Running multiple containers inside a GCE VM - COS OS or Ubuntu?

[dheerajpanyam]

I have a requirement to deploy a stateful 3-tier web app (React + Python/Flask + Cloud SQL). I have separate containers running inside the VM , one for React frontend and other for Flask backend. What would be the best OS to choose for GCE to run multiple containers inside a VM in terms of security, performance etc - Would it be COS OS or Ubuntu?

[DamianS]

Hello @dheerajpanyam  ,Welcome on Google Cloud Community.

If we talking about containers, for sure the best option will be Container-Optimized OS ( COS OS ). COS OS is optimized for containers workload. 

Grab YT Google Cloud Tech video about COS OS: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=79UP4L9vcSU

Security on COS: https://cloud.google.com/container-optimized-os/docs/concepts/security

Features: https://cloud.google.com/container-optimized-os/docs/concepts/features-and-benefits

PS: If you are using GKE, in fact you are using COS OS as a default OS for VM nodes. 

Use cases: https://cloud.google.com/container-optimized-os/docs/concepts/features-and-benefits#use_cases_for_co...

--
cheers,
DamianS
LinkedIn medium.com Cloudskillsboost

[dheerajpanyam]

Thanks @DamianS . I am guessing COS also helps in managing the lifecycle of the containers deployed inside the VM meaning attempting to restart them when containers crash or on a reboot of VM , things like these.

[DamianS]

Indeed. Basically, you are not able to configure COS in a way how you are able to do it with "normal" OS on GCE, however if we talking about reliability and scalability for containers, COS winning. There is no coincidence that COS is widely used as default for GKE.