Kubernetes for IT managers: what you need (and want) to know

Kubernetes has been making waves among application developers for a while now. But be honest: do you know exactly what Kubernetes is? And what does it actually bring an IT department? No worries, because our software developer and Kubernetes specialist Laurent Lardenois has all the answers in this blog.

To understand Kubernetes, you need to know what containers are. A container bundles all the dependencies an application needs to run properly, such as the right libraries, but without having to imitate a whole PC.

By putting only the bare essentials in terms of workloads and services into a container, you use server capacity far more efficiently than with older techniques such as virtual machines. You create containers in a platform like Docker, and several containers together form a cluster. The open source platform Kubernetes lets you manage large numbers of containers easily, securely and at scale. By sending instructions to the Kubernetes API, you can orchestrate your clusters and containers however you want.

Why Kubernetes is so popular

Working with containers has become very popular among application developers, and it is increasingly becoming the standard. One reason is that a container gives you a very developer-friendly environment. Think of containers as small, isolated sandboxes where you can play safely without affecting other applications. On top of that, you can move applications from A to B easily, knowing for certain that your application has not changed along the way. Kubernetes is so popular simply because it is the most complete tool for managing containers.

What does Kubernetes give you?

A lot of manual work disappears. If you wanted to release a new version of an application in the past, for example, you had to copy all the files to the server by hand. With Kubernetes you only have to give instructions and it does the rest for you.

Kubernetes means fewer mistakes and a lot less downtime, because the system has roll-backs out of the box. Being able to undo changes automatically is really handy. When you upgrade an application, you can instruct Kubernetes to run the previous version again if the upgrade turns out not to work. Kubernetes is also very secure. It makes clever use of role-based control and certificates, so nobody can simply reach your containers or servers.

Scaling up and down automatically

Kubernetes can also scale up and down automatically. Is an application in heavy demand during a particular period? Then the system adds capacity so the application keeps running smoothly. And once the peak is over, it scales back down just as easily.

What do you need before you start?

It is very important that the applications you want to host with Kubernetes can run on Linux, because they have to be packaged into containers. The Kubernetes technology does not support Windows. Another condition is that you need people with Kubernetes knowledge in house, or be able to bring them in. Learning to work with Kubernetes is not easy, so it takes time. The last condition is a bit more technical: you need Linux servers and public IP addresses and domains to point to.

What is in it for your IT department?

Kubernetes and working in containers remove your hardware overhead, because you need fewer physical servers. The containers your applications run in are your servers, and they use server capacity far more efficiently. You do still have to update your clusters, of course, but if you use managed services from an IT partner that task disappears too. Which leaves you much more time to develop and improve your applications.

Setting up a new cluster in no time

Setting up a new cluster is done in a flash. Once you have taken the trouble to build a template, a new cluster is only a few clicks away. That speeds up the development of new applications enormously.

Running applications in containers gives you a lot of certainty. When you push an application from your acceptance environment to production, you know for sure it is 100 percent the same code. You do not have to copy anything by hand, and that means fewer mistakes.

Switching clusters off saves money

If you use Kubernetes through one of the big cloud providers, such as Google or Amazon, you have the option of switching clusters off. Chances are you do not use your development clusters at the weekend, for instance, because your developers are off. You can switch those clusters off by default, and that saves you a lot of money.

Does Indicia work with Kubernetes?

We are busy setting up Kubernetes for our clients. Not every application can move across, because some of them run on Windows servers. But all our clients will certainly notice the difference. Kubernetes lets us reduce maintenance work and hardware costs, cut downtime and develop applications more smoothly.