We've already seen that one of the benefits of having your own NAS is having much better photo storage than what Google Photos offers . Google Photos has entered a program that limits storage for photos and videos to 15 GB, and it also compresses them, which will be inefficient and annoying if you're a professional or have large photo and video galleries. Another use for a QNAP NAS is installing Docker to create containers within a system like this private server.
[amazon box=»B07K23ZJFN» title=»QNAP TR-004 NAS″ star_rating=»none» template=»table»]Table of Contents
What is Docker?
Docker is an open source project that automatically deploys applications within software container spaces. This provides an additional layer of security along with the automation of application virtualization across multiple operating systems. This means that we can use docker to install programs and applications isolated from the system, a use similar to that of a virtual machine, but on a QNAP NAS.
Docker uses resource isolation features of the Linux kernel, including cgroups and namespaces, to allow these independent container spaces to run within a single Linux instance. This avoids the overhead of starting and maintaining virtual machines on servers. The Linux kernel support for the namespaces of an application from the rest of its environment, and on the other hand the kernel cgroups provide isolation of system resources.
One of the most common uses for docker is to use it as a tool to package an application and its dependencies in a virtual container so that it can run on any Linux server. This makes the application more flexible and provides portability.
How the Docker project works
Docker implements a high-level API to provide resource-efficient containers to run processes in isolation. It differs from a virtual machine in that it does not need to include a separate operating system since it uses kernel functionalities, resource isolation, and namespaces to isolate the application from the operating system.
Linux kernel virtualization is accessed indirectly through the libcontainer library or indirectly through libvirt, LXC, or systemd-nspawn. Thanks to containers, resources can be isolated, services will be restricted, and processes are given the ability to have an almost completely private view of the operating system with its own process space identifier, of the structure of the system. file system, and network interfaces. Multiple containers share the same kernel, but each of those containers can be restricted to using only a defined amount of system resources.
This system helps simplify the creation of highly distributed systems by allowing multiple applications, tasks and others to operate autonomously on a single physical machine. Node deployment can be done as resources are available or needed. It also simplifies the creation and operation of workload tasks or queues and other distributed systems
What systems allow Docker to be used
For now, it can be integrated into the following framework tools:
- Amazon Web Services
- Ansible
- cfengine
- Executive
- Google Cloud Platform
- Digital ocean
- IBM Bluemix
- jelastic
- Jenkins
- Cloud Foundry PaaS
- Microsoft Azure
- OpenStack Nova
- OpenSVC
- Puppet
- Salt
- Vagrant
How does the union of Docker and a QNAP NAS work?
As we already said, Docker is a system with which we can isolate an application so that it works as a virtual machine, but we control the characteristics of its isolation to the smallest detail. You won't know what other files are on the drive, and you won't be able to use resources that we haven't given you access to. A QNAP NAS is characterized by being easy to access, being made for both home users and small businesses.
With easy installation, we'll have a simple system to experiment with Docker as much as we want. This allows us to test our applications and programs in numerous scenarios and with a variety of possibilities, all at a low cost. Installation is done through one of the services available on the official website , either a free option or one of their paid plans.
The union of Docker and QNAP NAS makes program and application development and effectiveness more accessible and easy. Thus, there is a totally safe and isolated environment, adaptable to any need as well as being remotely accessible. The use of a physical NAS means that we do not have to hire any additional cloud hosting service, and we do not have to dedicate a device to this system.
