Kubernetes: everything your organization needs to know

What is Kubernetes?
 

Kubernetes (often abbreviated as K8s) is an open source software platform that helps you deploy and manage containers at scale. Kubernetes evolved from Borg, a cluster management system invented and designed by Google, and continued to be developed and perfected as open source software thanks to the contributions of a large community. Since 2017, most major tech companies have recognized Kubernetes, while major cloud providers Azure and AWS have made managed services available for the platform since 2018.
 

With Kubernetes, you organize a cluster of virtual machines and plan the containers you run on the virtual machines based on available resources and requirements. Containers are grouped into pods, the basic operational units for Kubernetes. These pods are scalable based on the desired state. Kubernetes makes it possible to use nodes (virtual machines), clusters (collections of nodes) and pods (collections of containers) to automate the management and scalability of "containerized" applications.
 

Usage scenarios for Kubernetes
 

Organizations use Kubernetes for a variety of purposes. We discuss a few popular usage scenarios.
 

Building and deploying microservice architectures
 

Microservices are rapidly gaining popularity. When you use a microservice architecture, you break down an application, application or system into a set of independently usable services. These services communicate with each other via APIs while still forming a coherent whole. The advantage of this architecture type is that you can customize and scale each individual service without adversely affecting the performance of the application as a whole.
 

Kubernetes is an ideal tool for scaling and balancing your microservices. You easily allocate the right amount of resources and compute power to each microservice, creating a well-balanced whole.
 

CI/CD pipelines support
 

Organizations also often use Kubernetes to support CI/CD pipelines. These combine continuous integration (CI) and continuous delivery (CD), two principles that improve and ease the process of software development by casting it into a series of automated steps. CI/CD pipelines contribute to clearer processes, high-quality code, reliable versioning, shorter test cycles and greater development flexibility.
 

The Kubernetes-CI/CD combination facilitates the controlled and secure release of software. DevOps engineers can deploy an application in phases, reducing your risk of downtime.
 

Hosting scalable web applications
 

Want to host a Web application that needs to be able to respond flexibly to fluctuations in data traffic and resource utilization? Then Kubernetes can help. The ability to quickly add, remove or replace new containers (if a container stops working properly, for example) makes the platform ideal for scalable Web applications. With Kubernetes, developers effortlessly scale their applications to handle increased traffic and workloads without having to worry about the underlying infrastructure. Moreover, when all network components run in containers, it becomes possible to update or upgrade entire clusters while they are in use.
 

Data analytics and ML workloads
 

Data and advanced data analytics are of eminent importance to virtually every organization in the digital age. Machine learning (ML) increasingly plays an important role in dealing with data. The combination of containers and Kubernetes makes it easier to apply ML models across different environments to maximize the power of advanced data analytics.â
 

The future of Kubernetes
 

Kubernetes is a platform that continues to evolve by evolving existing features and introducing new ones on a regular basis. The future of Kubernetes most likely includes innovations and steps such as:
 

• Further integration with cloud-native technologies. More and more organizations are designing applications not only for, but also in the cloud.
   
• Improvements in management and scalability. This will likely provide an even better user experience and additional opportunities to be flexible with resources.
   
• A greater role in supporting edge computing initiatives. This makes it possible to move benefits of Kubernetes to the edge. For example, the availability of "service meshes" for securely deploying distributed applications, centralized management and easy deployment of new (virtual) machines.
   
• A further growth of eBPF applications within Kubernetes. This can lead to better performance, more insight and fewer moving parts.

Managed Kubernetes at Eurofiber Cloud Infra
 

Managing and fully exploiting the full potential of Kubernetes can be challenging. This is because the platform is quite complex and requires quite a bit of technical knowledge from administrators.
 

Do you want to take advantage of all the benefits and functionalities of Kubernetes, but at the same time reduce management complexity? Then managed Kubernetes offers the solution. With this solution, you get the support of a specialized partner who helps you set up and manage the platform. Think, for example, of setting up a CI/CD environment, scanning container images for security problems and configuring Kubernetes based on your concrete business wishes and needs.
 

Eurofiber Cloud Infra offers excellent capabilities to efficiently host and manage Kubernetes workloads, allowing organizations to fully focus on their core business. Moreover, with managed Kubernetes, you don't have to worry about finding enough competent Kubernetes specialists in the tight IT labor market.