Should You Be Using a Managed Container Platform?

To stay competitive, organizations work hard to accelerate software releases, meet stricter compliance requirements and synchronize workloads. Containers have become an essential backbone for meeting these goals, thanks to their portability and isolation. To unlock the full value of containers, however, technical teams must have strong practices in place. A managed container platform can be a powerful catalyst for achieving that next level of operational effectiveness.

Strong container management ensures that major deployments and other changes happen quickly, without compromising stability, security or predictability. Container platforms have the potential to significantly improve these capabilities. They can reduce complexity and empower organizations with greater choice — both architectural and operational.

Containerization basics

What are containers?

Containers package applications with everything they need to run reliably across environments. Each self-contained unit holds code, runtime and other execution engines, plus any supporting software packages, libraries or modules. The application then runs consistently across any environment, avoiding the “it works on my machine” problem.

Why are containers useful?

Containers let you replicate individual services on demand and make it easier to move workloads between environments. They also reduce conflicts between development and operations teams, improving the use of human and technological resources alike. In addition, containers can increase the density of applications per host, lowering hardware and cloud costs. When managed effectively, containers reduce operational friction and accelerate innovation.

What is a container platform? 

A container platform helps teams deploy, manage, scale and secure containerized applications across environments. Packaged as a complete set of tools and services, these platforms integrate container engines, orchestration, networking, storage integration and monitoring into one solution. The result is an operational layer that improves consistency across on-premises, cloud, edge and hybrid setups. Container platforms can take many forms, and each type offers specific strengths and trade-offs for different teams.

The main types of container platforms

Open source container platforms

Open source platforms are built on freely available, community-developed software like upstream Kubernetes distributions. They offer deep customization and full visibility into the codebase. They provide teams with complete control over deployment and configuration, allowing powerful customization opportunities. They also require that in-house teams assemble, integrate and maintain supporting tools for networking, monitoring and security. This requires a significant and an ongoing investment in training, maintenance and updates.

Proprietary container platforms

Specific vendors develop, sell and maintain these platforms. They include exclusive features, integrations or management tools that work with the vendor’s own ecosystem. Many Cloud Service Providers (CSPs) offer these platforms as pre-configured turnkey solutions, simplifying some aspects of setup and maintenance. In exchange, you may face reduced portability and stronger vendor lock-in. These solutions are typically managed in nature and feature scalability, high availability and helpful monitoring services. Organizations that are eager to reduce hands-on effort — and are comfortable with an environment driven by external expertise — may appreciate such platforms.

On-premises container platforms

This type of container platform is well-suited for highly regulated industries. Providers deploy on-premises container platforms within an organization’s own data centers. This setup gives you the greatest control over security, compliance and data residency requirements. Most modern on-premises container platforms, which are typically compatible with Kubernetes, give you the option to operate entirely without using public cloud providers. They naturally require a strong commitment to infrastructure, skilled personnel and ongoing maintenance. 

Container engines

Container engines are lightweight software components that build, run and manage containers on a host system. Container engines package application code and dependencies into container images, then launch those containers with consistent resource isolation. Along with orchestration tools like Kubernetes, container engines like Docker or containerd are foundational to containerized environments. While a container engine handles lifecycle operations at the node level, it works best as part of a larger platform that includes orchestration, storage and security tooling.

Container orchestration

Container orchestration systems like Kubernetes or Docker Swarm automate the deployment, scheduling, scaling and networking of containers across clusters of machines. They monitor application health, balance traffic and restart failed workloads to maintain availability. Orchestration also simplifies complex tasks like rolling updates, service discovery and multi-node networking. Orchestration is powerful, but it isn’t itself a full platform.

What are the benefits of using a managed container platform?

• Simplicity and efficiency: A managed container platform provides simplicity and improves efficiency. These platforms allow you to offload maintenance and monitoring responsibilities, freeing engineers to focus on transformation and long-term planning that drives business value. 
• Architectural choice: You can deploy workloads on-premises, in hybrid environments, across multiple clouds or at the edge without sacrificing control. The ability to mix and match enables teams to experiment with new services, scale applications and adjust to new compliance or data residency demands.
• Operational resilience: Managed container platforms help organizations minimize downtime and comply with rigorous Service-Level Agreements. They offer built-in monitoring and centralized logging, accelerating the detection and resolution of problems. Health checks, self-healing and failover processes further reduce the need for manual intervention.
• Enhanced security: By automating vulnerability scanning and application patching, managed container platforms minimize the risk of human error. They also support safe and consistent user management. Many platforms offer role-based access controls, integrate with existing identity systems and include secure ways to store sensitive information like passwords and certificates.
• Faster innovation: Pre-integrated tooling, curated container catalogs and automated workflows further support innovation by reducing time from concept to production. With a managed container platform, organizations can more quickly launch new features, respond to customer needs or otherwise evolve.

Are there challenges to using managed container platforms?

• Cost considerations: Managed platforms involve outside expertise and services, which means introducing new costs. A broad financial perspective that contemplates the value of reliable uptime, less maintenance and increased availability of technical teams for high-value projects, however, often reveals net savings. For example, organizations that used SUSE Rancher Prime with Virtualization as their managed container platform achieved a three-year ROI of 258%, according to IDC research. 
• Vendor lock-in: Managed container platforms sometimes include proprietary features or integrations that only work within the vendor’s ecosystem. Selecting a platform that adheres to open standards, such as Kubernetes certified by the Cloud Native Computing Foundation, will help to maintain flexibility.
• Migration complexity: If you commit to platform-specific features or dependencies, it may be challenging to change platforms in the future. By designing applications for portability from the start, you can reduce these risks and protect your investment.

How to choose a managed container platform

• Prioritize open standards: Platforms that use Kubernetes and support CNCF-certified components will keep your workloads flexible and portable across different environments.
• Review security practices: Look for a vendor with a proven secure supply chain, built-in vulnerability scanning, and certifications like Common Criteria or SOC 2 to support your compliance needs.
• Evaluate integrations: Check if the platform works smoothly with your existing authentication systems, monitoring tools and security policies. The greater the compatibility, the lower the friction during adoption.
• Assess performance and availability: Consider SLAs, regional coverage and the platform’s ability to maintain consistent performance during seasonal spikes and other peak loads.
• Understand long-term costs: To determine an appropriate financial balance, examine upfront costs, ongoing fees and the value of anticipated benefits. Faster innovation, reduced downtime and improved security posture each represent notable potential for gains.

Managed container platforms: Final thoughts

Modern development teams rely on containers as a backbone for application delivery. A managed container platform can help to simplify complex container management operations, maintain flexibility across diverse environments and ultimately accelerate innovation. There are a range of platform types available, allowing teams to find the right balance between control and convenience. For example, Rancher is an open source Kubernetes management platform. SUSE Rancher Prime builds on these open source foundations and adds enterprise-level services to streamline multi-cluster Kubernetes management at scale across all your environments.

Learn more about strategies for managing containers at scale in Enterprise Container Management for Dummies.

Managed container platform FAQs

What is the most popular managed container platform?

Popular managed container platforms include Amazon EKS, Google GKE, Azure AKS and SUSE Rancher Prime. The best choice depends on your environment, internal expertise and integration needs.

Are managed container platforms the same as CaaS?

Not exactly. Containers as a Service is a cloud service model, but not all CaaS offerings provide the depth of a managed container platform. CaaS is a general term for any service that allows you to run and manage containers without building your own infrastructure. These services can range from basic to advanced. There are CaaS offerings without the options and capabilities of a managed container platform.

Is Kubernetes a managed container platform?

No. Kubernetes is not a managed container platform. Kubernetes is an open source container orchestrator. Through features like monitoring and automation, a managed container platform extends the capabilities of Kubernetes to further simplify container operations.