What is Kubernetes?
Kubernetes (pronounced “koo-ber-net-ees”) is an open-source container management system that is used in large-scale enterprises in several vertical industries to perform a mission-critical task. Some of its operations include:
- Managing clusters of containers
- Providing tools for deploying applications
- Scaling applications as and when needed
- Managing changes to the existing containerized applications
- Helping to optimize the use of underlying hardware beneath your container
- Enabling the application component to restart and move across the system as and when needed
Kubernetes is a portable, extensible, open-source platform for managing containerized workloads and services, that facilitates both declarative configuration and automation. It has a large, rapidly growing ecosystem. Kubernetes services, support, and tools are widely available.
Initially, there might be some confusion about how Docker and Kubernetes relate. Docker is not an alternative to Kubernetes. The two technologies are used together. Docker allows you to create containers and Kubernetes helps you manage containers.
Working with Kubernetes (also known as k8s or “kube”) can be done in five main steps:
- Develop an application.
- Containerize your application.
- Create a kubernetes cluster.
- Deploy your container to the cluster.
- Expose and scale the cluster.
Why Kubernetes?
Keeping containerized apps up and running can be complicated as they often involve multiple containers deployed across different machines. Kubernetes provides a way to schedule and deploy those containers as well as scale them to your desired state and manage their lifecycles. Kubernetes is used to implement your container-based applications in a portable, scalable, and extensible way.
This page helped me understand Kubernetes better: https://auth0.com/blog/kubernetes-tutorial-step-by-step-introduction-to-basic-concepts/
Check out the docs for in-depth understanding.
