5 ms·

Deploy a Dropwizard Unikernel to AWS

33 points by axelfontaine 11y ago

mwcampbell 11y ago
What are these unikernels based on? OSv, NetBSD rump kernels, or something proprietary?
- acveilleux 11y ago
  Linux... Buried in there: > Congratulations! You now a have a brand new 54 MB secure unikernel image including only our application, Java 8 and the Linux kernel!
  - krakensden 11y ago
    If you have a separate runtime & kernel, is it still a unikernel?
    - josephmoniz 11y ago
      Yeah, this appears to be a bit misleading. It sounds as if they're just running the compiled jar as the /sbin/init process. IMO, thats a very lightweight distro but not a unikernel. #NotAnExpert.
- axelfontaine 11y ago
  It is based on the Linux kernel + your application. So an ultra lightweight image indeed. The advantage is that all components are rock solid and standard.
  - justincormack 11y ago
    Thats not technically a unikernel, unless you link them into a single executable (which has licensing issues with Linux). Single application OS would be a better term, as it is confusing otherwise.
brianwawok 11y ago
This looks cool. Have always hated that even with the container game, so much changed between environments.
- axelfontaine 11y ago
  That is indeed what we do here. We took the principles we love and strongly believe in for application releases (one immutable unit, regenerated after every change & promoted unchanged from environment to environment) and applied them to the whole stack. No more reconfiguring each node individually. No more subtle differences between machines or environments.
bsaul 11y ago
Small request : Deployment and disk space is cool, but could people benchmark speed and RAM too ( vs regular VM and vs no VM at all as well) ? I'm asking because IIUC, unikernel remove the need to switch from kernel mode to user mode, and thus should provide a tremendous speed in everything memory-related. Yet, the only thing i see mentionned so far are security, disk space and boot time.
- justincormack 11y ago
  This is it seems not a unikernel, it is a single app Linux deployment, so should perform just like Linux.

33 points by axelfontaine 11y ago

mwcampbell 11y ago

What are these unikernels based on? OSv, NetBSD rump kernels, or something proprietary?

acveilleux 11y ago
Linux... Buried in there: > Congratulations! You now a have a brand new 54 MB secure unikernel image including only our application, Java 8 and the Linux kernel!
- krakensden 11y ago
  If you have a separate runtime & kernel, is it still a unikernel?
  - josephmoniz 11y ago
    Yeah, this appears to be a bit misleading. It sounds as if they're just running the compiled jar as the /sbin/init process. IMO, thats a very lightweight distro but not a unikernel. #NotAnExpert.
axelfontaine 11y ago
It is based on the Linux kernel + your application. So an ultra lightweight image indeed. The advantage is that all components are rock solid and standard.
- justincormack 11y ago
  Thats not technically a unikernel, unless you link them into a single executable (which has licensing issues with Linux). Single application OS would be a better term, as it is confusing otherwise.

brianwawok 11y ago

This looks cool. Have always hated that even with the container game, so much changed between environments.

axelfontaine 11y ago
That is indeed what we do here. We took the principles we love and strongly believe in for application releases (one immutable unit, regenerated after every change & promoted unchanged from environment to environment) and applied them to the whole stack. No more reconfiguring each node individually. No more subtle differences between machines or environments.

bsaul 11y ago

Small request : Deployment and disk space is cool, but could people benchmark speed and RAM too ( vs regular VM and vs no VM at all as well) ? I'm asking because IIUC, unikernel remove the need to switch from kernel mode to user mode, and thus should provide a tremendous speed in everything memory-related. Yet, the only thing i see mentionned so far are security, disk space and boot time.

justincormack 11y ago
This is it seems not a unikernel, it is a single app Linux deployment, so should perform just like Linux.