Concept for monitoring software containers

1 . An apparatus for monitoring one or more software containers being hosted by a computer system, the apparatus comprising processing circuitry configured to:

determine information on an expected behavior of the one or more software containers based on respective software components being executed or used within the one or more software containers and based on an outside data storage comprising information on an expected behavior of software components;

determine information on a monitored behavior of the one or more software containers; and

determine a fault condition of a software container based on a deviation between the expected behavior of the software container and the monitored behavior of the software container.

2 . The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the software components comprise at least one of one or more software processes being executed in the respective software container and one or more software libraries being used in the respective software container.

3 . The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the information on the expected behavior of the software components comprises metrics characterizing the expected behavior of the software components.

4 . The apparatus according to claim 3 , wherein the metrics relate to one or more of a central processing unit usage, a graphics processing unit usage, a random-access memory usage, a storage usage, a number of instructions being executed, a usage of one or more software libraries, a network activity, and a file access activity of the respective software component.

5 . The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the processing circuitry is configured to determine a combination of the expected behavior of the software components being executed or used within the software container to determine the information on the expected behavior of the software container.

6 . The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the information on the expected behavior of the software components is determined before hosting of the one or more software containers by the computer system, and wherein the information on the monitored behavior of the one or more software containers is determined during hosting of the one or more software containers.

7 . The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the information on the expected behavior of the software components originates from outside the computer system.

8 . The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the processing circuitry is configured to, if a software container is generated or composed from two or more building blocks or layers, determine the information on the expected behavior of the software container based on the expected behavior of the software components being executed or used in the two or more building blocks or layers.

9 . The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the behavior relates to one or more of a central processing unit usage, a graphics processing unit usage, a random-access memory usage, a storage usage, a number of instructions being executed, a usage of one or more software libraries, a network activity, and a file access activity of the respective software container.

10 . The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the expected behavior and the monitored behavior includes the behavior of one or more hardware devices of the computer system, the behavior being caused by the software components being executed or used in the one or more software containers.

11 . The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the processing circuitry is configured to determine a fault condition if the deviation between the expected behavior of the software container and the monitored behavior of the software container surpasses a user-defined threshold.

12 . The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the processing circuitry is configured to restart the software container the fault condition is determined for when the fault condition is determined, to restore the software container the fault condition is determined for to a previous state when the fault condition is determined, and/or to reset the software container the fault condition is determined for to an initial state when the fault condition is determined.

13 . The apparatus according to claim 12 , wherein the processing circuitry is configured to execute a sequence of measures including restarting the software container, restoring the software container to the previous state, and resetting the software container to the initial state as long as the fault condition is not resolved by a previous measure.

14 . The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the processing circuitry is configured to analyze the one or more software containers to determine the software components being executed or used in the one or more software containers.

15 . The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the processing circuitry is configured to host the one or more software containers, and to monitor the behavior of the one or more software containers to determine the information on the monitored behavior of the one or more software containers.

16 . A method for monitoring one or more software containers being hosted by a computer system, the method comprising:

determining information on an expected behavior of the one or more software containers based on respective software components being executed or used within the one or more software containers and based on an outside data storage comprising information on an expected behavior of software components;

determining information on a monitored behavior of the one or more software containers; and

determining a fault condition of a software container based on a deviation between the expected behavior of the software container and the monitored behavior of the software container.

17 . A non-transitory, computer-readable storage medium including program code that, when executed on a computer, processor, or programmable hardware component cause the computer, processor, or programmable hardware component to perform the method of claim 16 .