ClusterHQ and VMware Collaborate to Enable Integration Between Containers and VMware vSphere-Based Storage

SAN FRANCISCO, CA--(Marketwired - Aug 31, 2015) - ClusterHQ, The Container Data People, today announced an integration between ClusterHQ's Flocker container data management software and VMware vSphere®. VMware collaborated with ClusterHQ to develop a pluggable storage driver for vSphere, providing portable and persistent shared storage for organizations using Docker containers in conjunction with VMware. Users will now have direct access to VMware vSphere-based storage -- including VMware Virtual SAN™ and VMware vSphere Virtual Volumes™ -- at the container level, allowing developer and operations (DevOps) teams to more easily run stateful container-based applications on VMware vSphere.

Despite the ability of containers to run directly on bare metal servers, a recent survey by Devops.com of developer, operations and security professionals reveals that the vast majority of containers (73%) are still run inside virtual machines. Additionally, VMware is the most popular virtualization option by far, used by almost double the number of survey respondents as the closest competitor. The survey also revealed that security is the number one barrier to container adoption, followed closely by data management.

"Today, containers do a great job easing application portability, but there are many additional operational requirements that can be improved by combining containers with VMware's software-defined data center infrastructure solutions," said Skip Bacon, vice president, storage and availability, VMware. "By collaborating with ClusterHQ to make a VMware vSphere driver available for Flocker, we're making it even easier for organizations deploying containerized applications to take advantage of the persistent storage options offered by VMware vSphere, including VMware Virtual SAN and vSphere Virtual Volumes."

ClusterHQ's Flocker enables stateful Docker containers to be easily migrated between virtual servers, which is important when developing applications that include stateful services like databases, queues and key-value stores. Flocker makes it simple and practical for entire applications, including their data, to be containerized and achieve true portability between development, staging and production. With the combination of Docker, VMware and Flocker, developers can adopt container technologies that speed their development and deployment processes while the operations team can continue using VMware infrastructure. This combined approach benefits both developers and operations teams, as both are able to use their platform of choice.