Continuous container utilization system and method
Instantiation of a deployment image is accelerated by associating images with fingerprints, including fingerprints of constituent images (e.g., container and application images) of the deployment image. A database is maintained that associates hosts with the fingerprints of images instantiated thereon. When deploying the deployment image, a host associated with at least a portion of the fingerprint of the deployment image is identified and only the portion of the deployment image that is not already present on the host are transmitted to the host. An application image may be loaded into an already-executing container. The container may be restarted and invoke an entrypoint that references an orchestrator agent that retrieves and loads the application image into the container and invokes the entrypoint of the application image.
1 . An apparatus comprising:
a computing device including one or more processing devices and one or more memory devices operably coupled to the one or more processing devices, the one or more memory devices storing executable code that, when executed by the one or more processing devices, causes the one or more processing devices to:
execute a container hosting a first application instance;
restart the container;
receive an application image following restarting of the container; and
configure the container to host a second application instance that is instantiated from the application image in place of the first application instance by:
invoking, by the container, an orchestrator agent using an entrypoint identifier referencing the orchestrator agent, wherein the orchestrator agent is configured to perform tasks to instantiate the second application instance; and
invoking, by the orchestrator agent, an entrypoint of the second application instance within the container from the application image in place of the first application instance.
2 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein, the first application instance is not instantiated from the application image.
3 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the executable code, when executed by the one or more processing devices, further causes the one or more processing devices to, in response to invoking the entrypoint identifier by the container, request, by the orchestrator agent, the application image.
4 . The apparatus of claim 3 , wherein the executable code, when executed by the one or more processing devices, further causes the one or more processing devices to, in response to invoking the entrypoint identifier by the container:
receive the application image; and
configure the container to host the second application instance that is instantiated from the application image.
5 . The apparatus of claim 4 , wherein the executable code, when executed by the one or more processing devices, further causes the one or more processing devices to, in response to invoking the entrypoint identifier by the container, invoke the entrypoint of the second application instance.
6 . A method comprising:
executing, by a computer system, a container hosting a first application instance;
restarting, by the computer system, the container;
receiving, by the computer system, an application image following restarting of the container; and
configuring, by the computer system, the container to host a second application instance that is instantiated from the application image in place of the first application instance by:
invoking, by the container, an orchestrator agent using an entrypoint identifier referencing the orchestrator agent, wherein the orchestrator agent is configured to perform tasks to instantiate the second application instance; and
invoking, by the orchestrator agent, an entrypoint of the second application instance within the container from the application image in place of the first application instance.
7 . The method of claim 6 , wherein, the first application instance is not instantiated from the application image.
8 . The method of claim 6 , further comprising, in response to invoking the entrypoint identifier by the container, requesting, by the orchestrator agent, the application image.
9 . The method of claim 8 , further comprising, in response to invoking the entrypoint identifier by the container:
receiving, by the computer system, the application image; and
configuring, by the computer system, the container to host the second application instance that is instantiated from the application image.
10 . The method of claim 9 , further comprising, in response to invoking the entrypoint identifier by the container, invoking, by the computer system, the entrypoint of the second application instance.
11 . The method of claim 6 , further comprising executing an orchestration agent on the computer system, the entrypoint identifier referencing the orchestration agent.
12 . The method of claim 11 , further comprising requesting, by the orchestration agent, the application image, from an image store in response to the container invoking the entrypoint identifier.
13 . The method of claim 12 , further comprising:
receiving, by the orchestration agent, the application image from the image store;
instantiating, by the orchestration agent, the application image as the second application instance within the container; and
invoking, by the orchestration agent, the entrypoint of the second application instance.