Kubernetes is a portable, extensible, open-source platform for managing containerized workloads and services, that facilitates both declarative configuration and automation. It has a large, rapidly growing ecosystem.
The name Kubernetes originates from Greek, meaning helmsman or pilot. Google open-sourced the Kubernetes project in 2014. Kubernetes combines over 15 years of Google’s experience running production workloads at scale with best-of-breed ideas and practices from the community.
Kubernetes (commonly stylized as k8s) is an open-source container orchestration system for automating application deployment, scaling, and management. It was originally designed by Google and is now maintained by the Cloud Native Computing Foundation. It aims to provide a “platform for automating deployment, scaling, and operations of application containers across clusters of hosts”. It works with a range of container tools, including Docker.
How does Kubernetes work?
A working Kubernetes deployment is called a cluster. You can visualize a Kubernetes cluster as two parts: the control plane, which consists of the master node or nodes, and the compute machines or worker nodes.
Worker nodes run pods, which are made up of containers. Each node is its own Linux environment and could be either a physical or virtual machine.
The master node is responsible for maintaining the desired state of the cluster, such as which applications are running and which container images they use. Worker nodes actually run the applications and workloads.
Kubernetes runs on top of an operating system and interacts with pods of containers running on the nodes.
The Kubernetes master node takes the commands from an administrator (or DevOps team) and relays those instructions to the subservient nodes.
This handoff works with a multitude of services to automatically decide which node is best suited for the task. It then allocates resources and assigns the pods in that node to fulfill the requested work.
The desired state of a Kubernetes cluster defines which applications or other workloads should be running, along with which images they use, which resources should be made available to them, and other such configuration details.
From an infrastructure point of view, there is little change to how you manage containers. Your control over containers just happens at a higher level, giving you better control without the need to micromanage each separate container or node.
Some work is necessary, but it’s mostly a matter of assigning a Kubernetes master, defining nodes, and defining pods.
Where you run Kubernetes is up to you. This can be on bare metal servers, virtual machines, public cloud providers, private clouds, and hybrid cloud environments. One of Kubernetes’ key advantages is it works on many different kinds of infrastructure.
Why you need Kubernetes and what it can do
Containers are a good way to bundle and run your applications. In a production environment, you need to manage the containers that run the applications and ensure that there is no downtime. For example, if a container goes down, another container needs to start. Wouldn’t it be easier if this behavior was handled by a system?
That’s how Kubernetes comes to the rescue! Kubernetes provides you with a framework to run distributed systems resiliently. It takes care of scaling and failover for your application, provides deployment patterns, and more. For example, Kubernetes can easily manage a canary deployment for your system.
Kubernetes provides you with:
- Service discovery and load balancing: Kubernetes can expose a container using the DNS name or using its own IP address. If traffic to a container is high, Kubernetes is able to load balance and distribute the network traffic so that the deployment is stable.
- Storage orchestration: Kubernetes allows you to automatically mount a storage system of your choice, such as local storages, public cloud providers, and more.
- Automated rollouts and rollbacks: You can describe the desired state for your deployed containers using Kubernetes, and it can change the actual state to the desired state at a controlled rate. For example, you can automate Kubernetes to create new containers for your deployment, remove existing containers, and adopt all their resources to the new container.
- Automatic bin packing: You provide Kubernetes with a cluster of nodes that it can use to run containerized tasks. You tell Kubernetes how much CPU and memory (RAM) each container needs. Kubernetes can fit containers onto your nodes to make the best use of your resources.
- Self-healing: Kubernetes restarts containers that fail, replaces containers, kills containers that don’t respond to your user-defined health check, and doesn’t advertise them to clients until they are ready to serve.
- Secret and configuration management: Kubernetes lets you store and manage sensitive information, such as passwords, OAuth tokens, and SSH keys. You can deploy and update secrets and application configuration without rebuilding your container images, and without exposing secrets in your stack configuration.
Can you run Kubernetes in a Dedicated server?
In short, yes, you can run a production-grade Kubernetes cluster in an environment like an on-premise data center or edge location by making a few tweaks.
If you’re interested in testing Kubernetes in a bare-metal server, here’s a guide on how to do it.
Running your app on bare metal in the cloud introduces its own unique benefits that include cost, transparency, and performance.
What does it mean to be “production-grade�
- The installation is secure
- The deployment is managed with a repeatable and recorded process
- Performance is predictable and consistent
- Updates and configuration changes can be safely applied
- Logging and monitoring is in place to detect and diagnose failures and resource shortages
- Service is “highly available enough†considering available resources, including constraints on money, physical space, power, etc.
- A recovery process is available, documented, and tested for use in the event of failures
Production grade means anticipating accidents and preparing for recovery with minimal pain and delay.
Sources:
What is Kubernetes? – Kubernetes – Out of the Clouds onto the Ground: How to Make Kubernetes Production Grade Anywhere – What is Kubernetes?
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