Docker containers are one of the most hyped-up technologies of the last few years, but there’s still a long way to go before containers fulfill their potential of supplanting traditional virtualization. The key to moving Docker along is deployment, management and orchestration tools, says a new startup called StackEngine.

The Austin, TX-based company has just unveiled a new toolset designed to help provide a unified approach to managing and automating Docker production apps. In addition, it’s just bagged $1m in seed funding from Silverton Partners and LiveOak Venture Partners to help spread the word.

StackEngine says that while Docker container virtualization is seeing some explosive growth right now, it could grow that much faster when paired with tools for automating app deployment and management.

“We deeply believe that automation is the answer to an emergent problem in Docker and container technologies,” said StackEngine CEO and co-founder Bob Quillin. StackEngine “gives enterprises the ability to deliver product faster, deploy more frequently, operate more reliably and run wherever is most optimal.”

While Docker has helped to make things easier for developers with its libraries and standardized way of handling containers, issues remain for DevOps and operations teams, and it’s these that StackEngine is trying to fix.

“The operations team is now having to say, ‘What am I going to with this Docker container? How do I run it in production? How do I manage it, and where do I run it? What systems do I run it on?’,” said Quillin in an interview with ZDnet. “That’s really where we’re focusing — on that operations bottleneck.”

StackEngine aims to overcome these dilemmas by providing a management interface through which users can discover all containers running inside a single environment and visualize what they’re all doing. The interface also allows users to control containers, check their status, spot ‘rogue’ containers that shouldn’t be running and tackle version-control issues.

“Visualization tools are currently lacking in Docker,” adds Quillin. “They’re standard fare for virtualization and system management tools.”

For now, StackEngine’s tools remain in private alpha with about 15 customers, but the software will become available in public beta in the next few weeks, followed by general availability in Q4.

photo credit: AstridWestvang via photopin cc