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Introducing Lens AppIQ: App-Centric Intelligence for Modern Application Management

Docker Swarm

Part of the Mirantis Kubernetes Engine - the Enterprise Kubernetes Platform

The lightweight, simple, yet powerful container orchestrator that enables you to build complex applications in a robust, scalable way.

The Alternative Enterprise Container Orchestrator

Docker Swarm is an easy-to-use lightweight container orchestrator enabling quick and easy deployment of simple cloud-native applications. Whether you are coming from a classic Docker environment or just starting to move into the Cloud Native world, Swarm can be a good choice for managing your container workloads.

Handling the scheduling, networking, health management, and monitoring of containers in a cluster on Linux or Windows hosts, Swarm provides a complete container orchestration solution that helps you quickly deploy and easily manage your container environment so you can build and deploy innovative Cloud Native applications.

Your Choice - Docker Swarm, Kubernetes or both

Docker Swarm is included as an integral part of Mirantis Kubernetes Engine (MKE), providing you with the choice of orchestrators for your container workloads. In fact, you can even use both Docker Swarm and Kubernetes in your MKE-based clusters, easily moving nodes between Swarm and Kubernetes and managing both from a single UI. This flexibility provides for an excellent migration environment if you are using a Swarm-based orchestration model today but you’re thinking of growing and scaling into a Kubernetes-based environment over time.

With Mirantis Kubernetes Engine, you have the ability to deploy containers, managed with Docker Swarm as your orchestration engine, across your choice of infrastructure, from private bare metal and hosted bare metal services such as Equinix Metal, to public cloud services such as Amazon AWS, Microsoft Azure or Google GCP.

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Is Swarm for Me?

With so much focus and attention in the market around Kubernetes, you may be asking yourself, “Is Swarm right for me?” In fact, if you are just starting out on your Cloud Native journey, or you only have a small number of containers to deploy, then Swarm may be an excellent choice for your initial deployments. Of course, if you are coming from an existing Docker-based environment, then Swarm will be a natural choice for your use.

Who Should use Swarm?

  • Developer-led organizations

  • Organizations with small operations teams

  • Teams that are newer to container orchestration

  • Teams that need a quick way to deploy production-ready clusters at scale, but do not need the extensions and customizations only available in Kubernetes

Benefits of Swarm

  • Swarm is less complex than Kubernetes, making it easier to learn and deploy

  • It’s secure by default

  • It includes automated load balancing

  • It works with the Docker CLI, so there’s no need to learn another CLI if you’re coming from a Docker environment

Disadvantages of Swarm

  • It’s tied to the Docker API, limiting functionality to that of Docker

  • It’s not as extensible and modular as Kubernetes

Fortunately, with Mirantis Kubernetes Engine, you’re not locked into a choice one way or another; you can always move from Swarm to Kubernetes and back, even after your cluster is deployed.

Is Swarm for Me?

With so much focus and attention in the market around Kubernetes, you may be asking yourself, “Is Swarm right for me?” In fact, if you are just starting out on your Cloud Native journey, or you only have a small number of containers to deploy, then Swarm may be an excellent choice for your initial deployments. Of course, if you are coming from an existing Docker-based environment, then Swarm will be a natural choice for your use.

Who Should use Swarm?

  • Developer-led organizations

  • Organizations with small operations teams

  • Teams that are newer to container orchestration

  • Teams that need a quick way to deploy production-ready clusters at scale, but do not need the extensions and customizations only available in Kubernetes

Benefits of Swarm

  • Swarm is less complex than Kubernetes, making it easier to learn and deploy

  • It’s secure by default

  • It includes automated load balancing

  • It works with the Docker CLI, so there’s no need to learn another CLI if you’re coming from a Docker environment

Disadvantages of Swarm

  • It’s tied to the Docker API, limiting functionality to that of Docker

  • It’s not as extensible and modular as Kubernetes

Fortunately, with Mirantis Kubernetes Engine, you’re not locked into a choice one way or another; you can always move from Swarm to Kubernetes and back, even after your cluster is deployed.

Deploy Swarm with Confidence

Mirantis continues to maintain, enhance and support Docker Swarm as an integral part of our Mirantis Kubernetes Engine product. We have a dedicated Swarm development team that focuses solely on improvements to Swarm, and we continuously roll out new features. We also have a Services and Support team of experts ready to assist you with your deployments and ongoing maintenance.

Want to learn more about the details of Docker Swarm and how it can benefit your application deployment?

Check out the “Understanding Docker Swarm” section of the Mirantis Cloud Native Cookbook

Read “Deploying applications with Swarm” in the Mirantis Kubernetes Engine documentation.

If you are ready to give Docker Swarm and Mirantis Kubernetes Engine a try, download the free trial of MKE now.