Framework Overview and Anatomy of the Aneka Container

Introduction

In the dynamic realm of containerization and cloud computing, the Aneka Container framework emerges as a powerful player, providing a robust solution for managing and orchestrating containerized applications. In this blog, we will delve into the framework's core components, its evolution, and the intricate details of its anatomy.

What is Aneka Container?

Aneka Container is a comprehensive framework designed to streamline the deployment and management of containerized applications. Unlike traditional virtualization, containers offer lightweight and portable solutions for packaging applications and their dependencies. Aneka Container takes this concept a step further by providing a feature-rich environment for orchestrating, scaling, and optimizing the deployment of containerized workloads.

Framework Overview

The core infrastructure of the system provides a uniform layer that allows the framework to be deployed over different platforms and operating systems.

The physical and virtual resources representing the bare metal of the cloud are managed by the Aneka container, which is installed on each node and constitutes the basic building block of the middleware.

A collection of interconnected containers constitute the Aneka Cloud: a single domain in which services are made available to users and developers.

 

fig 2 . Architecture of Aneka Container

The container features three different classes of services:

1. Fabric Services
2. Foundation Services,
3. and Execution Services

These take care of infrastructure management, supporting services for the Aneka Cloud, and application management and execution, respectively.

These services are made available to developers and administrators by means of the application management and development layer, which includes interfaces and APIs for developing cloud applications and the management tools and interfaces for controlling Aneka Clouds.

Within an Aneka Cloud environment, there are different aspects involved in providing a scalable and elastic infrastructure and distributed runtime for applications.

These services involve :-

Elasticity and scaling:-

By means of the dynamic provisioning service, Aneka supports dynamically upsizing and

downsizing of the infrastructure available for applications.

The Runtime Management:-

The runtime machinery is responsible for keeping the infrastructure up and running and serves as hosting environment for services. It is primarily represented by the container and a collection of services that manage service membership and lookup, infrastructure maintenance, and profiling.

The Resource Management:-

Aneka is an elastic infrastructure in which resources are added and removed dynamically according to application needs and user requirements. To provide QoS-based execution, the system not only allows dynamic provisioning but also provides capabilities for reserving nodes for exclusive use by specific applications.

Application Management:-

A specific subset of services is devoted to managing applications. These services include scheduling, execution, monitoring, and storage management.

User Management:-

Aneka is a multitenant distributed environment in which multiple applications, potentially belonging to different users, are executed. The framework provides an extensible user system via which it is possible to define users, groups, and permissions. The services devoted to user management build up the security infrastructure of the system and constitute a fundamental element for accounting management.

SLA Management:-

Within a cloud environment, application execution is metered and billed. Aneka provides a collection of services that coordinate together to take into account the usage of resources by each application and to bill the owning user accordingly.

Anatomy of the Aneka container 

The Aneka container constitutes the building blocks of Aneka Clouds and represents the runtime machinery available to services and applications.

The container, the unit of deployment in Aneka Clouds, is a lightweight software layer designed to host services and interact with the underlying operating system and hardware.

The main role of the container is to provide a lightweight environment in which to deploy services and some basic capabilities such as communication channels through which it interacts with other nodes in the Aneka Cloud

The services installed in the Aneka container can be classified into three major categories:

1.  Fabric Services
2.  Foundation Services
3.  Application Services

The services stack resides on top of the Platform Abstraction Layer(PAL),representing the interface to the underlying operating system and hardware.

It provides a uniform view of the software and hardware environment in which the container is running.

Anatomy of the Aneka container

Fabric services

Define the lowest level of the software stack representing the Aneka Container. They

provide access to the resource-provisioning subsystem and to the monitoring facilities

implemented in Aneka.

Foundation services

Centralized storage is implemented through and managed by Aneka’s Storage service.

The service constitutes Aneka’s data-staging facilities. It provides distributed applications

with the basic file transfer facility and abstracts the use of a specific protocol to end users

and other components of the system, which are dynamically configured at runtime

according to the facilities installed in the cloud. The option that is currently installed by

default is normal File Transfer Protocol (FTP).

Application services

manage the execution of applications and constitute a layer that differentiates according to

the specific programming model used for developing distributed applications on top of

Aneka.

The types and the number of services that compose this layer for each of the programming

models may vary according to the specific needs or features of the selected model.

It is possible to identify two major types of activities that are common across all the

supported models:

1. scheduling

2. execution

Use Cases and Benefits

1. Industry Applications

Aneka Container has found applications across various industries. In scientific research, it facilitates the deployment of complex simulations and analyses. In data analytics, it enables the efficient processing of large datasets. Enterprises benefit from its flexibility, using it to deploy and manage diverse applications with ease.

2. Benefits of Aneka Container

The advantages of Aneka Container are manifold. Its scalability allows organizations to respond to changing workloads, while its flexibility accommodates a wide range of application types. Ease of management, coupled with resource optimization, makes Aneka Container an attractive choice for organizations seeking a robust container orchestration solution.

Conclusion

In conclusion, Aneka Container stands out as a comprehensive and flexible framework, offering a rich set of features for managing containerized applications. Its evolution, key components, and intricate anatomy contribute to its appeal in diverse industries. As the containerization landscape continues to evolve, Aneka Container remains at the forefront, empowering organizations to harness the full potential of containerized workloads.

Explore the possibilities of Aneka Container and consider integrating it into your infrastructure for a streamlined and efficient container orchestration experience.

References

[1] Aneka Container Documentation: [https://www.manjrasoft.com/download/InstallationGuide.pdf]

[2] Cloud computing SOA.

[3]Mastering cloud computing : Buyya