Container Runtime

This page covers an implementation detail beneath Worker. You do not need to understand the container runtime to understand HivePanel's public architecture.

Where it fits

The public model is:

Panel
  │
  ├── Node
  │     └── Worker
  │           └── Cells
  │
  └── Node
        └── Worker
              └── Cells

Internally, Worker interfaces with the Node's container runtime to create and operate the isolated environments used by Cells.

Panel
  │
  ▼
Worker on Node
  │
  ▼
Container runtime
  │
  ▼
Cell workload

Docker

HivePanel currently uses Docker as the container runtime used by Worker. Panel does not communicate with Docker directly.

Docker images

A Docker image contains the runtime and base environment required by a Cell. For example, a Java image can provide the Java runtime required by a Minecraft server.

Combs reference the appropriate runtime image as part of their deployment definition.

Containers

Worker uses containers to isolate Cell workloads and enforce resource boundaries on a Node.

A Cell is the HivePanel game server instance users manage. A container is the lower-level isolated runtime environment used by Worker to execute that workload. They are related, but they are not interchangeable terms.