Docker Swarm Vs Nomad – Battle of Container Orchestration Tools
Containerisation has taken the world by storm in recent years. With the proliferation of containers, the need for container orchestration has also risen. There are many container orchestration tools available, and Docker Swarm and Nomad are two of the most popular.
In this article, we will compare Docker Swarm and Nomad based on several parameters, including features, ease of use, scalability, security, and performance.
Features
Both Docker Swarm and Nomad offer several advanced features that make it possible to manage containers easily. Docker Swarm allows users to manage an entire fleet of containers while providing load balancing, service discovery, and rolling updates.
On the other hand, Nomad was created to be an all-purpose scheduler for any kind of workload. It can easily handle batch processing, long-running services, and containerized applications.
Both tools have a pretty impressive set of features. However, Docker Swarm has a more extensive set of features, which makes it more suitable for complex workload management.
Ease of Use
Both Docker Swarm and Nomad are designed to be user-friendly and easy to use. However, when it comes to ease of use, Docker Swarm edges out Nomad. This is because Docker Swarm is built into the Docker CLI and can be used seamlessly with other Docker tools.
In contrast, Nomad uses its command-line interface, which means users have to learn a new set of commands. Although the learning curve is not steep, it still requires some effort to become proficient in using the tool.
Scalability
Both Docker Swarm and Nomad are highly scalable, but they scale differently. Nomad is geared more towards handling large numbers of small workloads, while Docker Swarm is more orientated towards a small number of large workloads.
Nomad can handle millions of jobs and scales quickly to accommodate new workloads. It also provides support for dynamic allocation, which means it can allocate resources on demand.
On the other hand, Docker Swarm can handle a high number of nodes, and workload scaling is simple, thanks to Docker Compose. However, it is not as efficient as Nomad at handling smaller workloads.
Security
Both Docker Swarm and Nomad support secure container orchestration. Docker Swarm has several built-in security features, such as Role-Based Access Control and Secrets Management, which makes it easier to implement security best practices.
Nomad, on the other hand, has a pluggable architecture, which means users can implement security measures of their choosing. It also offers support for Vault, a tool for managing sensitive information.
Performance
In terms of performance, Docker Swarm and Nomad are both excellent. However, performance can vary depending on workload, infrastructure and several other factors.
It is not easy to make a general comparison of performance, but in general, Docker Swarm is slightly faster for scaling large workloads, while Nomad is faster for scheduling small workloads at scale.