If you have any experience working with database software, you have undoubtedly heard the term Kubernetes a lot. You may already be using it daily and find it makes running applications in the cloud much more manageable. But for those who are not so familiar, in this post, we will discuss how Kubernetes has emerged as the unsung hero in an industry where agility and scalability are critical success factors.
At its core, Kubernetes (often abbreviated as K8s) is an open source tool that automates the deployment, scaling, and management of containerized applications. It simplifies infrastructure management and is the driving force behind many cloud-native applications and services.
For some background, Kubernetes was created by Google and is currently maintained by the Cloud Native Computing Foundation (CNCF). It has become the industry standard for cloud-native container orchestration.
To get you started with Kubernetes, this post offers a high-level introduction to its core features, highlighting its built-in advantages and showcasing some practical, real-world uses. It’s important to note that this overview is not intended to be an exhaustive guide to every facet of Kubernetes. Kubernetes can be complex, which is why we offer comprehensive training that equips you and your team with the expertise and skills to manage database configurations, implement industry best practices, and carry out efficient backup and recovery procedures.
Making container deployment simpler
One of Kubernetes’ primary use cases is deploying containerized apps. Applications are packaged into a single, lightweight container with their dependencies, typically including the application’s code, customizations, libraries, and runtime environment. These containers encapsulate all the components necessary to run the application independently, making them portable and consistent across various environments. Kubernetes manages and orchestrates these containers, handling tasks such as deployment, scaling, load balancing, and networking.
With Kubernetes, you can define and manage your application deployments declaratively, meaning you can tell it how your apps should operate, and Kubernetes takes care of the rest.
Maintaining high availability
Kubernetes also makes it easier for applications to scale in response to changing workloads to maintain high availability. Applications can be horizontally scaled with Kubernetes by adding or deleting containers based on resource allocation and incoming traffic demands. It distributes the load among containers and nodes automatically, ensuring that your application can handle any spike in traffic without the need for manual intervention from an IT staff.
In addition, Kubernetes provides features like continuous monitoring, self-healing capabilities (automatically replacing containers if they happen to fail), and rolling updates (gradual updates of your applications), ensuring that your applications are always available — even in the face of failures or updates. And, if an issue ever does arise from an update, Kubernetes enables quick rollbacks to a previous version, preventing extended outages.
Multi-cloud deployments
Kubernetes is cloud-agnostic, freeing your applications from being tied to a single cloud provider. Your workloads, encapsulated in containers, can be deployed freely across different clouds or your own hardware. This portability ensures that your applications remain consistent and operational, regardless of where they are deployed.
Because of this flexibility, businesses may choose the infrastructure that best meets their needs. Instead of depending on the services of a single cloud vendor, Kubernetes provides the flexibility to distribute workloads over various cloud providers or on-premises infrastructure, reducing the risk of becoming trapped in a single ecosystem. This makes it much easier for organizations to transition to open source solutions, reduce costs, and avoid vendor lock-in.
Controlled access and security
A wide range of security capabilities are available with Kubernetes, which are intended to safeguard your clusters’ integrity and containerized applications. These consist of the following but are not restricted to:
- Network policies: Establishing communication guidelines between pods provides additional protection at the network level. Essential features include Allow and Deny Rules, Ingress and Egress Rules, and Segmentation and Isolation. These are all intended to make it harder for someone to compromise other pods, even if they manage to gain access to one.
- Role-Based Access Control (RBAC): RBAC manages permissions to ensure that only individuals, programs, or processes with the proper authorization can utilize particular resources. In essence, it establishes permissions within a Kubernetes cluster.
- Secrets management: To guarantee that your applications can safely access the credentials they require, Kubernetes additionally offers a secure means of storing sensitive data, including configuration data, passwords, and API keys.
Cost and resource efficiency
One of Kubernetes’ main advantages is its efficient use of resources. By putting several containers onto a single node, it optimizes without over-provisioning and provides tools for setting resource limits and requests for containers. When you combine all of this, you can ensure that your apps are allotted the appropriate amount of CPU and memory in the most effective way possible, saving you money and improving performance.
Continuous Integration and Deployment (CI/CD)
Kubernetes is a dependable base for continuous integration and delivery pipelines and not just a platform for orchestrating containers. It can be easily combined with continuous integration/continuous delivery (CI/CD) tools to automate the building, testing, and deployment of applications, facilitating the release of new versions/updates and code across numerous servers — with no downtime — enhancing development workflows and providing for quicker time-to-market for your applications.
Efficient microservices
The technique of creating applications using microservices architecture makes it possible to divide an application into smaller, independently deployable services, which simplifies development and maintenance. These services, known as “microservices,” can interact with one another through APIs and are each intended to carry out a particular task or feature of the application.
Management of stateful applications
Although stateless applications are frequently associated with Kubernetes, this flexible platform can also effectively handle stateful workloads, such as database management. For companies looking to streamline stateful application management while maintaining high availability and data integrity, Kubernetes is an excellent option because of its automation, scalability, and dependability
Real-world Kubernetes use cases
Numerous industries, including finance, healthcare, e-commerce, education, etc., have adopted Kubernetes. It is an invaluable tool for resolving complicated issues and streamlining processes due to its flexibility and scalability. Here are a few examples of actual Kubernetes use cases across various industries:
E-commerce: Traffic to e-commerce platforms varies, particularly during sales, promotions, and holidays. The seamless shopping experience is ensured by Kubernetes, which assists in automatically scaling web applications to handle this increased load.
Entertainment: To guarantee that viewers have continuous access to films and TV series, film studios and television networks rely on Kubernetes for content delivery and streaming. Just consider the sheer number of people who stream Netflix every night!
Finance: Financial institutions utilize Kubernetes for its security and compliance features. It facilitates simple scalability and effective disaster recovery and enables them to deploy and administer applications in a highly regulated environment.
Education: Universities often use Kubernetes for projects that require substantial resources because it scales computing clusters for research, data analysis, and simulations.
Healthcare: Hospitals and healthcare providers use Kubernetes for processing and analyzing vast amounts of health data so that medical records, lab results, and patient information are protected and available when needed.
Telecommunications: By guaranteeing low-latency communication, Kubernetes assists the telecom sector in quickly deploying 5G and edge computing applications.
Conclusion
Kubernetes’ versatility and scalability empower organizations to streamline and simplify their containerized workloads while enhancing scalability, ensuring high availability, and improving resource efficiency. It is the go-to choice for businesses looking to move to the cloud, embrace microservices, and deploy applications across various environments, all while avoiding the high cost of vendor lock-in.
Are you interested in learning more about Kubernetes or need assistance with your cloud-native strategy? With Percona Kubernetes Operators, you can manage database workloads on any supported Kubernetes cluster running in private, public, hybrid, or multi-cloud environments. They are 100% open source, free from vendor lock-in, usage restrictions, and expensive contracts, and include enterprise-ready features by default.
Learn more about Percona Kubernetes Operators
Discover how Percona Operator for MongoDB transformed one of our valued customers’ experience with Kubernetes. With Percona as their trusted partner, they’ve experienced reliable solutions and outstanding support for their database needs.
FAQ
What are some common use cases for Kubernetes?
Kubernetes is widely used for managing containerized applications, making it suitable for various scenarios, including web services, microservices, and data processing applications.
Is Kubernetes suitable for small businesses, or is it primarily for large enterprises?
All sizes of businesses can benefit from Kubernetes. Small businesses can also benefit from its features, like automation and resource optimization, even though large corporations frequently use it for complex workloads.
Can Kubernetes work with different cloud providers?
Yes, Kubernetes offers the flexibility and portability of your app since it is cloud-agnostic and compatible with multiple cloud providers.
