Layers

What is a Network Traffic Flow? (Part 2)

Matt Hayes2 Comments

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Network traffic flows (flows) are useful for building a coarse-grained understanding of traffic on a computer network. Flows provide a convenient unit for the measurement and/or treatment of traffic.

Following on from What is a Network Traffic Flow?, this second post delves into Internet layer flow considerations. Previously, we found that the definition of a flow is mainly arbitrary, primarily driven by the capabilities of hardware/software, and the use cases. We now delve further into the considerations around specific features and behaviours of IP.

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Figure 1 – Where this Blog Post fits in the Internet Protocol suite Continue reading →

Containers Part 2 – Understanding Docker

Matt Hayes1 Comment

Previously in part 1, we covered containers at a high level, including how they scale, alternatives and properties. Now in this second post we find out what Docker is, how it runs on Linux, and how images work. And we’ll do all this without the usual analogies of containers and ships, but instead with restaurants & food. Sound good? Well, keep reading…

What is Docker?

Docker is the dominant container technology (as of 2018); with around 79% of organisations in a 2017 survey[1] saying Docker is their primary method for running containers.

There is a tendency to conflate Docker with containers and assume they are one and the same. This is not true. Continue reading →