For both development and testing as well as production use, containers are used to bundle together the services that make up software and enable portability across various computing platforms.
What Is Kubernetes?
Kubernetes is an open-source organization platform created by Google for managing microservices or containerized software. With zero-downtime deployment features, automatic rollback, scalability, and container self-healing, Kubernetes offers highly resilient infrastructure.
It manages workloads to ensure they function as intended by the user and schedules containers into a compute cluster. Kubernetes integrates the development and operations of software through design rather than bolting on operations as an afterthought.
Why Is Kubernetes Important?
Software Support
Software development, testing, and release can be sped up via DevOps. As a result, the focus has changed from managing infrastructure to managing the large-scale deployment and updating of software. The majority of infrastructure frameworks do not support this architecture. However, Kubernetes does, in part thanks to Kubernetes Controllers.
Due to controllers, infrastructure can easily manage an application’s lifecycle. Among other options, Kubernetes makes a few particular deployment operations easier, particularly useful for programmers of contemporary apps.
In contrast to conventional, all-inclusive PaaS solutions, Kubernetes offers many application support options.
Management Efficiency
The software can be divided into smaller components with a distinct separation thanks to containers. Developers can completely rethink the way distributed software applications are constructed because of the abstraction layer offered by a single container image.
Focused smaller teams may develop projects more quickly thanks to this modular approach because they are each in charge of a particular container. Additionally, it enables the separation of dependencies and use of smaller, better-tuned components more widely.
However, containers cannot accomplish this independently; a framework for incorporating and arranging these modular components is needed. Pods, which are often a group of containers managed as a single application, help Kubernetes accomplish this in part.
Kubernetes eliminates the temptation to squeeze too much functionality into a single container image by enabling containers to be compiled in this way.
A group of Pods that carry out related tasks is grouped using the Kubernetes concept of a Service. Services can be readily set up for load balancing, horizontal scaling, discoverability, and observability.
Build Cloud Apps
It’s not unexpected that alternative management and orchestration solutions have appeared, given the popularity of containers. Because it enables teams to keep up with the demands of contemporary software development, Kubernetes is rewarding for DevOps.
Teams have frequently been compelled to script their software deployment, scaling, and updating routines without Kubernetes. Some businesses use sizable teams to complete those jobs independently. Teams may create cloud-native applications using Kubernetes that are independent of cloud-specific needs and maximize the utility of containers. Kubernetes is an effective model for application development and operation.
Kubernetes Security
Like many others, the Kubernetes platform also has security flaws and hazy security boundaries. Given this, you should follow a few generally recommended Kubernetes security guide practices to keep your clusters and access secure:
- Using third-party authentication, you can authorize access to your Kubernetes API by integrating an external authentication provider and using predefined user groups
- RBAC: Ensure that RBAC is enabled and properly configured. A slight modification to the RBAC rules can make your clusters publicly accessible. Even if the cluster is removed, ensure audit logging is enabled and accessible
- Isolate the nodes’ networks, keep an eye on network activity, and make sure the cluster as a whole is monitored
Endnote
Kubernetes is an effective model for software development and operation. The movable coupling between node and control plane allows,
- A software application to scale out instantly to meet varying needs
- Migrate users to new builds
- Support migration from on-premises to cloud-based nodes or between multiple clouds
- Take advantage of desired features of each cloud provider
Since it enables teams to keep up with the demands of contemporary software development, Kubernetes represents a breakthrough for DevOps.
