To say that people are excited about Docker is an understatement. After months of experience with it here at Blockbridge, we can understand why: it provides a brilliant method for packaging and deploying software. As Docker matures, it’s natural to see how it complements and competes with virtual machines. However, for Docker to replace traditional virtualized workflows, significant advances in storage and network management will be necessary. Docker made the first step down the storage path by creating the Docker Volume API, which provides a simple interface for basic storage management. While the API is a work in progress, it is possible to do amazing things with what exists today.

At Blockbridge, we’ve built a fully software-defined programmable storage layer that allows us to create sophisticated storage management workflows. As a demonstration of what is possible and what’s to come for Docker, we are pleased to share a clip of the Blockbridge Volume Plugin for Docker.

In the video above, we use Docker to create a persistent volume for use in a multi-host workflow. Docker uses our Volume Plugin to dynamically provision storage, assemble data fabrics, format a filesystem, and attach the resulting volume to a container. We then stop the container and start it on another machine. The data fabric is reprogrammed on the fly to make the volume accessible on the remote host. The beauty of this approach is that the workflow demonstrates portability of persistent storage without the need for gratuitous replication or the need to install additional software on the base OS. And, of course, the volume inherits all of the secure multi-tenancy features of Blockbridge for free (per-volume encryption, secure deletion, QoS, etc).  Enjoy!