Choose Your Deployment Platform
Compare Kubernetes and Docker to pick the right platform for your Connectware installation.
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Compare Kubernetes and Docker to pick the right platform for your Connectware installation.
Connectware runs on Kubernetes or Docker. Each platform has different strengths depending on scale, availability requirements, and where you plan to run Connectware.
Kubernetes — Production workloads, high availability, and environments where you already operate Kubernetes.
Docker — Protocol-mapper agent edge deployments, single-node installations, and evaluation setups.
Deployment Complexity
Higher. Requires a cluster.
Lower. Single-host setup.
High Availability
Built-in through node redundancy.
Not available. Single-node only.
Scalability
Mix of horizontal and vertical scaling.
Limited to vertical scaling.
Resource Requirements
Higher. Multi-node infrastructure.
Lower. Single-host system.
Best For
Production clusters and multi-site deployments.
Edge devices, development, single-node installations.
Management Tools
Helm, kubectl, and the Kubernetes ecosystem.
Docker Compose and the Docker CLI.
Learning Curve
Steeper. Requires Kubernetes knowledge.
Gentler. Requires Docker knowledge.
Kubernetes is the recommended platform for production Connectware deployments. The cluster architecture provides node redundancy and horizontal scaling for several core components, including the CybusMQ broker, NATS, the auth server, resource status tracking, and the topic explorer. Kubernetes deployments also expose Prometheus metrics and include Prometheus Operator support for the NATS StatefulSet. Deployments integrate with existing DevOps and GitOps workflows through Helm and standard Kubernetes tooling.
For system requirements, see System Requirements.
Docker is the right fit for protocol-mapper agent edge deployments and single-host installations. Docker Compose keeps the whole configuration in a single docker-compose.yml file and starts up quickly without a cluster. It is a practical choice for industrial PCs, gateways, and evaluation environments where clustering is not needed.
For system requirements, see System Requirements.
Service commissioning files, connections, endpoints, and mappings behave identically on Kubernetes and Docker. Most services run unchanged on either platform.
Services that use platform-specific resources — Cybus::Container, Cybus::Volume, and Cybus::IngressRoute — are tied to the platform they were written for and cannot be moved without adjustments.
Offline installation is supported on both platforms. See Offline Installation (Kubernetes) and Offline Installation (Docker).
Once you have chosen a platform, follow the matching installation guide:
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