RunC and Kata runtime using Docker: a network perspective comparison

The container technology allows packing applications, dependencies, and configurations on a single abstraction, which can be instantiated independently of hosting platform or hardware. Among the existing containers platforms, the present work focus on Docker, specifically the module function runtime runC, public available under the Open Container Initiative (OCI), is compared to kata open-source runtime. In short, our work presents an in-depth comparison between both runtimes highlighting the communication support. Specifically, our comparison comprehend different container network drivers, using as criteria network bandwidth and latency. The results show an already better expected runC performance, but also reveal a kata baseline, and help to understand how to choose the communication driver. However, kata still offers a better level of security and isolation.