Updating software with Docker
Balena uses Docker containers to deploy software updates. Devices run balenaOS, a Yocto-based Linux distribution that comes with balenaEngine, balena’s Docker-compatible container engine. OTA updates occur automatically by way of releases pushed from balenaCloud, a hosted service for managing fleets of devices. Balena can also operate in local mode so that updates originate from a server running on your local host machine rather than the cloud. We will stick to local mode for the following exercises.
Balena is written and supported by balena.io (https://balena.io). Like Mender, balenaCloud is a paid OTA update service. Your first ten devices are free, but you must adopt a monthly or yearly billing plan for anything beyond that. There is much more information about the software in the Reference section of the online docs at balena.io. We won’t dig into how balena works since our goal is to deploy and automatically update software on a...
