nomad
DockNimbus vs HashiCorp Nomad
The closest architectural peer — both are lightweight orchestrators, but with different philosophies:
| DockNimbus | Nomad | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | Self-hosted cloud platform | Workload orchestrator |
| Workloads | Docker containers, K3s pods, Compose stacks | Containers, VMs, binaries, Java, raw exec |
| Scope | Full stack (node provisioning → workloads) | Orchestration only (assumes nodes exist) |
| Node provisioning | Built-in via SSH | Not included — needs Packer, Terraform, etc. |
| Networking | WireGuard mesh, EasyHAProxy, dnsmasq | Consul Connect (service mesh), no built-in LB |
| Service discovery | Built-in DNS | Requires Consul (separate tool) |
| Secrets | Not included | Requires Vault (separate tool) |
| Storage | NFS volumes, MinIO S3 built-in | CSI plugins, host volumes |
| IaC | YAML manifests (nodes → clusters → workloads) | HCL job specs (workloads only) |
| Cluster model | Central API + agents (hub-spoke) | Server + client nodes (Raft consensus) |
| Multi-region | Not built-in | Native multi-region federation |
| Scheduling | Swarm/K3s handles it | Sophisticated bin-packing, affinity, constraints, preemption |
| Batch jobs | Not supported | First-class (parameterized, periodic, dispatch) |
| Non-container workloads | No (containers only) | Yes — raw binaries, Java JARs, QEMU VMs |
| Web UI | None | Built-in |
| ARM support | First-class (RPi + x86 mixed) | Supported but not a focus |
| Ecosystem dependency | Self-contained | Best with Consul + Vault (the "HashiStack") |
| Learning curve | Hours | Days (more with Consul + Vault) |
| Minimum resources | Single RPi, ~256MB RAM | Single node, ~256MB RAM |
| License | Open source | BSL 1.1 (source-available, not fully open) |
When to use which
DockNimbus — You want a single tool that handles everything from bare metal provisioning to running workloads. You don't want to assemble a stack of tools. Your workloads are containers.
Nomad — You need to orchestrate diverse workload types (not just containers), want sophisticated scheduling (bin-packing, preemption, batch jobs), or need multi-region federation. You're okay adding Consul and Vault for networking and secrets.
Key philosophical difference
- Nomad is a single-purpose orchestrator — does one thing well but needs friends (Consul, Vault, Terraform) for a complete platform
- DockNimbus is an all-in-one platform — less powerful scheduling, but everything is integrated out of the box
Nomad is a better orchestrator. DockNimbus is a better "zero to platform" experience.