What Is Kubernetes

What Is Kubernetes?

Kubernetes is a container orchestration tool. It was developed by Google for automating and managing the deployment of containers—portable packages of software that contain all the binaries, libraries, configuration files, and other dependencies needed for that software program to run.

What Is Container Orchestration?

Container orchestration refers to the automation of common container management tasks such as deployment, scaling, and networking. Instead of manually deploying your microservices and web apps to production, container orchestration tools like Kubernetes let you create automated workflows.

Anatomy of a Kubernetes Cluster

Kubernetes boasts a number of features that help you provision and deploy your own containerized software programs.

The best way to understand Kubernetes is to understand what you get in a typical Kubernetes cluster:

• Pods: The smallest deployable compute unit you can create and manage in Kubernetes, from a single container to multiple containers running on the same shared storage/network resources.
• Nodes: The worker machines (virtual or physical) that host the pods that make up an application workload. Each node has at least one Kubelet, an agent that ensures the described containers are running in the pod on a cluster.
• Control plane: The orchestration layer that exposes the API you use to manage your containers, pods, and nodes.
• Add-ons: Features such as cluster DNS extend the functionality of a cluster and provide a DNS server or Web UI which can be used as a general-purpose dashboard for monitoring and troubleshooting apps running in the cluster or for the cluster itself.

The Benefits of Using Kubernetes for Container Orchestration

Benefits of using Kubernetes for container orchestration include: 

• Ability to deploy and update applications at scale
• Granular control of compute and storage resources
• Easier automation and DevOps integration
• Traffic routing and load balancing
• Improved app mobility across public and private clouds or on-premises and hybrid clouds
• Automated health checks, monitoring, rollouts, and rollbacks for improved software resiliency

How You Can Use Kubernetes with Pure Storage and Portworx

Portworx® is a Kubernetes data services platform designed to provide persistent storage, data protection, disaster recovery, and other capabilities for your containerized applications. While Portworx was designed from the bottom up to run on any storage platform, Pure Storage’s massively parallel and high-performing all-flash storage solutions are the perfect hardware counterpart for your Kubernetes-powered apps. Together, Pure Storage and Portworx provide a complete data storage infrastructure solution capable of delivering a Modern Data Experience™.