«We will put everything in containers, and the system will work even better…» — this phrase developers often say. It would seem, what do containers have to do with it, and how do they relate to IT?
Containerization is one of the main trends in modern IT development. And today largest IT companies (Amazon, Microsoft, etc.) use Kubernetes — an open-source platform for launching and orchestrating containers, a system for deploying, scaling, and managing applications.
Infrastructure management is more convenient with Kubernete s: you can move applications between different clouds and back-end environments. In addition, the platform does not require huge expenses for IT staff.
How do Kubernetes work?
Imagine a big warehouse where each item has an individual package and store in its place. As a rule, warehouse workers cannot always manually and quickly find and deliver goods to the buyer on time. To automatically track, plan and organize all the goods, you need to use a computerized software package. The same principle exists for containers, and it is called orchestration.
Orchestration is the automated management of containers or virtual machines.
And this is where Kubernetes comes to the rescue, which delivers applications to users faster and more reliably and supports IT systems online 24/7.
What tasks does Kubernetes solve:
• Suitable for full outsourcing of data center, mobile and web applications, SaaS support, cloud web hosting, or high-performance computing.
• Helps you deal with continuous system updates. Containers tie all software elements into one file isolated from the external environment. It makes it possible to deploy applications on any infrastructure.
• Scales web hosting. You can deploy mobile apps and sites with complex code using Kubernetes on simple hardware to reduce the cost of preparing a web server for public cloud hosts.
• The system can self-recover in case of failures.
How Kubernetes Helps Business?
1. Automates processes. The business saves on equipment and employees. You don’t need to keep an entire staff to maintain and customize the platform. If a company wants to do only development, then it can rent Kubernetes clusters in the cloud.
2. Increases the flexibility of multi-cloud. Kubernetes makes it easier to run any application in the public cloud or on a converged platform from public and private clouds. A system efficiently distributes workloads in the required cloud that also avoids vendor lock-in.
3. Reduces costs. Applications are combined with minimal resources while maximizing business value from cloud and appliance investments.
4. Scales applications quickly. Kubernetes automates scale-out applications by adding and removing containers and automatically increasing or decreasing the cluster size as needed. Vertical scaling, in turn, efficiently allocates available resources. The system becomes even more efficient and fault-tolerant.
Kubernetes and Docker — What’s the Difference?
You cannot directly compare these platforms. Docker is a tool for creating and running containers. And Kubernetes is an orchestrator tool for managing containers. With Kubernetes, you can build a distributed fault-tolerant system while Docker runs on a separate node.
If a small number of containers are running on a single node, then Docker containers will suffice. You need Kubernetes when there are a lot of containers and nodes, as well as if you need a distributed fault-tolerant system.
10 reasons why people use Kubernetes
1. Rapid development and customization of CI / CD. You can set up common pipelines for delivering software to servers of different projects, standardize development processes and apply ready-made solutions. All this helps to speed up the release of software releases.
2. Reduced time to market and fast hypothesis testing. Simplifying the development and presentation of the release allows you quickly release new IT services into production. As well as quickly develop and launch pilot projects, test hypotheses and implement the best solutions.
3. Solving problems with the search for specialists. Sometimes it can be challenging to find developers to replace those who worked on a unique project. Kubernetes can help you avoid this problem because any specialist who has previously worked with an orchestrator will be able to join the team and pick up the project quickly.
4. Reducing the cost of IT systems. The orchestrator reduces operating costs by 1.5-2 times due to the density of applications. The platform also saves money by automatically scaling infrastructure and instantly shutting down unnecessary capacity.
5. Resistance to peak loads. When traffic spikes, such as during sales, orchestration can quickly add additional capacity to the system to handle the load and avoid disruption. Thus, the company does not lose a single client.
6. Working with big data. The technology is designed specifically for high workloads, so it is well suited for Data Science and big data.
7. Working with machine learning and artificial intelligence. It takes significant computing power to design and train neural networks. Kubernetes allows you to use resources more efficiently and carry out all computations within your cluster.
8. Fast and seamless updates that can be launched quickly and automatically without a team of engineers. At the same time, current updates do not affect the system’s performance, and you can carry them out at any convenient time.
9. Test optimization. Developers can, on-demand, create automated testing environments that are identical to the product ones.
10. Multi-cloud and hybrid environments. Orchestrator makes it easy to port applications between different environments, including various clouds. It makes it easy to create and manage complex multi-cloud and hybrid architectures.
Kubernetes is the most advanced orchestration tool that automates the deployment process and simplifies future work with containers.