Introduction
Eclipse Che runs on several infrastructures and container engines:
-
Docker
-
OpenShift: OpenShift Container Platform (OCP), OpenShift Online (OSO), OpenShift Dedicated (OCD), MiniShift
-
Kubernetes
Available features for different infrastructures
Feature |
Docker |
OpenShift |
Kubernetes |
root access |
yes |
yes (See: Configuration) |
yes |
https |
no |
yes (See: Configuration) |
yes |
scalability |
no |
yes (See: Configuration) |
yes |
privileged containers |
yes |
yes (configurable in OpenShift) |
yes |
health checks |
no |
yes |
yes |
persistent preview URLs |
no |
yes |
yes |
installers |
yes |
yes (some installers may require sudo access) |
yes |
file system permissions |
not limited |
limited to directories owned by root group |
not limited |
Docker versus OpenShift for running Che
Che on Docker is not scalable because you cannot add more nodes to run workspaces.Even if you have a node with lots of resources, you can face problems with many containers residing on one node. A potential problem is that the instance can be unresponsive when it has a large number of running containers with heavy processes running in them. This affects the workspace master and all running workspaces.
The follow features are available on both Docker and OpenShift:
Root Access: You can have root access in workspace containers, which allows you to run system services and to install software at runtime.
Privileged Containers: You can run workspace containers in a privileged mode.
The following features are only available on OpenShift:
HTTPS support:
HAProxy runs in an OpenShift cluster and creates secure routes.
Scalability:
You can add nodes depending on the demand to run workspaces. OpenShift schedules workspaces to available nodes.
Health Checks:
OpenShift restarts failed deployments and offers health checks for pods. This can significantly minimize the effect of infrastructure outages.
Persistent Preview URLs:
You can access applications and processes in Che workspaces. Che creates services and routes that are persistent URLs.
Additional Resources