CoreOS Debuts Version 1.0 of rkt Open Source Container System
CoreOS‘s answer to Docker containers, rkt, hit version 1.0 this week, signaling the beginning of what CoreOS hopes will become widespread adoption of its open source container platform within the enterprise.
CoreOS began developing rkt (short for Rocket) in late 2014. Before that, the Linux-based operating system relied on Docker as its container solution. The launch of the rtk container run time marked CoreOS developers’ interest in differentiating their platform from Docker. It was also the first large-scale attempt to develop an alternative to Docker.
On Thursday, CoreOS announced the general availability of rkt 1.0. The release announcement emphasized the production-readiness and enterprise-level features of the platform, which is now “open for companies to use in container environments with the most rigorous production requirements,” according to CoreOS.
CoreOS developers are pitching several rkt features as key assets for deployments in the enterprise:
- Rigorous security, including container isolation, SELinux support, TPM integration, image signature validation and basic privilege separation.
- Compatibility with Docker containers, as well as any containers that support the App Container Image format. In this regard, CoreOS appears eager to win over developers who have already written container apps for other platforms, especially Docker. Now, those developers can deploy on CoreOS without additional work.
- Container Networking Interface (CNI)-compatible networking.
Developers are also playing up the growing ecosystem around rkt as another reason for enterprises to embrace it. “rkt’s ecosystem continues to grow into a strong community of developers and operators that are committed to providing a secure, composable, standards-based container engine,” CoreOS said in a statement. “Today rkt runs on all modern Linux distributions, including Ubuntu, Fedora, and CoreOS, and is used by a growing number of products and users.”
Whether rkt enjoys as much popularity within the enterprise as CoreOS hopes will depend largely on how much companies want to commit to the rest of the CoreOS platform. While Docker can be deployed on any Linux distribution, rkt — at least in practice — remains tightly bound to CoreOS itself. (Yes, it’s technically possible to install rkt on other platforms, but it’s not officially supported there and no enterprise is likely to do that for a production environment.) For companies that want integration and ease of deployment, that will be a good thing. But those wary of vendor lock-in may be less enthusiastic about the proposition — although the open source nature of CoreOS may help to alleviate fears about serious lack of compatibility.
