Application Platform (EQAP)

The Equinix Application Platform (EQAP) is a container runtime platform based on Docker and Kubernetes. This platform provides an ecosystem that simplifies the execution of applications in multiple clouds. It can be connected to the continuous delivery pipeline of DevOps teams for continuous development and seamless deployment of microservices and cloud native applications. EQAP is also suitable to run legacy applications repackaged in containers.

The use of containers is the next step in virtualization. Combined with the orchestration provided by Kubernetes, these allow you to virtualize on the level of the operating system instead of on the hardware stack. Containers are user-friendly, lightweight and portable. They efficiently start and share resources of the operating system, using only a fraction of the memory. The portability of Kubernetes allows flexible deployment of the containers as required on different operating systems on public, private and hybrid clouds.

The EQAP is a Platform as a Service, and is an integral part of the Equinix Managed Services portfolio. This service uses Infrastructure Platform Services (IPS) compute resources.

Advantages of the EQAP service are –

  • Platform Equinix: EQAP is located on Platform Equinix in the UK. Platform Equinix is the complete offering of hosting and connectivity services in Equinix data centers that form the heart of the internet with Equinix Fabric and its direct links to internet exchanges and public clouds. The applications and data are located safely in the UK with the best options for connectivity to users, business partners and customers.

  • Reliability and continuity: EQAP is a service-based architecture where applications can be checked for problems per container. Each service can be limited to specific resources, and containers can start and stop independently of each other, without the risk of the entire application failing. Operating systems also need to be restarted less often.

  • Speed, flexibility and efficiency: Use of containers and EQAP leads to flexible development and production environments. With low overhead and efficient resource management, you can quickly adapt to ever-changing market demands.

Management and support

Equinix Managed Services is responsible for –

  • Technical management of the EQAP components.

  • Support and incident handling on EQAP components and the underlying IPS resources

  • Using this platform to perform and develop managed services, and the necessary applications and tooling

The EQAP platform is provisioned by Equinix in consultation with the user. You can start using an EQAP platform with the support of Equinix Managed Services.

Operation

EQAP is a runtime platform deployed on IPS. The runtime platform consists of a Kubernetes cluster on which the user deploys applications and data. The diagram below shows the service (red), and the applications and data of a user(dark gray).

Customers can run their Docker containers on the Application Platform. For orchestration of the containers, Kubernetes is used.

Within a Kubernetes cluster, you can create your own pods, services and namespaces. When desired, applications can be scaled over multiple pods for increased redundancy and/or capacity. You can define namespaces within Kubernetes to separate multiple environments. This allows you to assign rights for several user groups to your own pods. You can also assign quotas for namespaces. Using namespaces prevents conflicts between service names and pods in different spaces.

The basic setup of the container runtime platform consists of three programmable nodes. The platform can be extended with additional nodes.

Services

The standard offering of EQAP is bundled with several services that enhance the platform’s ease of use. These services as listed below, are managed by Equinix and can be used on a self-service basis.

  1. Persistence: The platform supplied from IPS has a (standard) persistent storage provision based on NFS. It always comes with a storage of 100 GB, that can be dynamically assigned to pods.

  2. Identity and Access Management: An authentication feature based on oIDC is the heart of the platform. This means that all components of the platform are centrally authenticated. This provision (“federates”) can be linked to your existing authentication solution (Active Directory, LDAP, oIDC, SAML).

  3. Registry: EQAP always contains an image registry based on VMWare Harbor. This is a comprehensive registry that includes functionality to check your images for vulnerabilities.

  4. Ingress: EQAP always comes with Traefik, an ingress controller that is needed to unlock applications. If desired, Traefik can give applications a LetsEncrypt certificate automatically, for everything to be accessed via HTTPS.

Options

Several optional EQAP components are available to users. These components, delivered as a fully managed service, are described below –

  1. Monitoring: A monitoring stack can be supplied based on Prometheus and Grafana. This allows you to monitor applications and configure dashboards yourself. Equinix manages the underlying components.

  2. Logging: EFK stack-based logging (ElasticSearch, Fluent-bit and Kibana) is a service component that allows you to centralize, index and view logs from within the application.

  3. Secret Management: You can securely store passwords and/or certificates in the form of bitnami sealed secrets using this EQAP solution. This allows for user micro-services to be securely connected to each other without the key information ending up in the wrong place.

Relations and dependencies

The EQAP service has relations with, among others, Infrastructure Platform Services (IPS) Compute, Storage and Networking, the standard Infrastructure as a Service, which forms the basis of the Application Platform.

Note:

  • The service is delivered on IPS within a single data center.

  • You are responsible for –

      1. The reliability and integrity of application and user data,

      2. Defining and creating pods, services and namespaces,

      3. Defining own containers,

      4. Archiving of application data,

      5. Operation and life cycle management of own workload, and

      6. Functional management of additional standard and optional services.

  • Equinix is responsible for –

      1. The availability, security and updates of the container runtime platform,

      2. The management of components in the underlying IPS such as compute, storage and networking, and

      3. Technical management of additional standard and optional services.

For more information, see also: