Kubernetes

Kubernetes

What is Kubernetes?

Kubernetes (often abbreviated as K8s) is an open-source container orchestration platform designed to automate the deployment, scaling, and management of containerized applications. Originally developed by Google and now maintained by the Cloud Native Computing Foundation (CNCF), Kubernetes has become the de facto standard for running cloud-native applications in production environments.

Key Features of Kubernetes

•       Automated Scaling: Adjusts application resources dynamically based on demand.

•       Self-Healing: Restarts failed containers, replaces unresponsive nodes, and ensures high availability.

•       Load Balancing: Distributes network traffic efficiently across multiple containers.

•       Multi-Cloud & Hybrid Support: Runs seamlessly across on-premises, public, and private clouds.

•       Declarative Configuration: Uses YAML/JSON files to define desired application states.

Why Use Kubernetes? (Use Cases)

Kubernetes is widely adopted across industries due to its flexibility and scalability. Here are some of the most common real-world use cases:

1. Microservices Management

Kubernetes simplifies the deployment and communication of microservices by managing each service in isolated containers while ensuring seamless interaction.

2. CI/CD Pipelines (DevOps Automation)

Integrating Kubernetes with Jenkins, GitLab CI, or ArgoCD enables automated testing, deployment, and rollback, accelerating software delivery.

3. Machine Learning & AI Workloads

Kubernetes supports MLOps by managing distributed training jobs, model serving, and GPU resource allocation (e.g., using Kubeflow).

4. Big Data Processing

Frameworks like Apache Spark, Hadoop, and Kafka run efficiently on Kubernetes, optimizing resource usage for large-scale data analytics.

5. Hybrid & Multi-Cloud Deployments

Kubernetes ensures application portability across AWS, Azure, GCP, and on-premises data centers, preventing vendor lock-in.

6. Edge Computing & IoT

Kubernetes extends to edge devices, enabling real-time data processing with low latency for IoT applications.

7. High Availability & Disaster Recovery

Automatically redistributes workloads during failures, ensuring zero downtime for critical applications.

Kubernetes Architecture & Core Components

A Kubernetes cluster consists of two main layers:

1. Control Plane (Master Node Components)

•       kube-apiserver: The front-end for cluster management, handling REST API requests.

•       etcd: A distributed key-value store for cluster state and configuration.

•       kube-scheduler: Assigns workloads (Pods) to suitable nodes based on resource availability.

•       kube-controller-manager: Ensures the cluster’s desired state (e.g., node health, replication).

•       cloud-controller-manager: Integrates with cloud providers (AWS, GCP, Azure) for load balancers and     storage.

2. Worker Nodes (Data Plane Components)

•       kubelet: Ensures containers are running as expected in Pods.

•       kube-proxy: Manages network rules for Pod communication.

•       Container Runtime (Docker, containerd, CRI-O): Executes containers inside Pods.

Additional Add-ons

•       DNS (CoreDNS): Provides service discovery within the cluster.

•       Dashboard (Web UI): A graphical interface for cluster management.

•       Ingress Controller: Manages external access to services (e.g., Nginx, Traefik).