# <a id="global"></a>Global Limitations

Allow me to begin with the major limitations visible at a global level in the RouterOS `container.npk` feature, both to satisfy the **tl;dr** crowd and to set broad expectations for the rest of my readers. This super-minimal container implementation lacks:

*   orchestration
*   image building
*   a local image cache(^One knock-on effect of this not covered above is that removing and reinstalling a container requires RouterOS to re-download the image, even when done back-to-back, even if you never start the container between and thereby cause it to make changes to the expanded image’s files.)
*   a local image cache
*   JSON and REST APIs
*   a CoW/overlay file system(^This is not a verified fact, but an inference based on the observation that if RouterOS _did_ have this facility underlying its containers, I would expect to find equivalents to Docker’s `commit` and `diff` commands. This pairs with the lack of an image cache: no CoW means no need for a baseline source to compute deltas against.)
*   per-container limit controls:(^The only configurable resource limit is on maximum RAM usage, and it’s global, not settable on a per-container basis.)
    *   FD count
    *   PID limit
    *   CPU usage
    *   storage IOPS

See [`--restart`](#restart) above.


## <a id="rm"></a>`rm`

RouterOS spells this `/container/remove`, but do be aware, there is no equivalent for `docker rm -f` to force the removal of a running container. RouterOS makes you stop it first.

Another knock-on effect to be aware of stems from the lack of a local image cache: removing a container and reinstalling it from the *same* image requires RouterOS to re-download the image, even when done back-to-back, even if you never start the container between and thereby cause it to make changes to the expanded image’s files. You can end up hitting annoying rate-limiting on the “free” registries in the middle of a hot-and-heavy debugging session due to this. Ask me how I know. 😁


## <a id="search"></a>`search`

There is no equivalent to this in RouterOS. You will need to connect to your image registry of choice and use its search engine.