One of the biggest issues organizations face when implementing Docker is the operations and manageability aspect. Sure, if your dev guys are your ops guys you may be good to go with command line tools or tweaking things specifically for your environmnet, but if you’ve got to had things over to a traditional operations team, chances are they won’t like that. Of course, there’s an app, or in this case, a startup for that. Many startups have created Docker management tools in order to solve this problem.
At DockerCon, Docker announced a new feature, straight from the whale’s mouth. Now in beta, the Docker Universal Control Plane seeks to solve this problem without third party intervention. Of course, this is a beta product, so it isn’t going to solve all of the ship’s problems in one fell swoop.
(The Docker Universal Control Plane)
Docker Universal Control Plane features integrations into other Docker features, such as Swarm, Compose, Trusted Registry, and Docker Engine, all native to the Docker environment. Universal Control Plane is meant to be easy to deploy, and have features enterprises need like LDAP/AD integration, and high availability.
Although it is still in beta, the Docker Universal Control Plane is a step in the right direction. This is just another sign that open source is growing up and getting ready to play in the enterprise. Of course, Docker’s own products aren’t the only game in town. For example, Rancher Labs, founded in September 2014 by an ex-Citrix crew has quite the head start, with a cool $10 Million in funding and a laser focus on making the container space a better place. Which will be more attractive to enterprises? A product native to Docker, or a product that’s further along in development? Time will tell.
To learn more about the Docker Universal Control Plane, check out the announcement on the Docker Blog, including information on how to become part of the beta.

Melissa is an Independent Technology Analyst & Content Creator, focused on IT infrastructure and information security. She is a VMware Certified Design Expert (VCDX-236) and has spent her career focused on the full IT infrastructure stack.