Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

etcd VS Docker Compose

Compare etcd VS Docker Compose and see what are their differences

etcd logo etcd

A distributed, reliable key-value store for the most critical data of a distributed system

Docker Compose logo Docker Compose

Define and run multi-container applications with Docker
  • etcd Landing page
    Landing page //
    2021-07-29
  • Docker Compose Landing page
    Landing page //
    2024-05-23

etcd features and specs

  • Consistency
    etcd uses the Raft consensus algorithm to ensure strong consistency across distributed systems, making it ideal for scenarios where reliable data storage is critical.
  • High Availability
    By distributing data across multiple nodes, etcd ensures high availability and fault tolerance, allowing services to remain operational even if some nodes fail.
  • Simplicity
    etcd offers a simple key-value store interface, making it easy to understand and integrate with other services without requiring complex configurations.
  • Performance
    Optimized for fast reads and writes, etcd can handle large volumes of concurrent requests, making it suitable for high-performance applications.
  • Secure
    etcd provides excellent security features, including SSL/TLS encryption for data in transit and role-based access control to ensure that data access is tightly controlled.

Possible disadvantages of etcd

  • Resource Intensive
    Running etcd, especially in a clustered configuration, can be resource-intensive, requiring significant CPU and memory to ensure optimal performance and reliability.
  • Operational Complexity
    Although etcd itself is simple, managing a distributed etcd cluster can become complex, requiring expertise to configure and maintain properly.
  • Data Volume Limitations
    etcd is not designed as a general-purpose database and has limitations on how much data it can efficiently store, typically up to a few gigabytes per cluster.
  • Write Throughput
    The write throughput of etcd can be a bottleneck under heavy load, as it needs to ensure data consistency across nodes, which can introduce latency.
  • Limited Query Capabilities
    As a key-value store, etcd lacks the advanced querying capabilities of traditional databases, which may limit its use for complex data retrieval operations.

Docker Compose features and specs

  • Simplified Multi-Container Deployment
    Docker Compose allows users to define and manage multi-container applications with a single YAML file, making it easy to deploy complex applications.
  • Infrastructure as Code
    Compose files are version-controlled, enabling teams to use best practices in infrastructure as code, repeatable builds, and consistent development environments.
  • Portability
    Applications defined with Docker Compose can be shared easily and deployed in any environment that supports Docker, enhancing development and operational consistency.
  • Ease of Use
    With simple CLI commands, developers can start, stop, and manage containers, reducing the complexity of container orchestration.
  • Environment Variables
    Docker Compose supports the use of environment variables, making it easier to configure applications and manage different environments (e.g., development, testing, production).
  • Isolation
    Compose creates isolated environments for different applications, preventing conflicts and allowing for more straightforward dependency management.

Possible disadvantages of Docker Compose

  • Not Suitable for Large-Scale Production
    Docker Compose is not designed for managing large-scale, production-grade applications. For more robust orchestration and scaling, systems like Kubernetes are typically used.
  • Single Host Limitation
    Docker Compose is intended for single-host deployments, which limits its use in distributed and multi-host environments.
  • Networking Complexity
    Networking between containers can become complex, especially as the number of services grows, which may require additional configuration and management.
  • Learning Curve
    While Docker Compose simplifies many tasks, there is still a learning curve associated with understanding Docker concepts, Compose syntax, and best practices.
  • Limited Built-in Monitoring
    Docker Compose has limited built-in monitoring and logging capabilities, necessitating the use of additional tools for comprehensive monitoring.
  • Resource Management
    Docker Compose does not provide advanced resource management features, which can lead to suboptimal resource usage and potential inefficiencies.

etcd videos

ETCD in Kubernetes

More videos:

  • Review - Service Discovery Zookeeper vs etcd vs consul أكتشاف الخدمات شرح عربى
  • Review - Episode#11 Working with ETCD - Backup and Restore Operations - Part#1

Docker Compose videos

Docker Compose | Containerizing MEAN Stack Application | DevOps Tutorial | Edureka

More videos:

  • Demo - What is Docker Compose? (with demo)

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to etcd and Docker Compose)
Web Servers
100 100%
0% 0
Developer Tools
19 19%
81% 81
Web And Application Servers
DevOps Tools
0 0%
100% 100

User comments

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Social recommendations and mentions

Docker Compose might be a bit more popular than etcd. We know about 43 links to it since March 2021 and only 32 links to etcd. 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.

etcd mentions (32)

  • Unlock your Kubernetes to run custom resource based microservices in any scale
    Unfortunately there is a big problem with custom controllers, they can't handle huge amount of data for several reasons. Kubernetes relies on ETCD for all data storage, which limits scalability, flexibility, and performance for complex or high-volume workloads. What kind of problems I'm talking about? - Source: dev.to / 11 days ago
  • AWS Config vs Kubernetes Native Policy Engines: Who Governs What?
    In Amazon EKS, AWS Config helps you track key components such as: EKS control plane logging, VPC settings and network exposure, encryption status for logs and secrets and IAM roles used by worker node groups. It can detect misconfigurations like: 🚫 Publicly accessible EKS clusters ⚠️ Disabled encryption for secrets stored in Kubernetes ETCD ⚠️ Ensures EKS clusters are running on currently supported versions,. - Source: dev.to / 12 days ago
  • The Double-Edged Sword of Microservices: Balancing Abstraction and Complexity
    Using a service discovery mechanism: A service discovery mechanism, such as etcd or ZooKeeper, can help to manage the complexity of microservices by providing a centralized registry of available services and their instances. - Source: dev.to / 6 months ago
  • Designing a fault-tolerant etcd cluster
    Etcd is an open-source leader-based distributed key-value datastore designed by a vibrant team of engineers at CoreOS in 2013 and donated to Cloud Native Computing Foundation (CNCF) in 2018. Since then, etcd has grown to be adopted as a datastore in major projects like Kubernetes, CoreDNS, OpenStack, and other relevant tools. Etcd is built to be simple, secure, reliable, and fast (benchmarked 10,000 writes/sec),... - Source: dev.to / 6 months ago
  • Kubernetes Cluster Architecture
    Etcd is a key value store for all cluster data. It is an etcd data store. So, It is highly available, reliable, and distributed. - Source: dev.to / 7 months ago
View more

Docker Compose mentions (43)

  • 5 Developer Pain Points Solved by Internal Developer Platforms
    Docker Compose for local development environments. - Source: dev.to / about 12 hours ago
  • Connecting RDBs and Search Engines — Chapter 1
    This removes all container volumes and resets everything to its initial state. See the official documentation for more details. - Source: dev.to / 6 days ago
  • Docker Compose and Devcontainers for Microservices Development
    This tutorial assumes familiarity with Docker, Docker Compose, Devcontainers and that your services have Dockerfile implemented. - Source: dev.to / 19 days ago
  • Building a bot to talk to my cats
    I talk a lot about using containers for local development. The container that I always used was some running LLM container that I pulled from the Docker Hub official AI image registry. I initially started dev work by just running npm start to get my app running and test connecting to a container, and then I got more savvy with my approach by leveraging Docker Compose. Docker Compose allowed me to automatically... - Source: dev.to / about 2 months ago
  • How to Keep Docker Secrets Secure
    Docker includes a secrets management solution, but it doesn't work with standalone containers. You can supply secrets to your containers when you're using either Docker Compose or Docker Swarm. There's no alternative for containers created manually with a plain docker run command. - Source: dev.to / about 2 months ago
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What are some alternatives?

When comparing etcd and Docker Compose, you can also consider the following products

Apache ZooKeeper - Apache ZooKeeper is an effort to develop and maintain an open-source server which enables highly reliable distributed coordination.

Kubernetes - Kubernetes is an open source orchestration system for Docker containers

Eureka - Eureka is a contact center and enterprise performance through speech analytics that immediately reveals insights from automated analysis of communications including calls, chat, email, texts, social media, surveys and more.

Docker Swarm - Native clustering for Docker. Turn a pool of Docker hosts into a single, virtual host.

Apache Thrift - An interface definition language and communication protocol for creating cross-language services.

Rancher - Open Source Platform for Running a Private Container Service