Container Architecture

Auteur

Affiliations

[Author Name]

Université de Toulon

LIS UMR CNRS 7020

Purpose of this Document

This document defines the container architecture for [System Name], including containerization strategy, orchestration, and operational considerations.

Container Strategy Overview

Containerization Goals:
  - [Goal 1, e.g., "Consistent deployment across environments"]
  - [Goal 2, e.g., "Improved resource utilization"]
  - [Goal 3, e.g., "Simplified scaling"]

Key Principles:
  - [Principle 1, e.g., "Immutable infrastructure"]
  - [Principle 2, e.g., "Single responsibility"]
  - [Principle 3, e.g., "Security by default"]

Container Platform

Platform:
  Orchestration: [Kubernetes/Nomad/ECS/etc.]
  Version: [Platform version]
  Distribution: [Distribution, e.g., EKS, AKS, Rancher]
  
  Registry:
    Provider: [ECR/Docker Hub/GitHub Container Registry/etc.]
    Security: [Image scanning approach]
    Access Control: [Access management approach]
    
  Base Images:
    - Name: [Image name]
      Version: [Version policy]
      Source: [Origin]
      Purpose: [Use cases]
      Security: [Scanning/hardening approach]
    
    - Name: [Additional base image]
      # Similar structure as above

Standards:
  Image Security:
    - Scanning: [Tools and process]
    - CVE Management: [Approach to vulnerabilities]
    - Signing: [Image signing approach]
    - Admission Control: [Image validation process]
    
  Resource Management:
    - Requests: [Standard approach]
    - Limits: [Standard approach]
    - Quotas: [Usage quotas]
    
  Health Checks:
    - Liveness: [Requirements]
    - Readiness: [Requirements]
    - Startup: [Requirements]

Container Architecture

graph TD
    subgraph "Development"
        A[Source Code]
        B[Build Pipeline]
        C[Container Image]
    end
    
    subgraph "Container Platform"
        D[Container Registry]
        E[Orchestrator]
        F[Service Mesh]
        
        subgraph "Workloads"
            G[App Containers]
            H[Sidecar Proxies]
            I[Service Containers]
        end
    end
    
    A --> B
    B --> C
    C --> D
    D --> E
    E --> G
    E --> H
    E --> I
    F --- H

Container Orchestration

@startuml
package "Container Platform" {
    [Container Registry] as CR
    [Orchestrator] as Orch
    [Service Mesh] as SM
    [Ingress Controller] as IC
    [Config Management] as CM
    [Secret Management] as SM2
    
    package "Workloads" {
        [App Containers] as App
        [Sidecar Proxies] as SP
        [Service Containers] as Svc
    }
}

[CI/CD] --> CR
CR --> Orch
Orch --> App
Orch --> SP
Orch --> Svc
SM --> SP
IC --> SP
CM --> App
SM2 --> App
@enduml

Container Deployment Patterns

Deployment Patterns:
  - Pattern: Sidecar
    Description: Helper container extends main container
    Use Cases: Logging, monitoring, configuration
    Example: Proxy sidecar for service mesh
  
  - Pattern: Ambassador
    Description: Proxy for external services
    Use Cases: API connection management, rate limiting
    Example: Database connection pooling
  
  - Pattern: Adapter
    Description: Standardizes output from main container
    Use Cases: Monitoring, logging normalization
    Example: Log format standardization

  - Pattern: Init Container
    Description: Runs before main containers
    Use Cases: Setup, dependency checks, migrations
    Example: Database schema migration

Example Kubernetes Deployment

apiVersion: apps/v1
kind: Deployment
metadata:
  name: example-app
  labels:
    app: example-app
spec:
  replicas: 3
  selector:
    matchLabels:
      app: example-app
  template:
    metadata:
      labels:
        app: example-app
    spec:
      containers:
      - name: app
        image: example/app:1.0.0
        ports:
        - containerPort: 8080
        resources:
          requests:
            memory: "128Mi"
            cpu: "100m"
          limits:
            memory: "256Mi"
            cpu: "500m"
        livenessProbe:
          httpGet:
            path: /health
            port: 8080
          initialDelaySeconds: 30
          periodSeconds: 10
        readinessProbe:
          httpGet:
            path: /ready
            port: 8080
          initialDelaySeconds: 5
          periodSeconds: 5
        securityContext:
          runAsNonRoot: true
          allowPrivilegeEscalation: false
          capabilities:
            drop:
              - ALL
      - name: sidecar
        image: example/sidecar:1.0.0
        # Sidecar configuration

Resource Management

Container Policies:
  Resources:
    CPU:
      Requests: [Standard request values by container type]
      Limits: [Standard limit values by container type]
      Ratio: [Guideline for limit:request ratio]
    
    Memory:
      Requests: [Standard request values by container type]
      Limits: [Standard limit values by container type]
      Ratio: [Guideline for limit:request ratio]
    
    Storage:
      Volumes:
        - Type: [Volume type]
          Use Case: [When to use]
          Sizing: [Guidelines]
        
        - Type: [Additional volume type]
          # Similar structure as above
  
  Networking:
    Policy: [Network policy approach]
    CNI: [Container Network Interface plugin]
    Security:
      - Ingress/Egress rules
      - Microsegmentation approach
      - Service Mesh integration
    
  Monitoring:
    Metrics:
      Collector: [Prometheus/Datadog/etc.]
      Standard Metrics: [Key metrics collected]
      Custom Metrics: [Application-specific metrics]
    
    Logging:
      Collector: [Fluentd/Logstash/etc.]
      Format: [Standard log format]
      Destination: [Where logs are sent]

Security Considerations

Container Security:
  Build Time:
    - Base Image Selection: [Criteria and approach]
    - Dependency Scanning: [Tool and process]
    - Secret Detection: [Tool and process]
    - Image Scanning: [Tool and process]
  
  Deploy Time:
    - Image Signatures: [Verification approach]
    - Admission Control: [Policy enforcement]
    - Secret Management: [Approach to secrets]
    - RBAC: [Access control model]
  
  Runtime:
    - Security Contexts: [Required settings]
    - Pod Security Standards: [Applied standards]
    - Runtime Protection: [Runtime security tools]
    - Network Policies: [Isolation approach]

Operational Considerations

Day 2 Operations:
  Scaling:
    - Horizontal Pod Autoscaler: [Configuration approach]
    - Vertical Pod Autoscaler: [Configuration approach]
    - Cluster Autoscaler: [Configuration approach]
  
  Updates:
    - Rolling Updates: [Strategy]
    - Canary Deployments: [Strategy]
    - Blue/Green Deployments: [Strategy]
  
  Reliability:
    - Pod Disruption Budgets: [Approach]
    - Liveness/Readiness: [Best practices]
    - Anti-affinity: [Strategy]
    - Topology Spread: [Approach]
  
  Monitoring:
    - Container Health: [Key metrics]
    - Application Health: [Key metrics]
    - Alerting: [Critical conditions]

Container Best Practices

1. Image Size
   • Use minimal base images (Alpine, Distroless)
   • Multi-stage builds to reduce size
   • Remove unnecessary tools and packages
2. Configuration
   • Externalize configuration
   • Use environment variables or config maps
   • Avoid hardcoded configs
3. Security
   • Run as non-root user
   • Use read-only file systems where possible
   • Drop unnecessary capabilities
   • Scan images for vulnerabilities
4. Resource Management
   • Set appropriate resource requests and limits
   • Use init containers for setup tasks
   • Configure liveness and readiness probes
5. Logging
   • Log to stdout/stderr
   • Use structured logging (JSON)
   • Include correlation IDs for tracing

Example Dockerfile

# Build stage
FROM node:16-alpine AS build
WORKDIR /app
COPY package*.json ./
RUN npm ci --production
COPY . .
RUN npm run build

# Production stage
FROM node:16-alpine
WORKDIR /app
COPY --from=build /app/dist ./dist
COPY --from=build /app/node_modules ./node_modules
COPY package.json ./

# Set non-root user
USER node

# Set environment variables
ENV NODE_ENV=production
ENV PORT=8080

# Expose ports
EXPOSE 8080

# Define health check
HEALTHCHECK --interval=30s --timeout=3s \
  CMD wget -q -O - http://localhost:8080/health || exit 1

# Define entrypoint
CMD ["node", "dist/main.js"]

Template Validation Checklist

• Container strategy defined
• Platform components identified
• Base image standards documented
• Resource management approach specified
• Security considerations addressed
• Operational considerations covered
• Example implementations provided
• Best practices described
• Team review completed

Related Views

• Infrastructure Architecture - Overall infrastructure
• Component Architecture - Service components
• Deployment Architecture - Deployment approach