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Apache Karaf VS Longhorn

Compare Apache Karaf VS Longhorn and see what are their differences

Apache Karaf logo Apache Karaf

Apache Karaf is a lightweight, modern and polymorphic container powered by OSGi.

Longhorn logo Longhorn

Container-based distributed block storage
  • Apache Karaf Landing page
    Landing page //
    2021-07-29
  • Longhorn Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-08-17

Apache Karaf features and specs

  • Modular architecture
    Apache Karaf features a highly modular architecture that allows users to deploy, control, and monitor applications in a flexible and efficient manner. This makes it easy to manage dependencies and extend functionalities as needed.
  • OSGi support
    Karaf fully supports OSGi (Open Services Gateway initiative), which is a framework for developing and deploying modular software programs and libraries. This enables dynamic updates and replacement of modules without requiring a system restart.
  • Extensible and flexible
    Karaf's extensible architecture allows developers to integrate various technologies and custom modules, fostering a flexible environment that can suit a wide range of application types and requirements.
  • Enterprise features
    It provides a range of enterprise-ready features such as hot deployment, dynamic configuration, clustering, and high availability, which can help in building robust and scalable applications.
  • Comprehensive tooling
    Karaf comes with comprehensive tooling support including a powerful CLI, web console, and various tools for monitoring and managing the runtime environment. These tools simplify everyday management tasks.

Possible disadvantages of Apache Karaf

  • Steeper learning curve
    Due to its modular and extensible nature, Apache Karaf can have a steeper learning curve for new users, especially those unfamiliar with OSGi concepts and enterprise middleware.
  • Resource intensity
    Running and managing an Apache Karaf instance can be resource-intensive, especially when dealing with large-scale or highly modular applications. Adequate memory and processing power are required to maintain optimal performance.
  • Complex deployment
    While Karaf can handle complex deployment scenarios, setting it up and configuring it properly can be more involved compared to other simpler solutions. This complexity can increase the initial setup time and effort.
  • Limited community support
    Despite being an Apache project, the community around Apache Karaf might not be as large or active as other popular frameworks, potentially making it harder to find ample resources or immediate support.
  • Dependency management challenges
    Managing dependencies in Karaf, especially when dealing with multiple third-party libraries and their versions, can become cumbersome and lead to conflicts if not handled carefully.

Longhorn features and specs

  • Open Source
    Longhorn is an open-source project, which ensures that it is freely available for anyone to use, modify, and distribute. This encourages community collaboration and contribution, allowing for continuous improvement and shared innovation.
  • Cloud Native
    Designed specifically for containerized environments, Longhorn integrates well with Kubernetes, providing storage solutions that are optimized for cloud-native applications.
  • Lightweight
    Longhorn is known for being lightweight, which allows it to add persistent storage capabilities to Kubernetes clusters without significant overhead, maintaining performance efficiency.
  • Ease of Use
    It offers a user-friendly interface for managing storage and is easy to deploy, making it accessible for users who may not be deeply familiar with complex storage systems.
  • Automatic Backups
    Longhorn supports automatic scheduled backups, which helps in data protection and ensures that storage can be recovered easily in case of failures.

Possible disadvantages of Longhorn

  • Limited Features Compared to Enterprise Solutions
    While Longhorn provides essential storage functionalities, it might lack some advanced features available in more established enterprise storage solutions, such as advanced analytics or extensive integration options.
  • Resource Consumption
    Longhorn, while lightweight compared to some alternatives, still consumes resources and may require careful management to avoid impacting performance on clusters with heavy workloads.
  • Reliance on Kubernetes
    Longhorn is tightly integrated with Kubernetes, which means its benefits are most relevant to Kubernetes users. Those not using Kubernetes may find limited applicability.
  • Complex Recovery Scenarios
    In certain complex failure scenarios, recovering data can be challenging, potentially requiring manual intervention and a good understanding of both Longhorn and Kubernetes internals.

Apache Karaf videos

EIK - How to use Apache Karaf inside of Eclipse

More videos:

  • Review - OpenDaylight's Apache Karaf Report- Jamie Goodyear

Longhorn videos

2019 Ram 1500 Laramie Longhorn Review - The Mercedes S Class for Cowboys

More videos:

  • Review - Restaurant Review - LongHorn Steakhouse | Atlanta Eats
  • Review - Longhorn Steakhouse Wings Food Review

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Apache Karaf and Longhorn)
Cloud Computing
75 75%
25% 25
Cloud Hosting
100 100%
0% 0
Cloud Storage
57 57%
43% 43
Developer Tools
100 100%
0% 0

User comments

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Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Longhorn should be more popular than Apache Karaf. It has been mentiond 6 times since March 2021. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

Apache Karaf mentions (1)

  • Need advice: Java Software Architecture for SaaS startup doing CRUD and REST APIs?
    Apache Karaf with OSGi works pretty nice using annotation based dependency injection with the declarative services, removing the need to mess with those hopefully archaic XML blueprints. Too bad it's not as trendy as spring and the developers so many of the tutorials can be a bit dated and hard to find. Karaf also supports many other frameworks and programming models as well and there's even Red Hat supported... Source: about 4 years ago

Longhorn mentions (6)

  • Awesome Kubernetes Resources !!! ๐Ÿ”ฅ
    ๐Ÿ’šLonghorn ๐Ÿ”ฅ๐Ÿ”ฅ๐Ÿ”ฅ๐Ÿ”ฅ๐Ÿ”ฅ - Longhorn is a distributed block storage system for Kubernetes. - Source: dev.to / 2 months ago
  • Diskomator โ€“ NVMe-TCP at your fingertips
    I'm looking forward to Longhorn[1] taking advantage of this technology. [1]: https://github.com/longhorn/longhorn. - Source: Hacker News / over 1 year ago
  • What alternatives are there to Longhorn?
    What backup store you were using? S3 or NFS? Have you tried to report your issues to https://github.com/longhorn/longhorn? Longhorn maintainers/contributors will definitely help with any issues reported by the community. Source: about 2 years ago
  • Top 200 Kubernetes Tools for DevOps Engineer Like You
    ChubaoFS - distributed file system and object storage Longhorn - Cloud-Native distributed block storage built on and for Kubernetes OpenEBS - Kubernetes native - hyperconverged block storage with multiple storage engines Rook - Storage Orchestration for Kubernetes SeaweedFS - Distributed file system supports read-write many volumes TiKV - Distributed transactional key-value database Velero - Backup... - Source: dev.to / over 3 years ago
  • Rancher Desktop, a Docker Desktop Replacement
    They've also got Longhorn, a distributed container-attached storage solution that's very simple to understand and easy to deploy. Performance is another thing but that's the same with all of the general networked storage solutions (Ceph included). Rancher's got a well deserved good impression in my mind, though early on I avoided it since it seemed like they were building a walled garden. [0]:... - Source: Hacker News / over 3 years ago
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What are some alternatives?

When comparing Apache Karaf and Longhorn, you can also consider the following products

Docker - Docker is an open platform that enables developers and system administrators to create distributed applications.

Ceph - Ceph is a distributed object store and file system designed to provide excellent performance...

Google App Engine - A powerful platform to build web and mobile apps that scale automatically.

Seaweed FS - SeaweedFS is a simple and highly scalable distributed file system to store and serve billions of files fast! SeaweedFS object store has O(1) disk seek and SeaweedFS Filer supports cross-cluster replication, POSIX, S3 API, ,โ€ฆ

rkt - App Container runtime

GlusterFS - GlusterFS is a scale-out network-attached storage file system.