Sign Up for the Container Stack Pilot

24 Jun 2021

Container Stack (CStack) is a cloud-based container hosting platform. It is also one of the Runtime components within the Base Layer of the Singapore Government Tech Stack (SGTS). The CStack platform launched its Minimum Viable Product (MVP)* in May 2021 and can now be used to build and deploy containerised applications, from a development environment to a running production setup.

*CStack is currently not generally available (GA) yet, but it is available for trial / pilots.

^CStack is a project endorsed as a building block of the Government “Zero Trust” implementation approach.

HARNESSING CONTAINER AND KUBERNETES TECHNOLOGIES IN APPLICATION-BUILDING

CStack uses Kubernetes, an open-source container orchestration engine. In large tech companies, containers and Kubernetes are considered the de-facto standard for building applications. They work hand-in-hand to tackle modern-day application development challenges.

WHAT CONTAINER TECHNOLOGY IS

• Container technology packs the underlying system configurations into a container for applications to operate within, helping to address the “this-application-runs-on-my-machine-but-does-not-run-well-on-the-server” problem.
• Containers can be likened to lightweight virtual machines (VMs). They allow applications to be spun up or destroyed very quickly. This is beneficial when dealing with larger engineering problems that involve scalability and resilience.

WHAT KUBERNETES IS

• Kubernetes enables Agencies to manage numerous containers that make up an application. This provides resilience to the applications, central management of security, and distributes the application workload over a cluster of shared resources.
• Kubernetes encourages stateless implementation for immutability. However, as not everything is stateless, Agencies should consider all relevant factors when dealing with states.

Note:

• Kubernetes clusters require a lot of effort to design, maintain and operate. There are many available solution providers and all major cloud providers have their own version of Kubernetes. This makes it challenging for Agencies who are new to this platform to build up their capabilities with such technologies.
• Although Kubernetes is described as platform agnostic, service dependencies need to be considered, and Agencies must recognise that Kubernetes is not universal.

For enquiries, contact CStack at enquiries_cstack@tech.gov.sg.

For more information, visit the CStack website at https://go.gov.sg/cstack.