Alibaba Cloud Yi Li: The Evolution of Docker should be adopted instead of the revolutionary means.

Alibaba online technology summit topics, register now: https://yq.aliyun.com/activity/97

Alibaba Cloud senior expert Yi Li will share on-cloud application Docker continuous delivery and microservice practices at on March 13, July 19. To better understand the current development of Docker, we interviewed Yi Li. The following is an interview.

2013 Docker was born: making people shine

At the end of 2013, I was the architect of IBM PureApplication System. The PaaS engine of the System was based on virtual machine technology. I hope to use container technology to accelerate software deployment and simplify O & M. Although Docker appeared soon, its friendly developer experience and the distributed O & M capability of containerized software were impressive. Then I was responsible for designing and developing the Docker support for the PureApp, which could provide enterprise software as a Docker image, the middleware services based on Docker and virtual machines can be seamlessly integrated. After joining Alibaba, Docker was also introduced as a standardized software method in the process of data center automation to deliver and maintain large-scale distributed applications.

Some of my experiences with Docker technology are as follows:

1. "I have to get a glimpse of the end of the paper. I know that this is something to do ." To learn a new technology, you must first try it out and use it to solve your specific problems. In this way, you will learn more deeply.

2. Participate in the open source community with an open mind. The success of Docker is largely inseparable from the prosperity of its open-source community. Interaction with the community can help you think more deeply about some issues and better judge the development trend of technology. Now, our team has nearly 20 PR projects merged into multiple projects, such as Docker Engine/Swarm.

The path to Alibaba Cloud Docker: embracing open source

Alibaba Cloud announced at the October 2015 computing conference that it would provide Docker-based container services. In December of the same year, it launched a public beta test and officially commercialized container services in May 2016.

Prior to this, Alibaba Group had been using and accumulating container technology for four years. The LXC-based T4 container technology was applied in large scale as early as double 11 and other scenarios, it is of great help to improve the system utilization. With the maturity of Docker technology and becoming the de facto standard of container technology, Alibaba Cloud's introduction of container service is a matter of course.

From the process of high-level decision-making to execution, everyone agrees with the development trend of container technology represented by Docker. At the same time, we hope to embrace the open source community and open standards and make Alibaba cloud an optimal cloud environment for running Docker technology.

Container Service is a hot topic in the cloud computing field in recent years. Domestic and foreign startups (including Docker itself) and cloud computing giants (Google, Amazon) have launched container services. Alibaba Cloud also launched the container service based on its own advantages and technical accumulation, hoping to connect Alibaba Cloud and the Docker ecosystem. Alibaba Cloud container service has the following advantages:

1. Fully embraces open-source standards and is fully compatible with Docker images and Docker native orchestration technologies. Reduce users' cloud migration costs.

2. Provides Docker optimized support for Alibaba Cloud, provides better network and storage solutions, and high-reliability and low-cost image storage management solutions.

3. Combine Docker technology with microservice architecture, DevOps, and cloud services to provide an application platform supporting the entire software lifecycle. IT also provides an open framework that allows partners to expand functions in the platform and integrate container services into existing IT processes and environments.

DockerCon2016 trip to the United States: the proportion of production environments in China is only 10%

A while ago, I went to Seattle to participate in DockerCon 2016. What impressed me a lot is that Docker's concerns at home and abroad are still different:

1. The acceptance of Docker technologies is different at home and abroad.
In June this year, we launched a Docker user survey in the Yunqi community, where only 10% of users already use Docker in the production environment. This result is very different from the Foreign survey in the same period. For example, in DockerCon2016, Docker published a report that 60% of foreign users have used Docker in the production environment. The main cause of the gap lies in the IT maturity of domestic enterprises, as well as the lack of container-related documentation, training, and success stories in China. This requires the efforts of domestic manufacturers and communities to popularize container technology.

2. Differences in the Docker ecosystem at home and abroad
In foreign countries, traditional IT giants (Microsoft, IBM, HPE, Cisco, Redhat) and cloud computing companies (Amazon, Microsoft, and Google) place impressive emphasis on and investment in Docker technology; at the same time, a large number of start-ups explore the technical boundaries and new business opportunities of container technology in various aspects. Containerized DevOps, monitoring, security, network, and storage are all hot spots.
On DockerCon, "Nobody cares about containers, it's the application that matters" is deeply rooted in one sentence, docker's in-depth application in microservices architecture, Serverless, and enterprise applications is also an important development trend.

In comparison, on the one hand, there are still few Chinese companies, and on the other hand, the diversity of fields involved remains to be improved. We hope that we can work together to develop world-class technical companies in China. At the meeting, I also briefly introduced the current situation of cloud computing and Docker technology in China, and focused on three cases in different directions to introduce Alibaba Cloud's exploration of container technology:

1. On the public cloud, Alibaba Cloud container service allows users to focus on their own applications rather than infrastructure. It is compatible with the Docker Compose/Docker Swarm orchestration model and enhances and extends the microservice, DevOps, and other scenarios to seamlessly integrate containers and cloud services.

2. Everyone familiar with cloud computing O & M knows that Apsara stack delivery is a complicated task, and upgrading and maintaining is more complicated. Apsara Stack, a private cloud product launched by Alibaba Cloud in April this year, uses Docker technology to greatly simplify and accelerate the delivery process of Apsara Stack. In just a few days, we can deploy a full-featured cloud environment in the user's own data center.

3. Within the Alibaba Group, more and more departments gradually begin to use containers for software distribution and O & M. Here we introduce a distributed and scalable Docker image distribution architecture to address the challenges of global deployment.

The on-site feedback was good. Many foreign friends did not know that Alibaba Cloud was already a global cloud supplier, or that we did not know about our exploration in the container field. After the meeting, they asked a lot of questions. If you are interested, you can download the relevant documentation to learn the specific content (PDF download ).

Docker landing: correct posture

Although Docker has maintained a high level of popularity, it has started to enter the production environment in some companies, but in the real implementation process, users will also encounter some practical problems. I agree with the concept proposed by DockerCon in his second speech. In the practice of adopting Docker technology in enterprises, we should adopt an evolutionary rather than revolutionary approach.

First, find the desired direction for verification, such as using Docker to build a continuous integration and delivery pipeline, or using Docker to deploy a hybrid cloud environment. Through such an attempt to train the team, and use the progress of successful cases to persuade the decision-making layer, and then gradually deepen and improve the entire software supply chain.

In addition to the Docker running environment, there are a lot of problems to solve, such as security, network, storage, and scheduling. In addition, the Docker technology is developing very fast, at this time, we need to reduce the wheel of self-invention and try to use some mature and open technical solutions, such as Alibaba Cloud container service, to solve the container infrastructure. We should try our best to use the business perspective, focus on how Docker solves existing problems, rather than focusing on Docker's own technology.

Developer age: keep your initial mind

Now developers have ushered in the best development era. For developers to grow, I have only two suggestions:

1. Keep yourself fresh and enthusiastic about the technology. Many senior engineers have impressed me in my career. Although they are even academicians of IBM or senior technical directors of Alibaba, however, we still maintain a high degree of technical sensitivity and will learn deeply and solve technical problems in person. I hope to be a person like them. I am also very happy to find such an environment and atmosphere in Alibaba Cloud, and strive and grow together with like-minded people.

2. Continuous learning. Now the speed of technological change is accelerating, and learning is a requirement for every technician. This includes the improvement of professional skills and Soft skills.
For technical reading, it is generally recommended that you develop your own technical depth and width at the same time. In this way, we can better cope with rapidly changing markets and technologies. Technical books are the author's thoughts and conclusions. Generally, they are much better than online articles, but their timeliness is weaker. The purpose of learning is to establish your own knowledge system, read more, take into account different types, may be more suitable for technical students. Reading and thinking about classical books over and over again is definitely a valuable book list for the books that have won the Jolt Award. You should read the general books or online articles and learn from them in combination with practice.

For Docker developers, weekly newsletters are a good opportunity to understand the development of Docker technology and community dynamics.

Topic: Docker-based continuous delivery and microservice practices for Cloud Applications

Topic introduction: the change in delivery methods has changed the global economy, while Docker has changed the way software is delivered-accelerating application delivery and shortening delivery time. So how to deploy the production environment on the cloud? How can we achieve high-quality continuous delivery on the cloud? How to make Docker-based transformation for applications? What is the practice of Docker-based continuous delivery process? Yi Li will share this online training with you.