Focusing on the Key Value-Adds of Docker

Last week, Syncrofy’s production environment was Dockerized! Thanks to careful planning and excellent teamwork, the migration process took just under one hour and it went flawlessly. Our concurrent batch processing and automated tests didn’t feel a single hiccup.

Docker is a programming platform that helps administrators build, ship, and run distributed applications across all forms of connection, such as laptops, data center VMs, or the cloud. Docker simplifies the process from the development side of the business while delivering tangible improvements to the customer:

• Scalability: We can scale worker nodes (containers) up or down either manually or automatically based on a variety of criteria. We’re also more efficiently using available server resources compared to traditional virtual machines. This maximizes our infrastructure ROI.
• Resiliency: Docker containers can spin up and migrate from host to host much quicker than a traditional hypervisor could move a whole VM. Our containers employ service-based heartbeats that will autonomously replace a failing container. Zero user intervention equals less downtime.
• Security: Docker itself introduces additional network security and control by way of its internal NAT system. The containers themselves are light weight and hardened. Additionally we are employing LUKS (AES 256-bit) at rest encryption across the whole swarm. Our SED on-disk encryption and fully encrypted network communications will satisfy any security requirements. Check out our security white paper for more information.

Docker also helps our QA and deployment process since it is infrastructure agnostic.

A huge thank you goes out to Ed Ivanushkin, Stephen Leicht, Phil Fong, Joe Mandato, and Don Cherestal who helped in the development process and validated each step of the migration. An EXTRA huge thank you goes out to Matt Davis who has worked towards this goal for the better part of a year. The journey had its ups and downs but he persisted and took ownership of the problems, dealing with them head-on.

With collaboration, ownership, and excellence daunting tasks are made simple. With Q1 already behind us, 2018 has already proven it will be a successful year for CoEnterprise! This is just our first phase of Docker implementation, stay tuned for more.