Virtualization vs Containerization to support PaaS

PaaS vendors face challenges in efficiently providing services with the growth of their offerings. In this paper, we explore how PaaS vendors are using containers as a means of hosting Apps. The paper starts with a discussion of PaaS Use case and the current adoption of Container based PaaS architectures with the existing vendors. We explore various container implementations - Linux Containers, Docker, Warden Container, lmctfy and OpenVZ. We look at how each of this implementation handle Process, FileSystem and Namespace isolation. We look at some of the unique features of each container and how some of them reuse base Linux Container implementation or differ from it. We also explore how IaaSlayer itself has started providing support for container lifecycle management along with Virtual Machines. In the end, we look at factors affecting container implementation choices and some of the features missing from the existing implementations for the next generation PaaS.