What Is Container as a Service (CaaS)?

Gui Alvarenga - May 15, 2023

Containers as a service (CaaS) is a cloud service model that offers a managed environment for deploying, scaling, and managing containerized applications.

In today's fast-paced world of software development, containers and containerization have emerged as game-changers, transforming how applications are built, deployed, and managed. But with the increasing adoption of containerization, developers, and organizations must comprehend its intricacies and benefits.

This guide will explore containerization's key role in modern application development and deployment. It will also discuss how containers as a service (CaaS) fits into the broader cloud service landscape, helping you stay ahead of the curve in this ever-evolving field.

CrowdStrike's Global Threat Report for 2023 reveals an alarming increase in threats targeting the container lifecycle inherent complexities of container ecosystems that often lead to exploitable vulnerabilities. Download the report to understand what led to this surge and what adversaries are targeting containers.

Containers are lightweight, standalone software units that package applications and their dependencies, such as libraries, binaries, and configuration files. Containers thus enable applications to run consistently across various environments, making development, testing, and deployment more efficient.

This boost to the software development life cycle is why containers have become so popular. Let's discuss the advantages of implementing containers and containerization in more detail.

Containers provide an isolated environment for applications, meaning each application runs in a separate space without interfering with other apps or system resources. This isolation reduces conflicts and improves the overall stability and security of the system.

One of the primary pros of containerization is portability. Containers can run on any platform or infrastructure that supports the container runtime, making it easier to move applications between different environments or share them with others.

Containers and CaaS platforms make scaling applications horizontally simple by quickly adding or removing instances as needed. This ability to scale on demand allows organizations to respond to changing workloads more efficiently.

CaaS providers often include built-in security features, such as vulnerability scanning, access control, and encryption, helping to protect containerized apps from potential threats.

Unlike traditional virtualization, containers share the host's operating system kernel and resources, resulting in lower overhead and improved resource utilization. This efficiency makes containers ideal for running multiple applications on a single host.

By leveraging CaaS, organizations can take advantage of the pay-as-you-go pricing model and optimize resource utilization, resulting in lower operational costs.

Edge Over VMs

While containers and virtual machines (VMs) may seem similar, the two have significant differences. VMs virtualize the entire hardware stack, meaning each VM has its own operating system, making them larger and slower to start up.

Meanwhile, containers achieve smaller footprints and faster start times due to the fact that they share the host's operating system kernel. Additionally, containers provide better resource utilization and scalability than VMs, making them more suitable for modern application development and deployment.

As the use of containers becomes more widespread, the need for effective management and orchestration also grows. Container orchestration platforms greatly assist developers in managing complex containerized apps by automating their deployment, scaling, and operation.

The open-source Kubernetes platform is today the industry standard when it comes to container orchestration. Kubernetes, initially created by Google but currently governed by the Cloud Native Computing Foundation (CNCF), offers a robust and extensible solution for automating the deployment, scaling, and management of containerized applications.

Docker Swarm serves as a clustering and orchestration mechanism for managing Docker containers. It provides a simple way to create and manage a swarm of Docker nodes, allowing users to deploy services across multiple nodes and automatically balance the workload. Docker Swarm may not come with as many features as Kubernetes, but developers like its simplicity when working with containers.

Apache Mesos is a highly scalable, fault-tolerant cluster management platform for distributed systems. It can be used to orchestrate containers as well as non-containerized workloads. While Mesos is more complex to set up and manage compared to Kubernetes and Docker Swarm, it offers powerful resource management capabilities and is a suitable choice for large-scale, data-intensive applications.

When selecting a platform for handling containerized apps, organizations should carefully assess the following capabilities and features:

Explore our Cloud Security products page to learn how CrowdStrike Falcon® Cloud Security delivers containers, Kubernetes, and hosts from build to runtime in AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud. Explore: CrowdStrike Falcon® Cloud Security

Before doing a deep dive into CaaS, let's check out the history of cloud services and how they have evolved through time.

Containerization is not the only option for application development in the cloud. There are a few other service models, each catering to different needs and use cases. Understanding these and knowing what companies provide can help organizations make informed decisions about which model best suits their requirements.

IaaS provides a range of infrastructure services via the internet, including networking, storage, and processing capabilities. This model grants developers control over the underlying infrastructure, enabling them to tailor and manage it based on their requirements.

Providers include: Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud Platform

PaaS lets developers build, deploy, and manage applications in the cloud without having to deal with any underlying infrastructure. PaaS providers handle the provisioning and management of resources, meaning devs can concentrate on writing code.

Providers include: Heroku, Google App Engine, Microsoft Azure App Service

SaaS delivers complete applications to the customer. Customers can utilize the software and its functionalities as needed over the internet, usually via a subscription, without the need for installation, updates, or maintenance of the underlying infrastructure. The service provider manages all aspects, such as updates, security, and availability.

Providers include: Salesforce, Slack, Microsoft Office 365

FaaS, or serverless computing, enables developers to build, run, and manage application functionalities without the need to manage any servers. This model uses small pieces of code known as functions that are triggered by events and automatically scale based on demand.

Providers include: AWS Lambda, Google Cloud Functions, Microsoft Azure Functions

While IaaS, PaaS, and SaaS cater to different aspects of the application life cycle and infrastructure management, CaaS is specifically designed to support containerization and its associated benefits, such as isolation, portability, and scalability.

Providers include: Amazon ECS, Google Container Engine, and Microsoft Azure Container Service.

Understanding the fundamental building blocks of CaaS is essential. These include the container runtime, orchestration, registries, and monitoring and logging tools, all of which work in unison to simplify the handling of containerized applications:

Read our container security guide to learn how to best keep your containerized applications safe from cloud security issues. Read: What Is Container Security?

Given the backdrop of escalating threats, securing containerized applications is critical in today's digital landscape. Organizations can follow these steps to do so:

Read our 101 post to learn more container security best practices to keep your containerized applications and environments safe from adversaries. Read: 7 Container Security Best Practices

As organizations increasingly recognize the benefits of containerization and containers as a service, various industries have adopted these technologies to optimize their software development processes and improve overall efficiency.

Let's review some main use cases and the sectors benefiting from CaaS today.

CaaS has emerged as a powerful solution for organizations seeking to leverage the benefits of containerization in a managed, secure, and scalable environment. Organizations adopting CaaS can simplify deployment and management, improve security, increase cost efficiency, and enhance scalability.

The future of CaaS and containerization looks promising, with new features, tools, and integrations constantly emerging. As more industries recognize the value of these technologies, we can expect to see even greater adoption and innovation in the coming years.

Container security, which has become crucial as containerization gains traction, involves safeguarding every stage of the container lifecycle, from image creation to runtime. Key practices include using trusted images, enforcing strict access controls, conducting regular vulnerability scans, and monitoring for anomalous activities. For comprehensive security solutions, organizations can consider partnering with providers such as CrowdStrike, which specialize in securing containers and other cloud-native technologies.

CrowdStrike has established itself as a leader in container security, offering a comprehensive container security solution via a single platform.

CrowdStrike's approach to container security helps organizations secure their containerized applications via two distinct concepts:

To better understand how CrowdStrike can help secure your containerized applications, consider scheduling a free demo and learning more about their cloud and container security offerings.

Guilherme (Gui) Alvarenga, is a Sr. Product Marketing Manager for the Cloud Security portfolio at CrowdStrike. He has over 15 years experience driving Cloud, SaaS, Network and ML solutions for companies such as Check Point, NEC and Cisco Systems. He graduated in Advertising and Marketing at the Universidade Paulista in Brazil, and pursued his MBA at San Jose State University. He studied Applied Computing at Stanford University, and specialized in Cloud Security and Threat Hunting.