Docker is a popular containerization tool in DevOps. It runs your application inside a container, uses minimum resources, can be deployed faster, and it can scale quickly. When you are working in a live production environment, there might be 100s of docker containers running in multiple clusters. Managing all the containers can be painful. Kubernetes and Docker Swarm are a few solutions to manage large docker clusters, but these solutions add up a lot of complexity and skill knowledge. Why waste your skilled resources and time on managing containers when there are multiple docker hosting platforms which can take care of it? By offloading hosting headaches to the expert, you focus on your core business. Here is a list of the most popular docker hosting platforms that you should consider for managing your docker containers.
Kamatera
Create servers quickly with Kamatera and deploy your cloud infrastructure now. It offers unlimited scale-up and out along with a simple management console, an API, and human support 24/7 so that you will never lack anything. In addition to Docker hosting, you can add load balancers, private networks, and firewalls and run any operating system edition of Linux and Windows. You will find Kamatera a reliable hosting platform for your container site as it is purpose-built, has high-end data centers, has no point of failure, and guarantees 99.95% uptime. It spreads its network to 13 data centers, such as Santa Clara, Toronto, London, Frankfurt, New York, Dallas, Hong Kong, etc. Kamatera runs its servers on the latest CPU with up to 300% more power than previous generation processors. You will get the fastest networking speed between the internet backbone and the servers. Furthermore, Kamatera offers SSD storage so that you can run your databases and applications with zero latency and I/O bottlenecks. You will get up to 512 GB RAM and 104 vCPUs per server to scale your server with one click of your mouse. Choose the docker version you want along with the nearest location to deploy your docker instantly and effortlessly. Start with a more petite configuration package of $4/month for one vCPU, 1GB RAM, 20GB SSD storage, and 5TB internet traffic.
A2 Hosting
A2 Hosting is one of the most popular WordPress and shared hosting platforms. But, do you know they offer Docker hosting as well? It has blazing fast SwiftServer to host docker, and it gives the best performance possible. In case you need faster load times, you can go for turbo servers provided by A2; you will get 20x faster speed than usual. A2 also provides a customized plan to host docker on its platform. All you need to do is select RAM, storage, cores, etc. for hosting docker, and you pay only for the resources you needed. This platform is very developer-friendly. It gives you complete access to the environment; you get root access so you can even edit server files according to your need. You can even change the operating system, start/start/reboot the system.
StackPath
StackPath is known for CDN and cloud-based security platforms. Lately, they have introduced edge computing which let you deploy container at the edge. Edge computing provides distributed computing; it brings computation and storage closer to the user’s location, which eventually saves the bandwidth and improves the response time. The StackPath platform supports the Open Container Initiative (OCI) images. By hosting containers on StackPath, you can process the containers 2.6x faster than the central cloud providers with ultra-low latency. Here is a comparison of this platform with leading cloud providers out there: You are charged depending on the number of containers running at each location. Minimum usage of 5 minutes is calculated for every container running, and after that, it is a per-second basis. With just a single click or an API call, you can have containers running at multiple edge locations within seconds. It helps in deploying the distributed application on containers with ease. Hew are a few additional features offered by StackPath:
Provides high-performance enterprise-level SSD storage ~20% faster traffic between edge compute and edge services by using a private network Customizable network policies RESTful APIs to automate the workload
Google Cloud Run
Google Cloud Platform (GCP) is one of the most popular cloud service providers which has been growing across several geographies at a fast pace. Kubernetes, a popular container orchestration tool, was originally developed by Google, so obviously, docker hosting on GCP is very much possible and suitable. In GCP, Cloud Run is a serverless managed to compute platform where you can host and run docker containers. It is built on top of the KNative project, which makes the workload easily portable across different platforms. It abstracts all the complexities involved in infrastructure management, and you can just focus on building your application. Using Cloud Run, you can deploy containers on production within seconds. You can also scale up or down your container infrastructure without any downtime. You are only charged for the resources you use. Below are the features provided by Cloud Run:
Use any programming language and operating system of your choice to deploy containers. Pay only for the usage. Faster deployment An abstraction of infrastructure management Continuous deployment with Cloud Code and Cloud Build Provide logging and monitoring services using Cloud Logging and Cloud Monitoring
Sloppy.io
Sloppy is fast, simple, and secure. With Sloppy, you can launch multiple docker containers in seconds. Sloppy is one of the best options for hosting docker containers and starting them in seconds. The project is defined in a JSON file. You can use the CLI provided by them with commands set to deploy, maintain, and monitor docker containers. It also comes with the WEB-based option to create projects, maintain and monitor the docker containers with ease. With Sloppy, you have tons of options to use docker images from public images on the Docker hub. You can also use docker images from any other public or private registry. While creating applications through their web-based, it will start recommending you docker image options automatically once you start typing the name of the image. Containers running on there infrastructure are highly available hardware, so you need not worry about any container going down. They make maintenance of your Docker container very easy with its rolling deploy, rollback, and persistent volumes features. You can update the containers with zero downtime as they start new containers and stops the older containers after the new containers are up and running. In case there is a mistake in any of your updates, you can easily roll back to the previous stable version with only three clicks. Data is stored as blocks, which are distributed across multiple physical devices. So, you don’t have to worry about losing your data at all. You can monitor all the metrics (CPU usage, network traffic, memory usage, etc.) with 5 minutes intervals. If any of your applications fails, it restarts automatically after a few consecutive checks if it is still down. It also comes with a pre-configured GitLab CE instance, which creates containers automatically once you push a code update. It uses the AWS Fargate service to deploy and manage docker containers. AWS Fargate takes care of server provisioning, cluster management, and orchestration; you don’t have to worry about these; you just need to focus on resource management. You only pay for the resources you use. Below are a few additional features: It uses multiple other AWS services such as AWS CloudWatch for monitoring, AWS ELB for load balancing, etc.
Microsoft Azure
Microsoft Azure is the 2nd biggest cloud service provider after AWS. Azure also provides services to host Docker containers on its platform. You can orchestrate the containers across 29 regions in the public cloud. You can easily move your ASP.NET applications onto azure docker containers. Microsoft Azure offers Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) to deploy and manage containerized applications easily. Azure Active Directory is used for Advanced identity and access management. Using Azure App Service, you can also deploy custom windows containers on Azure. Azure Marketplace has tons of ready-made docker apps hosted on Azure. Azure Monitor keeps an eye proactively on the performance of the containers and their availability. Some of the popular features it offers:
Interacts with Docker directly which removes complexity and unneeded additional APIs Provides enterprise-grade security to run modern and traditional Linux or Windows apps in a docker container Gives custom Linux distribution for the best docker experience Self-cleaning and healing feature for unused and unhealthy containers Runs docker-diagnose script to inform docker support staff if any issue is encountered in the bug report Supports traditional apps and micro-services
HostPresto
HostPresto is one of the first UK companies to provide a docker container hosting platform and services. On Hostpresto’s super-fast cloud, you can create and launch docker containers very quickly and easily. Instead of launching and monitoring your docker containers, you can focus on other important things like capacity planning, and resource allocations. Depending on your user demands, you can launch docker containers and scale them with ease. It also helps in accelerating your development by allowing you to push code updates on docker containers frequently. Whenever a new member joins the team, they just need to spin up a development docker container, and it will be ready in seconds for him/her to start with the development work. A dedicated UK support team is available for you to assist you with your queries. If you are in the UK region, hosting your Docker containers in HostPresto is one of the best options. HostPresto provides a 30-day money-back guarantee if you are not happy with the service and support received. Also, it gives unlimited bandwidth to the containerized application without any extra usage charge.
Vultr
Vultr offers one-click Docker deployment. Their data centers are located in 17 locations worldwide, giving you an option to choose to host your container near your users. You can manage your application through their web panel or API. Vultr servers are powered by Intel CPU, SSD, IPv6-ready, and got inbuilt server metrics monitoring.
Conclusion
It is a smart decision to host the containers on any of the above docker hosting platforms and forget about the launch, deployment, and management of the containers.
