A container runtime is the software responsible for running containers on a host: pulling and unpacking images, configuring isolation and resource limits, and starting, stopping and supervising container processes. Runtimes operate at low and high levels, from minimal process launchers to daemons that manage image lifecycles, and present standard interfaces consumed by orchestrators such as Kubernetes. Container runtimes provide the execution foundation for portable, lightweight, cloud-native workloads.
Overview
- Container Runtime is situated within the infrastructure domain and is defined as a subclass of Cloud Native.
- It connects to the wider knowledge graph through 18 typed relations spanning structural, functional and contrastive predicates.
- As a established concept, it represents established knowledge with stable terminology and well-understood boundaries.
Key aspects
- Relationship to Cloud Native situates this concept within its operational and conceptual context.
- Relationship to Kubernetes situates this concept within its operational and conceptual context.
- Relationship to Microservices situates this concept within its operational and conceptual context.
- Relationship to Orchestration situates this concept within its operational and conceptual context.
- Relationship to Virtual Machine situates this concept within its operational and conceptual context.
Mechanisms
- The concept is realised through its constituent parts and the standards, methods and dependencies enumerated in its relations.
- It both requires upstream capabilities and enables downstream capabilities, forming part of a directed chain of dependencies in the graph.
Applications
- Practical use of Container Runtime appears wherever its enabled and supported concepts are deployed.
- It is referenced by existing classes in the graph, anchoring those edges to a defined, rooted node.