If you have recently started diving into the world of containers; you may have come across the word Orchestrator;
In layman’s terms it means someone who manages the application; in micro-services terms, it simply means managing the applications present in the container.
Kubernetes(K8s) acts as an Open Source Orchestrator helping to build the application and services, helping to scale the application.
Distinguishing Features of K8s
Declarative State Files — K8 uses the Object manifests in YAML files to define the desired state of the application to be present in the Cluster.
Autoscaling Workloads — K8s by default provide us with the feature of Scaling Horizontally with the help of Horizontal Pod AutoScaler(HPA) while Vertical Scaling is something that can be added as a Custom Resource Definition(CRD)
Self Healing — The Controllers in the Kubernetes Monitor the Applications present in the Pods; and automatically restart or reschedule to ensure the High Availability(HA).
Support for Rolling Updates and Rollbacks — During the Application Deployment (default strategy), it ensures that the Application goes through minimal downtime. If any misconfiguration, it can easily roll back to the previous stable version.
Extensible Ecosystem — K8s has a rich variety of plugins, and integrations allowing developers to customize and enhance the platform according to their specific requirements.
Why not to move with K8s?
1. Application is at a nascent stage
If the application is currently a small and not so complex application; not requiring High Availability or Scaling, then using the K8s may act as an Overkill.
Further using K8s involves using the Resource Overhead, which might not be justified for small applications
2. Current Infrastructure is not designed to support Containers
If the Application currently uses a monolithic design — not designed to run in containers, migrating them to Kubernetes can be complex and time-consuming.
Some legacy systems may not be compatible with containerization, making it impractical to use the K8s.
3. Steep Learning Curve
If you have already been using K8s and you are building a side project or launching a new startup, then K8s is probably a great choice for you even if you only have one Deployment and Ingress route. You can reuse CI/CD pipelines, monitoring & logging easily. But it comes with a cost if the team is not familiar with Kubernetes.
Managing Kubernetes is a complex task and requires Team Members and Organisations to be experienced it.
Further managing the K8s Cluster requires ongoing maintenance and operational overhead, which might be challenging without dedicated DevOps or SRE teams.
4. Limited Resources
The cost of setting up, running, and maintaining Kubernetes can be high, especially for organizations with limited budgets.
There is a saying in Kubernetes “Containers are cattle, not pets”. That is from a software perspective, the actual saying should be “Hardware is cattle, not pets, and your containers are fleas on the cattle’s back”. If you aren’t running on enough hardware for servers to be cattle, not pets, then Kubernetes is solving a problem you don’t have, and probably won’t have for a long time.
Efficient Alternatives to K8s
Hetzner
Hetzner is a German web hosting company that provides dedicated servers, virtual private servers (VPS), and cloud hosting services. They offer a range of hosting solutions suitable for various needs, from individual developers to large businesses.
Dedicated Servers, Virtual Private Servers (VPS), Cloud Hosting, Storage Solutions
There are further options such as Vercel, Heroku, Fly.io which are worth considering; some of the things that can be easily compared are as follows.
Vercel
Vercel is a cloud platform for static sites and server-less functions. It allows developers to deploy static websites, front-end applications, and server-less functions with ease.
Vercel focuses on providing a seamless developer experience, with features like automatic deployments, instant previews, and built-in CI/CD.
Services it Offers
Static Site Hosting, Automatic Deployments, Global CDN, Custom Domains and SSL, Analytics and Monitoring
Heroku
Heroku is a cloud platform that enables developers to build, deploy, and scale applications effortlessly. It supports multiple programming languages and frameworks, making it a versatile platform for hosting various types of applications, including web applications, APIs, and micro-services.
Services it Offers
Scalability, Ease of Use, Heroku Postgres(managed Postgres), Heroku Redis (managed Redis)
Fly.io
Fly.io is a modern platform designed for global application delivery. It offers a unique approach to hosting and distributing applications, focusing on optimizing performance and reducing latency for users around the world.
Services it Offers
Global Edge Network, Container Hosting, Global Load Balancing, Serverless Compute
Distinguishing Differences in-between Services
Some of the other options worth considering
Docker Swarm: A simpler container orchestration tool that might be sufficient for less complex use cases.
Managed Services: Services like AWS ECS, Google Cloud Run, or Azure Container Instances offer container management without the need to manage Kubernetes.
Traditional Hosting: For some applications, traditional VM-based hosting or PaaS solutions like AWS Elastic Beanstalk might be more appropriate.
Conclusion
While K8s is one of the most powerful orchestration Tool for managing containerized applications, it might now be the best fit in all the scenarios and the Organization should carefully consider their specific needs, resources, and expertise before adopting the K8s.
EzyInfra.dev is a DevOps and Infrastructure consulting company helping clients in Setting up the Cloud Infrastructure (AWS, GCP), Cloud cost optimization, and manage Kubernetes-based infrastructure. If you have any requirements or want a free consultation for your Infrastructure or architecture, feel free to schedule a call here.
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