Beyond Docker: Other Container Options for Linux, FreeBSD and Solaris
![Beyond Docker: Other Container Options for Linux, FreeBSD and Solaris Beyond Docker: Other Container Options for Linux, FreeBSD and Solaris](https://eu-images.contentstack.com/v3/assets/blt10e444bce2d36aa8/bltf2e991b6f6b7fa34/652465e69bb5a7afe14430e9/Containers_Thinkstock_0.jpg?width=700&auto=webp&quality=80&disable=upscale)
FreeBSD, the open source Unix-like operating system not based on Linux, had "jails" long before anyone was talking about using Linux containers in production.
The FreeBSD jail concept is pretty similar to the one behind Linux containers: It allows a physical system to be partitioned off into several distinct segments. They're an extension of the chroot jail idea, but they're more secure. The idea was an important step in the transition from segregated Unix processes, which go way back, to modern container environments.
LXC, which is short for (you guessed it) Linux containers, was the technology that jump-started the Docker container craze a few years ago. LXC was not the first container system for Linux, but it was the basis of Docker's platform initially.
Docker now has its own container runtime, and LXC's main importance today stems from LXD, Canonical's container platform for Ubuntu Linux. LXD is built on top of LXC.
OpenVZ is another open source containerization solution for Linux. It dates to 2005, making it one of the oldest Linux technologies recognizable as a modern container platform. But it's a humble open source project that lives in the shadow of the bigger-name container platforms, like Docker.
You probably already know all about Docker, but we couldn't leave it off the list. It's the container platform that has secured the most funding and made the greatest commercial inroads so far.
Rocket, or rkt, is the container format built by CoreOS, another major commercial presence in the container ecosystem. CoreOS used to rely on Docker containers, but the company built Rocket starting in 2004 to help distinguish itself.
So far, the open source company has made fewer headlines than Docker, but it's certainly no failure.
Solaris, the Unix-like operating system from Sun, was the first commercial OS to introduction production-quality containers. That happened all the way back in 2005, with the release of Solaris 10.
Solaris Zones were designed primarily to virtualize an entire operating system rather than to containerize a single app. But they were an innovative solution at the time of their appearance. And they're still the way to go if you live in the Solaris universe and want container-style separation of system resources.
Solaris, the Unix-like operating system from Sun, was the first commercial OS to introduction production-quality containers. That happened all the way back in 2005, with the release of Solaris 10.
Solaris Zones were designed primarily to virtualize an entire operating system rather than to containerize a single app. But they were an innovative solution at the time of their appearance. And they're still the way to go if you live in the Solaris universe and want container-style separation of system resources.
Docker may be the most popular container platform right now, but it's far from the only one. From LXC to Solaris Zones to FreeBSD jails, there are lots of other ways to do containers, too.
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