Grid services in a box: container management in ALICE

Abstract

Virtualization and containers are established tools for providing simplified deployment, elasticity and workflow isolation. These benefits are especially advantageous in containers, which dispense with the resource overhead associated with virtual machines in cases where virtualization of the full hardware stack is not considered necessary. Containers are also simpler to setup and maintain in production environments–deployed and currently operational systems serving end-users, where service disruptions should be avoided. This contribution addresses container configuration and deployment to run central and site services on the ALICE Grid system, specifically to achieve containerized VO-boxes. We describe the methods through which we minimize the manual interaction, while retaining the simplicity and scalability associated with container deployment, the so-called ”service in a box”. Furthermore, we explore ways to increase fault tolerance, aimed at reducing the risk of service downtime, and identify possible performance bottlenecks.