Azure Container Instances Ease Deployment

Azure Container Instances (ACI) is an Azure service (currently in preview) that enables customers to quickly deploy containers without having to manage the underlying host server infrastructure. Containers offer a method to package and distribute server applications and provide isolation similar to traditional virtualization, but faster and with lower resource requirements. ACI is designed for container workloads that require fast startup or have unpredictable scaling requirements, or deployments that don’t require a dedicated environment. However, the service currently lacks features necessary to support and manage long-running, stable multi-container workloads.

Simplified Container Deployment

A container environment is usually comprised of multiple container hosts, implemented as virtual machines (VMs), and it requires orchestration software to deploy and manage the containers. (For more information, see the sidebar “Understanding Docker Containers“.) Another Azure service, Azure Container Service (ACS) simplifies the setup and management of a container environment with preconfigured container host VMs and orchestration software, although the host VMs and orchestration software must still be managed by the customer after the environment is deployed.