Comparison of multi-host Docker networking

Comparison of multi-host Docker networking.md

• Weave vs Calico vs Flannel
• Choosing a container networking provider

	Calico	Flannel	Weave	Docker Overlay Network
Network Model	Pure Layer-3 Solution	VxLAN or UDP Channel	VxLAN or UDP Channel	VxLAN
Application Isolation	Profile Schema	CIDR Schema	CIDR Schema	CIDR Schema
Protocol Support	TCP, UDP, ICMP & ICMPv6	ALL	ALL	ALL
Name Service	No	No	Yes	No
Distributed Storage Requirements	Yes	Yes	No	Yes
Encryption Channel	No	TLS	NaCl Library	No
Partially Connected Network Support	No	No	Yes	No
Seperate vNIC for Container	No	No	Yes	yes
IP Overlap Support	No	Maybe	Maybe	Maybe
Container Subnet Restriction	No	No	Yes, configurable after start	Yes, not configurable after start

• Network Model - What kind of network model are used to support multi-host network.
• Application Isolation - Support what level and kind of application isolation of containers.
• Name Service - DNS lookup with simple hostname or DNS rules.
• Distributed Storage Requirements - Whether an external distributed storage is required, e.g. etcd or consul.
• Encryption Channel - Whether data and infomation tranvers can put in an encryption channel.
• Partially Connected Network Support - Whether the system can run on a partially connected host network.
• Seperate vNIC for Container - Whether a seperate NIC is generated for container.
• IP Overlap Support - Whether the same IP can be allocated to different containers.
• Container Subnet Restriction - Whether container's subnet should not be the same as host's.
• Protocol Support - What kind of Layer-3 or Layer-4 protocols are supported.

From this analysis

More articles:

• OverLay performance testing.
• Container Networking: a Breakdown, Explanation and Analysis
• The Container Networking Landscape: cni from Coreos and cnm from Docker
• the-over-under-on-container-networking

From the latter article by Lee Calcote:

Canal Strengths:

• Overlay
• Security Policy

Flannel Strengths:

• Overlay
• Simple
• Well-tested / mature

Weavenet:

• Multicast
• Built-in name service
• Buil-in K/V Store

Project Calico Strengths:

• L3 Networking
• Security Policy
• Broadest ecosystem support

Giant Spreadsheet

docker_networking_star_history.png

flannel.jpg

Velocity_2017__The_Over-Under_on_Container_Networking__Slides2.png

Velocity_2017__The_Over-Under_on_Container_Networking__Slides3.png

vxlan.png

Velocity_2017__The_Over-Under_on_Container_Networking__Slides1.png