Mount Mayhem at Netflix: Scaling Containers on Modern CPUs
35 points
2 days ago
| 7 comments
| netflixtechblog.com
| HN
yjftsjthsd-h
39 minutes ago
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Okay, I'll ask the dumb question: Couldn't you also reduce the number of layers per container? Sure, if you can reuse layers you should, but unless you've done something very clever like 1 package per layer I struggle to think that 50 is really useful?
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gucci-on-fleek
19 minutes ago
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> unless you've done something very clever like 1 package per layer I struggle to think that 50 is really useful?

1 package per layer can actually be quite nice, since it means that any package updates will only affect that layer, meaning that downloading container updates will use much less network bandwidth. This is nice for things like bootc [0] that are deployed on the "edge", but less useful for things deployed in a well-connected server farm.

[0]: https://bootc-dev.github.io/bootc/

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rixed
41 minutes ago
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I am not familiar with the nitty gritty of container instance building process, so maybe I'm just not the intended audience, but this is particularly unclear to me:

  > To avoid the costly process of untarring and shifting UIDs for every container, the new runtime uses the kernel’s idmap feature. This allows efficient UID mapping per container without copying or changing file ownership, which is why containerd performs many mounts
Why does using idmap require to perform more mount?
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ViktorRay
2 hours ago
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Articles like this are pretty cool. It’s so interesting to see the behind the scenes that happens whenever we watch a Netflix movie.
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haneul
2 hours ago
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Interesting, another case of removing HT improving performance. Reminds me of doing that on Intel CPUs of a few gens ago.
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parliament32
1 hour ago
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It took them this long to move from docker to containerd?
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vivzkestrel
2 hours ago
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- can someone kindly explain why there are 2 websites that all claim to be netflix tech blog?

- website 1 https://netflixtechblog.medium.com/

- website 2 https://netflixtechblog.com/

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geodel
2 hours ago
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I mean Netflix is dealing with big, important things like container scaling, creating a million micro services talking to each other and so on. Having multiple tech blogging platform on Medium is not something they have a spare moment to think about.
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owenthejumper
2 hours ago
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Why is this so badly AI written? Netflix can surely pay for writers.

At this point I refuse to read any content in the AI format of: - The problem - The solution - Why it matters

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