Container-Native Storage Key Considerations

To read this article by Dave Raffo from Evaluator Group, published on April 9, 2021, click on:
Container-Native Storage Key Considerations (registration required)
Just as the popularity of virtualization changed the way data is stored, managed and protected from bare metal deployments, the rise of containers and modern applications changed these processes again.

That is because of fundamental differences between containers and VMs. Containers use microservices that create reusable elements that can be invoked updated and scaled independently. With containers, multiple compute instances can run on a single host operating system. This makes for a more effective way to rapidly deploy and update applications.

But the move to containers requires changes in how storage is provisioned and managed and brings about different challenges for IT teams.

Unlike VMs, containers are ephemeral. Some only live for seconds and do not need to store data. All data is lost when a container shuts down. To host stateful applications such as databases deployed on containers, persistent storage must be provided. And if they are enterprise applications, they require the same enterprise storage features as applications running on VMs and bare metal.