In connection with general digitalization, the popularity of the application containerization method is growing firstly. The technology contributes to the fast introduction of companies’ services into a productive environment, where a short time-to-market helps to win.
Kubernetes is a container orchestrator from Google that helps you manage servers and containers running on them, automate resource usage based on load, save on hardware by running multiple containers on a single server, and unify interaction between relevant company services.
However, there is not always a real need for this in implementation this technology, and in some cases, it makes sense to save money and introduce alternative technologies.
As part of our DevOps (CI/CD, IaC) service, we help companies:
Decide on the necessary technologies for the continuous creation of applications, incl. Kubernetes
When using other architectures (monolithic) - suggest alternative solutions
When using a microservice architecture, ensure the rapid deployment, updating, and scaling of microservices using Kubernetes
Migrate to Kubernetes from other platforms, as well as back from Kubernetes to alternative platforms (Nomad, Amazon EC2, app fleet, Heroku, and others)
BENEFITS OF KUBERNETES TECHNOLOGY
Portability and Flexibility
Kubernetes works with almost any type of container runtime. (The runtime is the program that runs the containers. There are several different options on the market today.) In addition, Kubernetes can run on almost any type of underlying infrastructure—be it a public cloud, a private cloud, or a local server—as long as the operating system of the host system is some version of Linux or Windows (2016 or newer). In this regard, Kubernetes is very portable as it can used in a variety of infrastructure configurations and environments. Most other orchestrators lack this portability; they tied to specific runtimes or frameworks.
Ability to work in multiple clouds
Partly because of its portability, Kubernetes can handle workloads that run in a single cloud, as well as workloads that spread across multiple clouds. In addition, Kubernetes can easily scale its environment from one cloud to another. These features mean that Kubernetes is well suited to the multi-cloud strategies that many companies are using today. Other orchestrators can also work with multi-cloud infrastructure, but Kubernetes arguably goes further and further when it comes to multi-cloud agility. However, there are other requirements when considering a multi-cloud strategy.
Improve developer productivity
Kubernetes, with its declarative constructs and operations-centric approach, has revolutionized deployment methodologies and allows teams to use GitOps. Teams with the help of orchestrators can deploy and scale applications and services many times faster. Instead of one deployment per month, teams can now deploy multiple times per day.
The open-source nature of Kubernetes
K8s is a 100% open-source community-driven project controlled by CNCF. It has several major corporate sponsors, but no single company "owns" it or has unilateral control over the development of the platform. For many companies, this open-source strategy makes Kubernetes preferable to closed-source orchestrators (like some of those built into public clouds) or open-source orchestrators but closely tied to only one company (like Docker Swarm).
Market leader
The number of Kubernetes projects in enterprise IT environments is growing, and it is no longer just a project of a community of developers. In a recent survey, 59% of respondents indicated they use Kubernetes in a production environment. Of course, what is popular is not always right. But when it comes to container orchestrators, there are clear advantages to choosing the most popular solution. More and more developers and IT engineers know Kubernetes, which reduces the learning curve for companies that implement it. In addition, Kubernetes has an extensive ecosystem of add-on software projects and tools that make it easy to extend its functionality.
Tested
Four or five years ago, you ran Kubernetes in a production environment at your own risk. At the time, it was a brand new orchestrator with several proven production deployments. But today this is no longer the case. Thousands of IT teams use Kubernetes, and today it is already a well-proven and reliable solution that can reduce the complexity of the cloud.
For who is this solution?
Kubernetes is suitable for high-load, scalable big-data projects that need to work with an abundance of container clusters and cloud PaaS / IaaS solutions. That is why containers and Kubernetes are used by such giants as Google, Amazon, Tinder, BlaBlaCar, CERN, Huawei, and Microsoft.