METHODS, APPARATUSES, AND COMPUTER PROGRAM PRODUCTS FOR DEPLOYING AND MANAGING SOFTWARE CONTAINERS

A method, system, and computer program product is provided for deploying software containers by a container engine manager, CEM. The CEM instantiates a first container engine and instantiates a second container engine. The CEM determines that a first software container utilizing a first port number should be deployed. In response to determining that the first software container should be deployed, the CEM selects a container engine from a set of available container engines. The set of container engines comprises the first container engine and the second container engine. The CEM then causes the selected container engine to instantiate the first software container. The CEM associates the first port number with an IP address of the selected container engine.