Docker Enterprise

Estimated reading time: 5 minutes

Docker Enterprise 2.1 is a Containers-as-a-Service (CaaS) platform that enables a secure software supply chain and deploys diverse applications for high availability across disparate infrastructure, both on-premises and in the cloud.

Docker Enterprise is a secure, scalable, and supported container platform for building and orchestrating applications across multi-tenant Linux, Windows Server 2016, and IBM Z environments.

Docker Enterprise enables deploying your workloads for high availability (HA) onto the orchestrator of your choice. Docker Enterprise automates many of the tasks that orchestration requires, like provisioning pods, containers, and cluster resources. Self-healing components ensure that Docker Enterprise clusters remain highly available.

Role-based access control applies to Kubernetes and Swarm orchestrators, and communication within the cluster is secured with TLS. Docker Content Trust is enforced for images on all of the orchestrators.

Docker Enterprise includes Docker Universal Control Plane (UCP), the cluster management solution from Docker. You install it on-premises or in your virtual private cloud, and it helps you manage your cluster and applications through a single interface.

Docker Enterprise features

Docker Enterprise 2.1 provides multi-architecture orchestration for Kubernetes and Swarm workloads. Docker Enterprise enables a secure software supply chain, with image promotion, mirroring between registries, and signing/scanning enforcement for Kubernetes images.

Kubernetes support

Kubernetes in Docker Enterprise fully supports all Docker Enterprise features, including role-based access control, LDAP/AD integration, scanning, signing enforcement, and security policies.

Kubernetes features on Docker Enterprise include:

  • Kubernetes orchestration full feature set
  • CNCF Certified Kubernetes conformance
  • Kubernetes app deployment by using web UI or CLI
  • Compose stack deployment for Swarm and Kubernetes apps
  • Role-based access control for Kubernetes workloads
  • Blue-Green deployments, for load balancing to different app versions
  • Ingress Controllers with Kubernetes L7 routing

In addition, UCP integrates with Kubernetes by using admission controllers, which enable:

  • Authenticating user client bundle certificates when communicating directly with the Kubernetes API server
  • Authorizing requests via the UCP role-based access control model
  • Assigning nodes to a namespace by injecting a NodeSelector automatically to workloads via admission control
  • Keeping all nodes in both Kubernetes and Swarm orchestrator inventories
  • Fine-grained access control and privilege escalation prevention without the PodSecurityPolicy admission controller
  • Resolving images of deployed workloads automatically, and accepting or rejecting images based on UCP’s signing-policy feature

The default Docker Enterprise installation includes both Kubernetes and Swarm components across the cluster, so every newly joined worker node is ready to schedule Kubernetes or Swarm workloads.

IBM z Systems

Kubernetes workloads aren’t supported on IBM z Systems clusters. On a mixed cluster with z Systems, Docker EE won’t schedule Kubernetes workloads on z Systems nodes.

Orchestration platform features

  • Docker Enterprise manager nodes are both Swarm managers and Kubernetes masters, to enable high availability
  • Allocate nodes for Swarm and Kubernetes workloads
  • Single pane of glass for monitoring apps
  • Enhanced Swarm hostname routing mesh with Interlock 2.0
  • One platform-wide management plane: secure software supply chain, secure multi-tenancy, and secure and highly available node management

Secure supply chain

  • Image signing and scanning of Kubernetes apps for validating and verifying content
  • Image promotion with mirroring between registries
  • Define policies for automating image promotions across the app development lifecycle of Kubernetes apps

Centralized cluster management

With Docker, you can join up to thousands of physical or virtual machines together to create a container cluster, allowing you to deploy your applications at scale. Docker Enterprise extends the functionality provided by Docker Engine to make it easier to manage your cluster from a centralized place.

You can manage and monitor your container cluster using a graphical web interface.

Deploy, manage, and monitor

With Docker Enterprise, you can manage from a centralized place all of the computing resources you have available, like nodes, volumes, and networks.

You can also deploy and monitor your applications and services.

Built-in security and access control

Docker Enterprise has its own built-in authentication mechanism with role-based access control (RBAC), so that you can control who can access and make changes to your swarm and applications. Also, Docker Enterprise authentication integrates with LDAP services. Learn about role-based access control.

Docker Enterprise integrates with Docker Trusted Registry so that you can keep the Docker images you use for your applications behind your firewall, where they are safe and can’t be tampered with.

You can also enforce security policies and only allow running applications that use Docker images you know and trust.

Docker Enterprise and the CLI

Docker Enterprise exposes the standard Docker API, so you can continue using the tools that you already know, including the Docker CLI client, to deploy and manage your applications.

For example, you can use the docker info command to check the status of a Swarm managed by Docker Enterprise:

docker info

Which produces output similar to the following:

Containers: 38
Running: 23
Paused: 0
Stopped: 15
Images: 17
Server Version: 17.06
...
Swarm: active
NodeID: ocpv7el0uz8g9q7dmw8ay4yps
Is Manager: true
ClusterID: tylpv1kxjtgoik2jnrg8pvkg6
Managers: 1
…

Use the Kubernetes CLI

Docker Enterprise exposes the standard Kubernetes API, so you can use kubectl to manage your Kubernetes workloads:

kubectl cluster-info

Which produces output similar to the following:

Kubernetes master is running at https://54.200.115.43:6443
KubeDNS is running at https://54.200.115.43:6443/api/v1/namespaces/kube-system/services/kube-dns:dns/proxy

To further debug and diagnose cluster problems, use 'kubectl cluster-info dump'.

Where to go next

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