Torizon: Docker Container

ABOUTYOU

Software

developers?

Security

specialists?

Embedded

developers?

Linux

users?

Docker

users?

Agenda

• Containers

• Containers and Devices

• Q&A

CONTAINERS

ABOUT

• 20/40 feet long metal box

• Invented in late 40s early 50s

• Fixed size, well-defined specs

• Easy to load/unload from ships, trains, trucks

• Standardization

CONTAINERS

HOW CONTAINERSCHANGED THEWORLD

• Before containers, ports were a huge mess of

different ships, cranes, warehouses etc. one

for each kind of transported good

• 6K container ships, 20 million containers

moving in this moment

DOES ONE SIZEFITS ALL?

• NO!

• Some containers are not filled completely

• Some products had to be changed to better fit

inside containers

• Containers dictate the size and shape of

many products

• Some kinds of materials or goods are still not

shipped inside containers

(oil, grains, cars)

CONTAINERS INSOFTWARE

Lightweight Virtual

Machine

• User-mode virtualization

• Isolation

• Portability

• Native drivers

Easy way to package

software applications

• All user-mode dependencies in the

same package

• Fully dedicated environment

• Easy to clone and distribute

CONTAINERSEXPLAINED INLESS THAN 5’(but don’t pretend it’s an

exhaustive explanation)

LINUX (and most of modern OSs)

Hardware

Kernel

Filesystem

Process 0 Process 1 Process 2

HARDWARE VIRTUALIZATION

Virtual Machine 0

Virtualized Hardware

Kernel

Filesystem

Process 0 Process 1 Process 2

Hypervisor

Hardware

Virtual Machine 1

Virtualized Hardware

Kernel

Filesystem

Process 0 Process 1 Process 2

CONTAINERS

Container 1Container 0

Hardware

Kernel

Filesystem

Process 0 Process 1 Process 2

Filesystem

CONTAINERADVANTAGES

• Application and dependencies packed

in a single unit

• Easy to deploy

• Content does not matter

• Resource management

• Reduced overhead

• Ready to use containers from popular

distros

• Sharing layers to reduce footprint

CONTAINERDRAWBACKS

Extra storage

is needed

- Different

filesystems

- Layers

Extra memory

is needed

- No shared libraries

between containers

Sandboxing

- Limited access to

hardware

- File access

overhead due to

layers

Less

isolation

- Less secure than

VMs

CONTAINERS

AND

DEVICES

CONTAINERS ONEMBEDDED DEVICES

• You will waste a lot of resources!

• You don’t need high level languages and

frameworks on a device (see point 1)!

• Containers are designed for servers!

• Process isolation is enough!

• This will add complexity to my development

cycle!

• If you can’t access hardware directly you

will lose performances!

• Things invented for web development are

for hipsters!

WHAT ABOUT…LINUX?

• Born as a multi-user server OS, now widely

used on billions of devices

• Process isolation by default

• HW is accessible only in kernel mode

• Multi-user by design

• Tools and frameworks originally developed

for PCs and servers

LINUX ONEMBEDDED DEVICES

Today Linux can be used to build devices that

• Get to market quickly

• Are secure

• Are future-proof

SO WHY DO WE NEEDCONTAINERS?

Applications requiring

different runtimes,

libs…

Isolation between

components

Easy to port

applications

Independent

release cycles

WILL CONTAINERS REPLACELINUX APPLICATIONS?

Linux has been widely

adopted in embedded

Linux did not replace

firmware/RTOSs on

small devices.

Devices and solutions

are getting more

complex

“Containerization” is

here to stay

SOLUTIONS USINGCONTAINERS

• Azure IoT Edge (Microsoft)

• Fedora IoT (RedHat)

• MBED Linux (Arm)

• Linux Microplatform (Foundries.io)

• Balena

• Torizon (Toradex)

Q&A

www.toradex.com | developer.toradex.com | community.toradex.com | labs.toradex.com

THANK YOU FOR YOUR INTEREST.