What is Kubernetes? Explore The Benefits of Kubernetes for Scalable Applications

Quick Summary: Enterprises today opt for Kubernetes to manage and federate containers, as well as to manage tokens, passwords, and other sensitive data. It's a game-changer in container orchestration, making it seamless for developers to manage these apps. This blog will discuss in detail what Kubernetes is, its importance, and how it helps businesses make provision for robust applications.

Step into the captivating world of Kubernetes, a term that has taken the business world by storm. Kubernetes sets sail as an open-source container orchestration technology, empowering businesses to navigate the seas of software development with unprecedented speed and efficiency.

Well, the advent of container-based microservices architectures has revolutionized the way DevOps teams execute, deploy, and test modern apps. Containerized applications incredibly simplify the process of scaling and lead to modernization.

As the adoption of Kubernetes continues to rise, business leaders strive to understand how it can be utilized in their organizations.

As per Stackshare, 3388 globally renowned companies, and 48723 developers already use Kubernetes in their tech stacks.

If you are also curious about what Kubernetes is and the buzz it has generated in the development world, this blog is for you.

Let’s dive in!

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What is Kubernetes?

Kubernetes (aka Kube or K8s) is an open-source container orchestration platform that will help you automatically manage, scale, and deploy applications.

Kubernetes has established itself as the defector container orchestration standard and one of the best DevOps tools for software development. It's also the flagship project of the Cloud Native Computing Foundation (CNCF), supported by industry leaders like Intel, Red Hat, AWS, IBM, Google, Microsoft, and Cisco.

Here, anyone can use Kubernetes to run containers across all the premises (public and private cloud) – as it is open-source and has few restrictions on how it can be used.

Allow us to explain Kubernetes meaning with a real-time example here.

Suppose you own a company. Therefore, you need different departments to make a successful company. Right?

For that, you would be looking for CFO, CTO, marketing teams, sales teams, engineers, etc. What if we consider diverse types of containers? That’s quite easy, right?

So, Kubernetes has a file containing all the containers' descriptions and how they work together, such as sales teams working with marketing teams and marketing teams working with engineers. And this is how everyone communicates with each other.

Then you inform Kubernetes to run it and hire all ‘containers.’ In case one of them doesn’t work or completely fails, it will restart and redo the whole thing.

Well, isn't it easy to understand what Kubernetes is?

Briefly, Kubernetes is an advanced platform or an operating system of the cloud that helps you efficiently manage containerized products and services.

What are Kubernetes Containers?

Kubernetes Containers are lightweight and standalone software units that package applications, and their dependencies for easy deployment and application management. They share the host operating system with other containers, providing basic services, such as network stack, memory, and other process management. Having a shared operating system, containers need lesser resources than Virtual machines (VMs). Moreover, they are highly preferred by software programmers for their quick accessibility, making them valuable for rapid scaling in microservices and other applications. In addition, they provide higher flexibility, scalability, and compatibility compared to VMs.

What is Container Orchestration?

Container orchestration is the automatic method of using virtual partitions to govern individual web servers operating in containers on data center hardware.

Container orchestration uses virtual partitions to govern individual web servers operating in containers on data center hardware. It is a technique for automating the upkeep of a flexible architecture for web servers in a production data center. Administrators can set up resources that will start automatically if web traffic exceeds a single server's capacity. For SaaS apps, this can scale millions of concurrent users.

Container orchestration allows enterprises to deploy and manage thousands of containerized services and workloads by automation the entire container lifecycle.

What is Kubernetes Used For?

Kubernetes is a container-based platform for building simple applications to maintain and deploy anywhere. Kubernetes offers a variety of alternatives to satisfy your demands when it is offered as a managed service.

If your company suffers from the following bottlenecks, then Kubernetes is the right choice.

• Slow, soiled development hampering release schedules
• Inability to meet growing client demand due to a lack of scalability
• Lack of in-house experts to manage containerized apps
• A huge amount to optimize existing infrastructure resources

Furthermore, Organizations can use Kubernetes enterprise distributions to host their own Kubernetes infrastructure.

Here are several examples:

• Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform
• Rancher Kubernetes Engine
• Mirantis Docker Kubernetes Service (formerly Docker EE)
• VMWare Tanzu Kubernetes Grid (formerly Pivotal Container Service–PKS)
• D2iQ Konvoy

Despite of having Kubernetes benefits, including portability and flexibility, it's crucial to remember that breaking down monolithic applications into small, loosely connected microservices that span various containers and environments makes it difficult for DevOps teams to keep track of where the apps are running.

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Why does Kubernetes Matter for Companies?

Several businesses recognize the potential of Kubernetes to build scalable and modern applications. By automating deployment and simplifying ongoing application management, Kubernetes enhances performance and allows businesses to deliver an exceptional customer experience. This transformative technology adds value to businesses by prioritizing the following key aspects:

• Faster time to market
• Enhanced scalability and availability
• Effective migration
• IT cost optimization
• Multi-cloud flexibility

To gain a comprehensive understanding of the value that Kubernetes brings to businesses, let’s examine a real-world example:

Everyone is familiar with the renowned dating platform Tinder. It perfectly exemplifies the faster time to market achieved through Kubernetes. Struggling with scalability and consistency difficulties due to high traffic load, the development teams recognized Kubernetes as a viable solution. They successfully migrated 200 services and established a Kubernetes cluster of 1000 nodes, 15000 pods, and 48000 running containers. Despite the challenges during migration, the Kubernetes solutions ensured smooth business operations going further.

Kubernetes with its robust agile development and deployment, facilitates improved security, and flexibility for businesses.

Why do IT Experts like Kubernetes So Much?

IT experts have a strong preference for Kubernetes because of its amazing container orchestration abilities. It allows developers to simply manage and scale containerized applications by automating mundane tasks such as deployment, ongoing management, and scaling. The feature-rich functions of Kubernetes like high scalability and resource efficiency facilitate effective infrastructure utilization and accelerated application performance.

Moreover, Kubernetes perfectly aligns with DevOps principles, enabling automation and collaboration. Its vast ecosystem, robust community support, and application portability add immense value to its appeal.

Overall, it is an attractive choice for IT professionals to streamline operations, faster software delivery, and provide a robust foundation considering the latest software development trends.

Benefits of Kubernetes Services

Kubernetes lets you scale up/down and restart multiple containers.

Here are some advantages your organization can leverage with Kubernetes:

• Kubernetes balances the load if too much traffic is found.
• Kubernetes makes it possible to store data using a disc.
• Kubernetes automates and standardizes many of the tedious tasks required in deploying and scaling containerized applications.
• Kubernetes orchestration enables you to create application services that span numerous containers, schedule containers across a cluster, scale them, and monitor their health over time.
• Another advantage of Kubernetes deployment is its high availability, which means that if something goes wrong, it will be replaced, and the process will start again.

Kubernetes Architecture: How does Kubernetes Work?

The architecture of Kubernetes contains various abstractions and concepts. However, some of these are variations on well-known concepts, while others are unique to Kubernetes.

Here, Kubernetes functions with a group of virtual or physical host machines known as ‘nodes’ into a cluster. This produces a ‘supercomputer’ capable of running containerized applications faster, with more storage, and with better network capabilities than any single machine could provide on its own.

The nodes contain all the required services to execute ‘pods,’ which run single or with many containers. In Kubernetes, a pod serves as a single instance of a software app. The cluster is the most important part of Azure or AWS Kubernetes. It is the vital component of Kubernetes. A cluster consists of many physical machines or VMs, each performing a certain function as a master or a node. The master interacts with nodes about when to produce and remove containers, and each node is capable of hosting groups of one or more containers that contain your app. Simultaneously, it instructs nodes on re-routing traffic in response to new container alignments.

Kubernetes Cluster

Simply put, Kubernetes cluster is a set of Kubernetes components or node machines that can easily run on any physical machine (desktops or laptops) or virtual machine.

As the highest-level of Kubernetes abstraction, it represents the collection of systems that control Kubernetes container management. Kubernetes deployment enables you to join group of hosts running Linux® containers, making cluster management easy and efficient.

You can host Kubernetes cluster on public, private, on-premises, and hybrid clouds. It has a master, which is the system that commands and controls the rest of the cluster's Kubernetes servers. The master's facilities are replicated across numerous machines in a universally available Kubernetes cluster. However, the work scheduler and controller manager are only run by one master at a time.

As a result, Kubernetes is an ideal and suitable platform to host cloud-native applications that require quick scaling, such as Apache Kafka-based real-time data streaming. It is also a key criterion to implement a successful DevOps roadmap.

Kubernetes Nodes and Pods

In Kubernetes deployment, each cluster has Kubernetes nodes which are physical or virtual machines. Again, the idea is to abstract: Kubernetes ensures release management on whichever substrate the app is running on. Kubernetes even allows you to specify whether particular containers should run on VMs or bare metal.

Pods are the most fundamental Kubernetes objects that may be created or controlled. Nods run these pods. In Kubernetes pods and containers, each pod consists of one or more containers and represents a single instance of an application or operating process.

Kubernetes allows you to start, stop, and replicate all containers in a pod as a group. Pods direct the user's focus on the application instead of containers. ETCD, as a distributed key-value store, stores information about how to configure Kubernetes.

Kubernetes Master

Administrators and other users can manage container scheduling and deployment via the Kubernetes master, which serves as the cluster's access point (or control plane). A cluster will consist of one master at one least. However, the number of clusters completely depends on a cluster's replication method.

The master uses ETCD to store the cluster's status and configuration data. ETCD teaches nodes how to maintain the configurations of Kubernetes Docker containers that they are running. ETCD can be configured to run on the Kubernetes master or in standalone mode.

The kube-apiserver is the primary access point for masters to communicate with the rest of the cluster's control plane. For instance, the kube-apiserver guarantees that ETCD configurations align with those of containers that you have deployed in the cluster.

Control loops that govern the status of the cluster via the Kubernetes API server are handled by the kube-controller-manager. Controls for deployments, replicas, and nodes are all managed by this service. The node controller, for example, registers a node and analyzes its health during its lifespan.

The kube-scheduler manages and keeps track of the cluster's node workloads. This service maintains node capacity and resources and assigns work according to their availability.

The cloud-controller-manager is a part of Kubernetes services that keeps the cluster cloud-independent. It acts as an abstraction layer between cloud providers' APIs and tools, such as storage volumes and load balancers.

Namespaces

Namespaces enable you to set up virtual clusters on top of a physical cluster. Many users can use Namespaces at once, allowing multiple teams to work on a project simultaneously. They logically segregate cluster resources and assign resource quotas.

Labels

In Kubernetes, you can assign labels to pods and other objects as key/value pairs. Kubernetes operators can use labels to categorize and pick a subset of items. For example, labels let you drill down to the information you are concerned about quickly when monitoring AWS or Azure Kubernetes objects.

StatefulSets and Persistent Storage Volumes

StatefulSets is used to assign unique IDs to those pods that you would want to move to various nodes, maintain pod networking, or persist data between them. Once pods have been installed, persistent storage volumes offer a cluster with storage resources to which pods can request access.

Common Terminologies of Kubernetes Services

Let’s understand the basic and common Kubernetes terms and their deployment work, so that you can seamlessly introduce Azure-DevOps pipelines to your organization.

• Cluster: It is the base of the Kubernetes engine. Clusters are used to run containerized applications. It is a collection of machines that manage and run your applications.
• Pod: It is a collection of containers that run on a single host machine.
• Node: Node is a worker machine in Kubernetes deployment that makes up clusters.
• Kubernetes Services: A Kubernetes service is a logical abstraction for a collection of Kubernetes pods that share the same functionality. It has unique addresses that do not change when pod instances come and leave.
• Minikube: Minikube is a lightweight tool that allows developers to run a single-node Kubernetes cluster on their local machine. It is a useful tool for local development and testing purposes.
• Kubeadm: Kubeadm is a command-line tool utilized for bootstrapping and managing a production-ready Kubernetes cluster. It automates several complex steps involved in configuring the cluster, like joining worker nodes or establishing secure communication.
• Replication Controller: It is an abstract that is used to keep track of pod lifecycles.
• Container runtime: It is software that allows containers to execute. If a runtime adequately follows the Kubernetes CRI (Container Runtime Interface), it will be supported by Kubernetes technology.
• Controller: Kubernetes Controllers help you get its cluster's running state as you expected.
• etcd: It stores all the Kubernetes cluster-related data.
• Ingress: As an API object, Ingress manages external access to a cluster's services over HTTP. Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) encryption, load balancing, and Name-based virtual hosting are all part of the package.
• Kube-scheduler: It finds out the new Kubernetes Pods with no nodes. Also, it allocates them to one based on resources, policies, and ‘affinity’ criteria.
• Selector: It is a matching system used to locate and categorize specific resources.
• Label: It is a valuable pair for filtering, organizing, and performing bulk operations on a group of resources.
• Kubelet: It ensures that the required containers are running smoothly in a Kubernetes Pod.
• Kube-controller-manager: The controller plane’s controller functionalities are complicated into a single binary called kube-controller-manager.
• Kube-apiserver: It actually exposes the Kubernetes API.
• Kuber-proxy: A network proxy that enables communication and manages network rules on each node in a cluster.
• Annotation: It is a label with a lot more data storage.
• Operator: Like a run book, Kubernetes Operators empowers you to acquire domain-specific knowledge for an app. Operators make it easier to deploy and manage applications on K8s by automating application-specific operations.

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Kubernetes and Docker: How Do They Work Together?

Before we get into how Kubernetes and Docker do work together, let’s understand what Docker is!

Kubernetes Docker

Kubernetes Docker is a container engine that you can use to build containers. It’s a recognized tool to develop and run Linux containers while integrating DevOps in software development processes. Currently, it possesses 95% of the market share in the industry.

Meanwhile, several people are confused about how Docker and Kubernetes are related. Is docker an alternative to Kubernetes? Well, it is not correct. Both technologies are used together but are different.

If you are also completely new to docker and Kubernetes, here is an interesting read on kubernetes vs. docker for detailed insights.

Let’s make it simple.

Docker is a type of container. Kubernetes manages (deploys) Docker Containers and other container types.

Assume you have created a web search application that requires a container with a web server. So, whenever a user or visitor comes to your website, the content is fetched via an indirect connection to the web server in the container. Eventually, a lot of visitors begin to connect to your web server.

Here, Azure Kubernetes can analyze the traffic growth and create another container with a web server.

The failed container can be restarted by Kubernetes. Furthermore, it can be removed and rolled out as well. Kubernetes can add containers and manage their networking.

Kubernetes can orchestrate the use of Docker as a container runtime. When Kubernetes schedules a pod to that node, the kubelet on that particular node will instruct Docker to deploy the containers.

As a result, the kubelet receives the status of these containers from the Docker on a regular basis and accumulates that data in the control plane. Containers are pulled onto the node by Docker, which then starts and stops them.

The Kubernetes Docker combination creates an abstraction layer on top of a set of hosts, making it simple to operate, manage, and deploy applications in a microservice architecture. This will allow your developers to deploy software apps and execute the below-mentioned activities:

• Managing the use of resources by a team or an app.
• Distributing application load across a hosting infrastructure in a uniform manner.
• Automatically controlling load balancing requests that are distributed amid multiple instances of an app.
• Monitoring resource usage and restrictions to prevent apps from consuming too many resources and automatically resuming them.
• If a host dies or its resources are destroyed, moving an instance of an app from one host to another is an alternative.
• When a new host gets included in the cluster, additional resources become automatically available.
• Canary deployments and rollbacks are simple to execute.

How to Get Started with Kubernetes Deployment?

Azure or AWS Kubernetes ecosystem consist of an expansive range of supporting projects, offering high capabilities and functionalities. This landscape of DevOps culture and software development can be intimidating, and searching for basic answers can send you down a rabbit hole. Same is the case with Azure DevOps services. However, here are the initial few steps down this route about installing Kubernetes straightforward, and you can progress as your needs dictate.

Find out how to:

• Using Docker and Kubernetes, create a local development environment.
• With Helidon, we develop a simple Java microservice.
• Transform the microservice into a container image with Docker.
• Install the microservice on a Kubernetes cluster on your local network.
• Scale the microservice on the cluster up and down.

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What is the Future of Kubernetes?

Kubernetes (K8) has become the talk of the town in the cloud computing industry, offering organizations the ability to manage their containerized applications at scale. Containerization applications evolve swiftly, enhance development speed, and bring an elevated level of consistency and portability.

As per reports shown by Statista, “Container management software and services revenue is expected to grow up to $944 million by 2024.”

Kubernetes is seen as the de facto standard for rapidly scaling cloud-based application development services. CIOs and top IT leaders also recognize its potential to speed up innovation in today's fast-paced business world. Here are a few key reasons indicating what the future holds for Kubernetes.

1. An Established Technology

Kubernetes has been around for over 8 years and has gained skyrocketing popularity due to its flexibility and ease of use. It has become the industry standard for container orchestration.

2. Constantly Evolving

Despite its robust functionality, Kubernetes is consistently updating and evolving. It implements the latest technologies and feature-rich functions regularly, addressing concerning areas like security, and monitoring. It has adopted an expansive range of technologies, including Istio, Helm, and many more.

3. Best Fit for Multi-cloud And Hybrid Environments

As businesses are increasing their interest in multi-cloud and hybrid strategies, Kubernetes provides the best solution for these environments. It allows businesses to manage containerized apps across various cloud providers and on-premises infrastructure. Its portability ensures the elimination of vendor lock-in, offering lasting flexibility and cost efficiency.

4. Dominant in DevOps

Kubernetes plays a crucial role in DevOps practices across several businesses. It assists by providing a quick way to develop, deploy, and market applications. Its functionalities automate deployment practices and enhance the reliability and Kubernetes security in applications.

5. Proactively Supports Evolving Technologies

Kubernetes is the best pick for emerging technologies, including machine learning, serverless computing, and a lot more. It can easily handle new paradigms, making it the best choice for modern and data-intensive workloads.

As an evolving and mature technology, Kubernetes is poised to be at the forefront of cloud computing eventually. By utilizing its flexibility, ease of use, and consistently evolving nature, businesses can swiftly scale their applications and achieve their goals in the cloud. This witnesses the future of Kubernetes will continue to shine and scale cloud computing in the many years to come.

Questions CEOs Should Ask Themselves When Considering Kubernetes for Their Business

The increasing buzz around Kubernetes has led businesses to consider its potential for containerized applications. However, before analyzing the needs and state of the organization, it is essential to discover that Kubernetes may not be necessary for every business need at the moment. Kubernetes implementation is a decision that should not be taken lightly. As a CEO, it is critical to ask yourself a few important questions before diving into Kubernetes adoption. Here are some hand-picked questions to consider:

1. Why do you require Kubernetes?
2. Will Kubernetes adoption help you achieve your business goals?
3. Do you have the skills and resources to manage Kubernetes?
4. Can you keep pace with the Kubernetes release cycle?
5. How will Kubernetes impact your existing technology stacks?
6. Will Kubernetes adoption reduce cost or improve your service?
7. Do you have a trusted cloud foundation?
8. How will you address security concerns in Kubernetes deployment?
9. How will you measure the success of your Kubernetes implementation?

Adopting Kubernetes is a journey that requires a solid team to make things work for your business. You can hire DevOps developers, who have solid experience in Kubernetes.

In the End, it is Your Choice: Kubernetes is Hard - But Worth the Pain

Finally, let’s walk through some key insights from the CNFC 2021 Survey, as well as Kubernetes' future growth prospects.

The survey states:

• Containers are now used in 92% of productions, up from 84% last year and 500% since the first survey in 2016.
• 96 percent of organizations have either adopted or are evaluating Kubernetes - witnessing a high record since the surveys started in 2016.
• Since last year's poll, we have seen a 50% rise in the utilization of all CNCF projects.

Usage of cloud-native tools:

• CI/CD pipelines are used in production by 82% of respondents.
• Serverless technologies are used in production by 30% of respondents.
• A service mesh is used in production by 27% of respondents, up 50% from the previous year.
• In production, 55% of respondents employ stateful applications in containers.

Create a Zero-Disruption Kubernetes Strategy with Radixweb!If you're using or considering using containers to develop, scale efficiently, and implement your microservice-based app, it's worth discussing how Kubernetes can assist you in experiencing the benefits.As the Kubernetes ecosystem consistently evolves and matures, adopting and leveraging its capabilities is becoming seamless, even for startups and SMEs. So, Kubernetes offers a powerful platform for handling containerized workloads at scale, whether optimizing your CI/CD pipeline, building a microservices architecture, or operating a large-scale data processing operation.So, if you plan to adopt Kubernetes but lack the required expertise, let Radixweb help.Our experts will help you create a top-notch Kubernetes strategy to get ahead of your competitors. We ensure you make the best use of this cutting-edge system, from effortless management of containerized apps and automation of production-level workflows to reduced operational costs and improved productivity.Contact us to experience a high-momentum team in action with the best Kubernetes consulting services.