Learn the difference between Docker swarm and Kubernetes. Comparison between two container orchestration platforms in a tabular manner.
When you are on the learning curve of application containerization, there will be a stage when you come across orchestration tools for containers. If you have started your learning with Docker then Docker swarm is the first cluster management tool you must have learned and then Kubernetes. So its time to compare docker swarm and Kubernetes. In this article, we will quickly see what is docker, what is Kubernetes, and then a comparison between the two.
What is Docker swarm?
Docker swarm is a native tool to Docker which is aimed at clustering management of Docker containers. Docker swarm enables you to build a cluster of multi-node VM of physical machines running the Docker engine. In turn, you will be running containers on multiple machines to facilitate HA, availability, fault-tolerant environment. It’s pretty much simple to set up and native to Docker.
What is Kubernetes?
It’s a platform to manage containerized applications i.e. containers in cluster environment along with automation. It does almost similar job swarm mode does but in a different and enhanced way. It’s developed by Google in the first place and later project handed over to CNCF. It works with containers like Docker and rocket. Kubernetes installation is a bit complex than Swarm.
Compare Docker and Kubernetes
If someone asks you a comparison between Docker and Kubernetes then that’s not a valid question in the first place. You can not differentiate between Docker and Kubernetes. Docker is an engine that runs containers or itself it refers to as container and Kubernetes is orchestration platform that manages Docker containers in cluster environment. So one can not compare Docker and Kubernetes.
Difference between Docker Swarm and Kubernetes
I added a comparison of Swarm and Kubernetes in the below table for easy readability.
| Docker’s own orchestration tool | Google’s open-source orchestration tool |
| Younger than Kubernetes | Older than Swarm |
| Simple to setup being native tool to Docker | A bit complex to set up but once done offer more functionality than Swarm |
| Less community around it but Docker has excellent documentation | Being Google’s product and older has huge community support |
| Simple application deploy in form of services | Bit complex application deploys through pods, deployments, and services. |
| Has only command line interface to manage | Also offers GUI addition to CLI |
| Monitoring is available using third party applications | Offer native and third party for monitoring and logging |
| Much faster than Kubernetes | Since its a complex system its deployments are bit slower than Swarm |