Here in Vancouver we are a port city, so seeing stack upon stack of containers at the port on Burrard Inlet just outside downtown is normal for us. But those aren’t the types containers we’re talking about if the subject is web development for WordPress sites. We’re very familiar with those types of containers to based on the fact that we’re one of the best Canadian web hosting providers. Web development isn’t our area of expertise, but the nature of what we do means there’s plenty of crossover with these subject matters. We are who you want to look to if you’re needing affordable WordPress hosting solutions, and containers can represent and option to traditional hosting for WordPress.
There are plenty of small businesses with basic WordPress websites that will be fine with those traditional hosting plans though, and for a good many of them shared web hosting will meet their needs just fine. At the same time for sites that are little bigger and have a lot more riding on them it’s often a situation here 4GoodHosting managed WordPress plans are going to be the better choice. That’s because nearly the entirety of everything needed for ongoing website optimization and regular audits for security and other aims is taken care of by the web hosting provider. If you are a business and you’d prefer to be preoccupied elsewhere while knowing your site is being optimized at all times then managed web hosting is best.
For some, however, it may be that they have someone on staff that has a sufficient amount of web design knowledge and ability. If so then it may be that using containers can be a realistic approach to getting more out of your site setup as compared to just keeping it on traditional hosting. So what we’ll provide with this week’s blog entry here is an evaluation of the advantages and disadvantages of using containers or going with with a traditional hosting arrangement. Before doing what we’ll quickly mention as well that if your site is handling eCommerce transactions then you may need to be ensuring you have PIPEDA compliant hosting in Canada too.
Best for Portability and Scalability
Ideally efficient, scalable, and portable solutions are going to sound plenty good to most web developers. Containers really are at the forefront of the various technologies that have emerged and with them there is a unique approach to deploying and managing applications. What containers do is they encapsulate an application and its dependencies into an enclosed space and this makes it so that it can be run consistently across various computing environments. It’s really been a pivotal technological point for web development but containers come with their own set of advantages and disadvantages.
When you look at affordable WordPress hosting solutions it’s good to have some understanding of what your host can offer with manned hosting plans, and those hosts may point to the advantages of using containers. First and foremost among them is the portability of containers. This portability means developers are able to ensure that an application behaves identically across multiple environments by bundling the application and its dependencies into a container. The container then serves as a standalone executable package, and this really is invaluable for contemporary web development workflows where applications are often required to move across different stages.
There isn’t going to be any scenario where it will work on one machine but not work on another, and then the better website scalability you get with containers is do advantageous in an era where web applications can experience abrupt spikes in user traffic. Containers can be orchestrated to scale up to handle increased load or scale down when the demand dwindles.
Container orchestration platforms like Kubernetes make this possible, as they automate the deployment, scaling, and management of containerized applications.
This inherent scalability enables organizations to optimize resource utilization and cost, adjusting to varying user and traffic demands. The next big gain available with container usage we can point out here is superior resource efficiency. Traditional virtualization solutions rely on hypervisors to create and run virtual machines (VMs), each with its own operating system. Containers function differently, sharing the host system's OS kernel and isolating the application processes from each other. This tends to be better for WordPress deployment as architecture minimizes the overhead associated with running multiple OS instances.
Resource utilization is then better as a result, and the lean nature of containers translates to faster start-up times and reduced memory footprint, and then the are cost savings that are seen as the infrastructure is put together. The isolated runtime environment that containers create for applications is another big plus and something that factors into 4GoodHosting managed WordPress plans. This improved ability to isolate is very beneficial for preventing potential conflicts between different applications and their dependencies.
This is based on the fact that each container operates independently, ensuring that the application's environment remains unaffected by other containers. This isolation helps to maintain application consistency and reduces bugs that might arise from conflicting dependencies. The last mention for the pros of containers here is going to be for their consistency. The encapsulation of an application and its dependencies into a container guarantees a consistent environment, irrespective of where the container is deployed.
Deployment and troubleshooting processes are simplified because of this, and it ensures that applications run reliably and predictably across the different environment stages - development, testing, and production.
The Other Side
There can be drawbacks or disadvantages to using containers though, and it’s best to be aware of them if your approach to affordable WordPress hosting solutions is that you’re going to skip the managed plan and handle deployment on your own. The first potential con here is security concerns, and the reason that site security can be compromised when you’re using containers is because of the possibility of a vulnerability in the host kernel or a malicious process within the container potentially jeopardizing the security of other containers on the same host.
The complexity of deploying and managing containers can make their use difficult for some webmasters. This is more often true for large-scale or enterprise environments, as here the orchestration of containers, network configurations, and persistent storage solutions will mean you need to have a comprehensive understanding of container technologies. Proper containerization can really come with steep learning curve. The next mention is for the storage challenges that can also be a part of this. The stateless nature of containers means they do not retain data after termination. In most scenarios that is advantageous, but it can be problematic instead when dealing with persistent data. Implementing persistent storage solutions in a containerized environment requires careful planning and a solid understanding of the available storage options.
Networking may also be more difficult if you choose to go with containers rather than traditional hosting or one of the 4GoodHosting managed WordPress plans. Networking in a containerized environment is a complex affair that requires a well-designed network configuration. The containers need to be communicating with each other and external systems may require robust networking solutions. Without them it becomes more likely that there will be issues with service discovery, load balancing, and network isolation. Any of these may lead you to have to learn more about planning and execution to ensure seamless communication within and outside the container environment.
Compatibility can be a problem too. Containers often rely on specific runtime environments like Docker and this reliance can cause compatibility issues. Some systems might not support the required runtime or might have restrictions that could hinder container operations. But all in all there’s more to be said for containers rather than for the alternatives with WordPress deployment.
They offer a streamlined approach to application deployment and management, and almost always make the development process more efficient. Container orchestration tools like Kubernetes and Docker have become ubiquitous in the web dev world for a reason, and they’ve earned their reputation for providing a robust platform for managing, scaling, and deploying containerized applications. And we haven’t even mentioned how they’ve revolutionized the concept of DevOps by bridging the gap between development and operations.
So we’ll conclude this week’s entry with that - With containers, developers can focus on building and testing applications, freeing up operations teams to handle deployment and management tasks more efficiently. This is usually conducive to better collaboration and allows for faster application delivery and continuous integration and deployment (CI/CD) pipelines. Which is always a good thing when you’re working to build a product that is going to be equally across all potential decks.
Get in touch with us if you think you need to know more about PIPEDA compliant hosting Canada if you’re WordPress site is collecting customer information as part of eCommerce transactions.
