent rise in popularity of container technology within the data center is a direct result of its portability and ability to isolate working environments, thus limiting its impact and overall footprint to the underlying computing system. To understand the technology completely, you first need to understand the many pieces that make it all possible. With that, may we introduce Linux Journal's Container issue. Featured Articles in this Issue Include:

Docker is everything but pretty; let's try to fix that. Here's a rundown of some GUI options available for Docker.

I recently spent some time chatting with Craig McLuckie, CEO of the leading Kubernetes solutions provider Heptio. Centered around both developers and system administrators, Heptio's products and services simplify and scale the Kubernetes ecosystem. Petros Koutoupis: For all our readers who have yet to hear of the remarkable things Heptio is doing in this space, please start by telling us, who is Craig McLuckie?

Well, here we are. Kubernetes turns four years old this month—technically, on June 7, 2018—the very same platform that brings users and data center administrators scalable container technologies. Its popularity has skyrocketed since its initial introduction by Google. Celebrating the project’s birthday is not the only thing making the headlines today. Amazon recently announced the general availability of its Elastic Container Services for Kubernetes (EKS), accessible via Amazon Web Services (AWS).

Lightweight virtual containers with PID 1. In this article, I demonstrate a method to build one Linux system within another using the latest utilities within the systemd suite of management tools. The guest OS container design focuses upon BusyBox and Dropbear for the userspace system utilities, but I also work through methods for running more general application software so the containers are actually useful.