Migration to the cloud — how to manage it? Where to start, what systems to migrate and in what order, and when to reach for support — all answers in this article.

Where to start migrating to the cloud?

The first step is the “inventory”, i.e. local audit. As part of such an audit, a complete list of IT systems operating in the company that can potentially be transferred to the cloud should be created.

Assessment of the importance of systems

Having such a list is worth considering in a wider group, inside the company, what is the importance of individual systems — which of them are critical for the functioning of the company, and which perform auxiliary functions?

Typically, an interdisciplinary team representing business and technology is needed for such an assessment. Already at this stage, it may turn out that some of the systems are not needed or are no longer used, and others are long outdated and require complete replacement, e.g. with services in the SaaS model.

Selection of systems to migrate

The next step is to select a few “migration candidates”. Here, depending on your own assessment of the situation, you can choose one of two options:

• migration of systems of lesser importance (preparation of the so-called PoC “Proof of Concept”),
• moving more important systems and launching them in parallel, testing and comparing the behavior of the system in the cloud and in the on-premises model — if the company has the appropriate competencies.

Check: E-commerce cloud hosting with free migration>

Assessment of systems in terms of technology and resources

However, before we can actually migrate your chosen system, there are a few additional steps you need to take beforehand. Evaluate the systems selected for migration regarding technology and necessary infrastructure resources.

For this purpose, it is worth extending your list of:

• a list of technological stacks used in each of them (it would be ideal to find the documentation of these systems),
• determine what amount of infrastructure (servers, disk space) is currently used by each of these systems.

Armed with this knowledge, we will be able to look for appropriate competencies for migration inside the company, or find engineers on the market. What is more, we will already have the basis of which specialists will be able to pre-calculate the TCO of the project after migration to the cloud.

When to reach for external support?

It is worth emphasizing that if the company does not have internal resources to perform such an “inventory”, there are proven suppliers who will perform such a service.

The optimal solution will be to find a cloud provider who, knowing the features of the solution they offer, will be able to perform a migration plan after an audit that will maximize the technical and economic benefits.

It is also a good idea to ask a company that offers and implements multi-cloud solutions for help at this stage — this type of partner will be able to perform price arbitrage and propose the cloud that will be optimal.

In what order should resources be migrated?

The order in which systems are transferred to the cloud is individual for each enterprise. However, you can use the common rule that migration to the cloud begins with the transfer of less critical resources, such as e-mail systems, websites, and development environments.

Secondly, after positive PoC tests, we transfer applications critical for business operations, such as CRM, IT, transactional, billing, or production management systems. However, this is not a rule, because sometimes after an audit it turns out that the ideal solution will be based on several clouds, at different levels of advancement, and migration processes can be carried out in parallel.

Who entrusts with the migration process?

The main challenge when planning and implementing all steps of the migration is finding the right competencies. We can do this in several ways:

• look for them inside the company or by sending your own employees for training,
• start recruitment processes and look for competencies in the market,
• use the help of external specialists with proven experience in cloud migration.

If we decide on the third variant, it is worth paying attention to companies that are not focused on one cloud provider, then the offer will usually be qualitatively better — if only because it is constructed based on a wider range of possibilities.

Ideally, such a company would additionally provide its clients with a dedicated team for special tasks, consisting of the best experts in the analysis, design, migration, and maintenance of IT architecture in the cloud. Those who will take responsibility for the proper arrangement of the entire process, ongoing monitoring of its individual stages, and appropriate adjustment of cloud parameters.

What technologies can help with the migration?

There is no universal answer to such a question. Certainly, the universal skills of the migration team in operating various technologies are more important than the specific tools used. You will also need a good organization of work (planning and reporting) and an adequate approach, e.g. agile model.

Thinking about moving your workloads to the cloud? Get full support in cloud migration>

Let’s compare cloud costs versus traditional technologies and analyze various billing models.

One of the reasons why companies decide to migrate to the cloud, apart from scalability and security, is its profitability. A traditional server room means not only the costs of equipment and space but also the maintenance of a team responsible for service, repair, security, and finally electricity.

It is also a problem to precisely determine the needs and expenses in the long term. Underestimation or overestimation of resources in the first case means restrictions on business development, and in the second case unnecessarily frozen capital. The growing needs of the company make it necessary to buy additional resources. And the expansion of hardware parameters is associated with the temporary unavailability of services. In addition, own equipment is aging, causing technological debt and a disposal problem. Instead of investing in their own IT infrastructure, companies prefer to use cloud computing and, to put it simply, pay only for the resources used, leaving the supplier to maintain the infrastructure.

In the long run, the cloud is often a cheaper solution than local infrastructure. Thanks to flexible billing models offered by cloud providers, the company pays for what it actually uses, e.g. on a monthly basis. Simply put, it only incurs the cost of data storage space and download speed. What’s more, the cloud allows you to dynamically manage resources, and scale the infrastructure up and down so as not to overpay for those unused. The increase in resources takes place without the need to turn off the machine.

Cloud computing means savings not only on infrastructure costs but also reduces the cost of investment in systems. The cloud provides access to the latest technologies, managed services (e.g. Kubernetes manager) and current software versions.

Migration to the cloud also allows you to increase cost efficiency, thanks to the fact that IT-related expenses are transferred from the investment part (Capex) to operating costs (Opex). Cloud computing also relieves and reduces the costs of the internal IT department. Maintaining the infrastructure and taking care of its technical condition is the responsibility of the supplier, so it does not require hiring additional specialists or involving the existing ones.

Cloud service billing models

Cloud service providers offer various billing models:

Allocation-based pricing

This model is ideal for companies that need specific resources and do not plan to increase them. The cooperation is based on a forward contract, under which the provider provides space in the cloud and charges fixed fees even if the resources are not used. This model guarantees a fixed price for the service.

Usage-based pricing

The most popular billing model is pay-as-you-go (PAYG). It is based on consumption units, thanks to which we do not waste computing power. It does not require building the environment for maximum workload but allows you to manage resources dynamically.

Fixed fee

This is a billing model used e.g. in Oktawave, where you receive an offer for a fixed monthly amount, but you can exceed the resource parameters up to the set limit (e.g. by 20%) without the risk of incurring higher costs. This form of settlement facilitates budget planning, leaving a safe margin for scaling resources if necessary.

Spot instances

This is a form of billing provided by popular cloud providers (AWS, Google Cloud, and Azure). Providers provide users with unused virtual servers (spots) for a small fraction of the regular price. Spots are bought on virtual exchanges, whose participants declare the amount for which they want to pay for the server. On this basis, the provider sets a market price per hour and sells the servers. The downside of this solution is the need for more guarantee of resource availability. If the market price exceeds the declared price, the user receives a notification that the instance will be shut down. Spot instances work well for applications that do not need to run continuously (e.g. archiving).

Check how we can make your cloud cost-effective>

The choice of both the technology and its supplier is extremely important as it determines the success of the company in the long term. Technology determines the pace and scope of the organization’s development, and appropriate support from the supplier is of great importance for the efficiency and profitability of the implemented solutions. When thinking of moving to the cloud, a company must decide not only on the type of cloud (private, public, or hybrid) but also on the scope of additional services.

The first step should therefore be to identify the organization’s needs in terms of technology, services, and financial capabilities. The choice of the supplier should be the result of an analysis of the technical and business requirements of the organization and the evaluation of suppliers in terms of, among others, architecture, standards, services, security, experience and reputation. With this knowledge, we can browse the offers and adjust the one that meets our expectations to the greatest extent.

When choosing a cloud provider, IT managers are guided by evaluation criteria such as compliance with legal requirements (44%), risk management method (37%), and security certificates (36%). This is the result of the “Cloud Competencies of Companies in Poland 2020” study, carried out by IDG on behalf of Oktawave and 7bulls.

Read: Public Cloud Comparision: AWS, Azure, Google Cloud and Oktawave>

If you are not sure which cloud to choose, a good step will be to cooperate with a company offering a wide range of services. The company, which provides services of both market giants (Microsoft, Amazon and Google), as well as its own solutions, will present a wider range of possibilities. If you don’t have your own team to migrate and administer your infrastructure, choose a provider that offers dedicated specialists. Then you can be sure that you will receive appropriate support at every stage of cooperation: starting from the analysis of current needs, through adjusting project parameters and migration, to maintenance and cost optimization. It is worth getting acquainted with the implementation stories (case study) of the supplier, checking whether he has experience in a given or related industry, or asking for a reference meeting.

A well-chosen technology partner will take full responsibility for designing, building, and maintaining the infrastructure, allowing you to deal only with what you keep in the cloud (data and applications).

The most important criteria for choosing a cloud service provider:

Technologies

If you are still wondering which cloud platform will best support your business goals, talk to the provider about their broad portfolio of services. It is worth knowing that each platform has its own strengths and weaknesses. A supplier with competence in handling various platforms will analyze your needs and select the optimal solution. If you can identify the type of environment, assumed workload, and required parameters, check if the selected provider manages the preferred technology and has the appropriate experience with the platform. Also, ask in what direction the company intends to develop, and whether it is consistent with your needs in the long term.

Security

Security is one of the main reasons for migrating to the cloud, so this criterion should be particularly important. Check the scope of security provided by the supplier, and what security measures and procedures he uses. Does it provide physical security, e.g. geographically dispersed data centers, allowing you to build a fail-safe environment? Ask to see the tools and mechanisms used to protect applications and data. Make sure that you can expect the provider to indicate a specific place of data storage and processing.

Check whether the provider is certified and meets data processing standards (ISO/IEC, CSA STAR, PCI DSS). Make sure that the platform you choose meets formal and legal requirements (e.g. GDPR) and provides compliance standards necessary in your industry and organization.

Support

If your team lacks the competence or time to carry out the migration process, check the scope of support offered by the supplier. Make sure that in the event of a failure you can count on quick help (will it be contacted via a call center, chat, or maybe a dedicated consultant)? If you care about service in concrete language, make sure that the provider offers such a possibility. If you want to use advanced solutions (e.g. Managed Kubernetes), check immediately whether the provider provides support in this area.

Costs

Unit costs (e.g. the cost of the infrastructure itself, such as memory or processors) should not be a decisive element in choosing a cloud provider, considering that the benefits of the cloud go beyond the strictly infrastructural ones. However, there is no denying that investing in the cloud is an important decision and its cost plays a large role in the decision-making process. Each provider offers a slightly different range of services or different billing methods, which is why comparing offers is not easy. It is worth prioritizing the services and looking at the available billing models to choose the one that works best for your cloud usage pattern. Thinking ahead, you can also analyze the costs of additional services that the company may want to use in the future.

Check which cloud solutions will be most cost-effective for you>

One thing is certain when assessing cloud costs, you should think long-term, taking into account unobvious savings that are possible only thanks to the cloud (e.g. lower cost of production, development, and application maintenance). Only such an approach will allow us to estimate the reduction of the total cost in the area that we want to improve thanks to the cloud.

Looking for a partner in cloud migration? Check our scope of support>

The public cloud has revolutionized the way businesses and organizations operate, providing a flexible, scalable, and cost-effective solution for hosting applications and storing data. With numerous public cloud providers available, choosing the right one for your organization can be a challenge. In this article, we will compare four of the most popular public cloud providers: Oktawave, Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud Platform (GCP) at the operational and system level.

Each of these providers has its own strengths and weaknesses, and the right choice will depend on your specific needs and requirements. By comparing these providers in terms of their SLA, latency, custom service configuration, support, cyber insurance and billing we will help you determine which is the best choice for your organization. So whether you’re just starting out with the public cloud or looking to switch providers, this article will provide you with the information you need to make an informed decision.

Check which cloud solutions will be most cost-effective for you>

SERVICE LEVEL AGREEMENT

Oktawave: By default 99,96% for platform services with up to 99,99% in custom contracts and for services distributed across at least two subregions.

Amazon Web Services: By default 99,5% for instances and 99,99% for services distributed across at least two Availability Zones.

Google Cloud Platform: By default 99,5 for instances and 99,99% for services in Multiple Zones.

Microsoft Azure: By default 99,9% for instances using premium storage and 99,95% for services distributed across Availability Zones.

COMPENSATION

(in case of service degradation or interruption)

Oktawave
FOR INSTANCES

• 100% service credit for availability below 99,96%.

FOR SERVICES

• 10% service credit for availability below 99,8%,
• 25% service credit for availability below 99,6%,
• 100% service credit for availability below 99,2%.

Amazon Web Services
FOR INSTANCES

• 10% service credit at 99–99,5% availability,
• 30% service credit at 90–99% availability,
• 100% service credit for availability below 95%.

FOR SERVICES

• 10% service credit at 99–99,99% availability,
• 30% service credit at 95–99% availability,
• 100% service credit for availability below 95%.

Google Cloud Platform
FOR INSTANCES

• 10% service credit at 99–99,5% availability,
• 25% service credit at 90–95% availability,
• 100% service credit for availability below 90%.

FOR SERVICES

• 10% service credit at 99–99,99% availability,
• 25% service credit at 95–99% availability,
• 100% service credit for availability below 95%.

Microsoft Azure
FOR INSTANCES

• 10% service credit at 99–99,9% availability,
• 25% service credit at 90–99% availability,
• 100% service credit for availability below 95%.

FOR SERVICES

• 10% service credit at 99–99,95% availability,
• 25% service credit at 95–99% availability,
• 100% service credit for availability below 95%.

CUSTOM SERVICE CONFIGURATION

Oktawave: API specification and service configuration can be adjusted to project needs in custom contracts.

Amazon Web Services: Only by combining available services.

Google Cloud Platform: Only by combining available services.

Microsoft Azure: Only by combining available services.

ENGINEERING SUPPORT

Oktawave

• Free first line support available by phone, email, and a ticket system for free to all platform users
• Premium Support (24x7) — extended business support covering migration and maintenance of cloud systems, including a full-service option
• Cloud Master (8x5) — architectural guidance and consulting including automation, DevOps services for all major cloud providers.
• Support for applications deployed on Oktawave platform, including development.

Amazon Web Services

• Basic Support (free) includes access to Customer Service (24x7) through tickets and community help.
• Premium Support (24x7) in several tiers includes technical support and architectural guidance.
• AWS IQ enables contracting with freelancers and consultants.

Google Cloud Platform

• Basic Support includes community help and billing issues.
• Standard Support (8x5)
• Enhanced Support (24x7)
• Premium Support (24x7) including dedicated Technical Account Manager and guaranteed response times.
• enables contracting with consultant and purchase of third party solutions.

Microsoft Azure

• Basic includes access to documentation and subscription support.
• Developer for trial and non-production environments.
• Standard with guaranteed response time for production environments.
• Professional Direct (24x7) for business-critical systems with proactive guidance from Microsoft delivery managers.
• third-party solutions and consulting services for many of Microsoft services.

Read the rest of the public cloud comparison>

All data as of the date: 05.04.2022.

Kubernetes is a powerful yet complex and skill-intensive solution for handling containerized applications. Not every company has the ability to independently build a team of K8s specialists who will create their own, secure and fully functional solution. That is why top cloud providers share Managed Kubernetes services. See how these solutions differ: GKE, EKS, AKS, and OKS.

The idea of containerization is to simplify the processes of providing solutions, increase efficiency and reduce costs. Kubernetes was created to facilitate the work of entire teams and provide advanced features. Hiring or training programmers in a situation of their deficit and creating proprietary solutions can be problematic, and cost-ineffective and limit the possibilities of using the full potential of K8s.

Thanks to the fact that Kubernetes is an open-source platform, on its basis the largest cloud providers build ready-made, managed services, the so-called Managed Kubernetes. Using managed services allows companies to reduce investment costs and skip the “learning from mistakes” stage. It is up to the supplier to take care of the correct operation of the platform and its configuration, as well as to eliminate errors related to the maintenance of the infrastructure. Therefore, the user does not have to experiment and test his own solutions but uses a ready-to-use tool and the experience of the supplier’s (support) team. In the case of Kubernetes, the issue of taking care of security by the provider is a huge added value, because Kubernetes requires additional configuration in this area.

Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE)

The first managed service was provided by Google due to the fact that Kubernetes is a product of this company. Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE) is one of the most advanced solutions for managing containerized applications. Provides the most features and automated options compared to competing services.

The main advantages of GKE:
– intuitive dashboard integrated with monitoring (Stackdriver),
– automatic dashboard and node updates,
– automatic node repair,
– the most extensive solution for automatic scaling,
– identity and access management capabilities to better protect sensitive workloads,
– an autopilot service that simplifies the creation and management of clusters.

Amazon Elastic Kubernetes Service (EKS)

Amazon Elastic Kubernetes Service (EKS) is the most widely used managed Kubernetes service. It is used to host Kubernetes applications in the AWS cloud. It allows you to use Kubernetes without having to create a cluster yourself. It offers great flexibility and an extensive ecosystem, simplifying the process of building cloud-native solutions on the AWS cloud.

The main advantages of EKS:
– no need to manually configure the cluster and manage computing nodes,
– automation of load distribution and parallel processing,
– the ability to run the control plane in many availability zones to eliminate single points of failure,
– groups nodes and automatically replaces the broken ones,
– automatic updates,
– provides scalability (horizontal and vertical),
– supports bare-metal servers,
– provides CloudWatch for monitoring,
– supports serverless computing resources and provides integration with the Fargate platform,
– offers spot instances (the ability to use unused servers on an auction basis),
– allows you to test services for free (free tier).

Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS)

Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) allows you to quickly deploy a ready-to-use Kubernetes cluster on Azure. Using geographic advantage, Microsoft ensures the greatest availability of its service. AKS is a very cost-effective option and integrates well with all Microsoft services. Users appreciate the platform for its friendly programming environment.

The main advantages of AKS:
– free control panel (you only pay for nodes),
– very simple onboarding — creating, updating, and deleting clusters with one command,
– provides a default autoscaler,
– provides monitoring tool Azure Monitor5 and Application Insights,
– supports serverless computing resources (serverless),
– deploys upgrades and minor fixes faster and supports the latest versions of K8s,
– high level of network security and security, additional rules management features thanks to the Azure Policy service,
– seamless integration with Azure Active Directory.

Oktawave Kubernetes Service (OKS)

The largest Polish cloud introduced the proprietary Oktawave Kubernetes Service in 2020. OKS allows you to manage Kubernetes clusters on the Oktawave infrastructure. What is more, the supplier provides full support of a team of specialists at every stage of cooperation (from design, through implementation, to maintenance).

The main advantages of OKS:
– free cluster management resources,
– simple adding nodes and storage to the cluster directly from the admin panel or API,
– integration with other Oktawave services, such as OCI, OVS, Loadbalancer,
– provides monitoring tools,
– first line of contact (24×7) by phone and e-mail, no additional fees,
– business and consulting support, including designing CI/CD processes based on all cloud providers.

Are you looking for support in implementing Kubernetes? Ask for a free consultation>

Cloud computing allows companies to outsource their IT infrastructure and solutions to a trusted provider. There are various models of delivering cloud services, which involve different responsibilities of the provider and the client. In this article, we will explain IaaS, SaaS, and PaaS using the popular concept of Pizza-as-a-Service.

The Pizza-as-a-Service was introduced in 2014 by IBM architect Albert Barron as an illustration of the differences between Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS), Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS), and Software-as-a-Service (SaaS). It allows to compare the pizza preparation process to cloud services:

On-premises — Homemade

On-premises infrastructure can be compared to making a pizza from scratch at home. The customer has all the ingredients, including the dough, sauce, cheese, and toppings, as well as the oven and other cooking tools. They are responsible for preparing the ingredients, assembling the pizza, and baking it to their desired specifications.

Similarly, with on-premises infrastructure, the customer has all the necessary hardware, software, and resources on their own physical premises and are responsible for managing and maintaining everything themselves. This includes the procurement and installation of servers, storage, network equipment, and software licenses, as well as ongoing maintenance and upgrades. While on-premises infrastructure provides more control and customization options, it also comes with greater responsibility and a higher total cost of ownership.

IaaS — Take and Bake

In the IaaS model, the customer can fully manage the IT infrastructure, taking full responsibility for software, systems and data. The supplier is responsible for the reliability and security of the infrastructure.

IaaS can be compared to ordering pizza from a restaurant that specializes in delivering the ingredients for a pizza, but not actually cooking it. The customer is responsible for making the pizza and baking it in their own oven.

PaaS — Pizza Delivery

In the PaaS model, the client receives access to a virtual work environment and is responsible, for example, for the correct operation of the application and data protection. The provider provides a stable and secure environment and development tools.

PaaS can be compared to pizza delivery from a restaurant. The customer gets a fully-cooked pizza, but must still prepare the table, drinks, and then clean up.

SaaS — Dinning Out

In the SaaS model, the customer uses a ready-made solution via a browser or mobile application. His responsibility is the smallest, because it concerns only providing users (e.g. company employees) with the service and content. The provider takes care of administration, security, uninterrupted operation and updates.

SaaS can be compared to dining out. The customer simply places an order and the restaurant takes care of everything else, from preparing the ingredients to cooking and delivering the pizza.

As you can see, each type of cloud computing obligates the supplier and the client, (the so-called joint responsibility model presented in the picture below). To sum up, the supplier is responsible for the security of the infrastructure and solutions offered, and the client is responsible for the protection of applications and/or data and access control to them.

It is important to take care of Kubernetes containers' security because they can be exposed to a variety of cyber threats. Without proper security measures, attackers could gain unauthorized access to a cluster and potentially cause severe damage to the system. Learn the 4C rule that will help you protect the system and its users.

Securing the container images of your cloud-native application building blocks is a key component in achieving cloud-native security. A breach could lead to data theft or disruption of services, resulting in financial and reputational losses. Therefore, it is essential to ensure that Kubernetes containers are secure and stick to the four C’s (4C’s). The 4C’s help ensures that the applications are compliant with any security regulations and standards, as well as consistent when deployed in various environments.

1. Cloud

Let’s choose proven cloud or server service providers, i.e. those who put the security of services in the first place. Let’s follow their recommendations related to protection against threats. Each of the suppliers can offer us additional services that will increase the security of our resources.

2. Cluster

Securing access to critical cluster members should be a priority. Therefore, let’s use best practices such as:

• access control through roles, access restriction (RBAC),
• authentication (preferably two-step or based on an external provider),
• best practices related to the safety of pods,
• network rules limiting incoming and outgoing traffic within the cluster to a minimum,
• TLS (use encrypted connections between components as well as incoming traffic to the cluster).

3. Container

When creating new images, we should:

• do not unnecessarily elevate users’ privileges to the rank of super users,
• scan created images for security errors,
• sign cryptographically created images,
• disallow overwriting of images in the repository.

4. Code

Let’s take care of the code that is deployed to the cluster:

• use TLS to establish all connections,
• do static code analysis,
• scan the code for backdoors and security bugs,
• adopt a “zero trust” approach.

Are you looking for support in implementing Kubernetes? Ask for a free consultation>

If you wonder what is the difference between OpenShift and Kubernetes this is a summary of the distinguishing features that will help you choose a better tool for your scenario.

OpenShift is a platform created by Red Hat that integrates Kubernetes and Docker and combines them with Red Hat Enterprise Linux. It extends Kubernetes functionality to enterprise requirements while simplifying the management of containerized applications. While OpenShift is open source, it is a paid Red Hat service, unlike the free Kubernetes that can be downloaded from GitHub.

OpenShift is an enterprise-grade platform based on Kubernetes, with additional features such as automated deployment and management. OpenShift provides support for automated builds, rolling updates, and deployment strategies, as well as application lifecycle management. It also provides a web console and command line interface for managing applications and services. Kubernetes is a more open-source platform and is suitable for smaller projects with fewer resources.

Openshift allows you to run containerized applications and manage workloads in any environment, whether it is a local or cloud service. The platform works with Kubernetes, increasing the efficiency of application management and offering unique functionalities and extensive support. OpenShift uses stricter security policies and built-in authentication features. Provides default automation tools and facilitates CI/CD pipeline creation. It is compatible with most cloud platforms and makes it easy to migrate containerized applications to the cloud.

If you need a ready-made, easy-to-use automation solution, OpenShift is an offer for you.

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Developers compare Kubernetes and Docker Swarm because they are two popular container orchestration tools. However, there are some differences between them. Both tools have their advantages and disadvantages, making them suitable for different scenarios.

Docker Swarm in a brief

Docker Swarm is an open-source container orchestration platform created and maintained by Docker. Docker Swarm groups physical or virtual machines into a cluster, and then allows you to manage multiple containers used to run services and tasks.

Docker Swarm is lightweight, easy to use and easy to install, so it’s perfect for budding engineers and simple projects. Kubernetes is a powerful ecosystem for managing containerized applications that offers much more possibilities, but also requires much more advanced skills.

K8s in a brief

Kubernetes (K8s), an open-source tool initially developed by Google and now maintained by the Cloud Native Computing Foundation, provides automated solutions for application development and deployment in microservices architectures, typically based on Docker (Docker is a containerization platform that allows for the creation, deployment, and running of applications inside of isolated containers). It is suitable for use in local, public, private and hybrid cloud environments.

What are the advantages of Docker Swarm compared to Kubernetes?

Docker Swarm has an integrated CLI (Command Line Interface) tool. One of the main benefits of this solution is that it provides automatic load balancing across Docker containers. Kubernetes requires manual configuration of the load balancer.

What are the disadvantages of Docker Swarm compared to Kubernetes?

Docker Swarm requires manual scaling and external monitoring tools. Compared to the popular Kubernetes, it also offers little automation capabilities and functionalities limited to the Docker API. Kubernetes stands out with its built-in autoscaling and monitoring tools.

When should you choose Docker Swarm?

If your company is considering using containerization, but is not dealing with complex applications and complicated workloads, and cares about rapid deployment, then Docker Swarm will be a good choice.

If your applications are complex and require heavy load management, and you are looking for a solution that provides extensive security features, monitoring, self-healing (auto-healing), high availability, and high flexibility, then Kubernetes will be a better choice.

***

To sum up, Kubernetes is more suitable for large-scale projects, while Swarm is better for small-scale projects. Additionally, Kubernetes supports more cloud providers than Swarm, and it has better scalability and availability.

Are you looking for support in implementing Kubernetes? Check our scope of support and ask for a free consultation>

As the complexity of IT systems increased, there was a need to manage distributed, containerized applications on a massive scale. Complicated systems can use even hundreds of containers located on many servers, making manual management impossible. This is where container orchestration and Kubernetes come in handy.

With the increasing complexity of IT systems and the popularization of architecture based on microservices, there was a need to automate the management of such applications in various environments. This need was met by containerization technology. It allows you to divide the application into smaller, independent, but communicating components (containers) and freely move them between environments and run them in clusters of machines (physical or virtual). Kubernetes is a tool that works perfectly as an orchestrator, automating the deployment, management, scaling, and networking of containers.

What is Kubernetes?

Kubernetes is open-source software that is used to manage applications in the cloud. It is especially useful for large and scalable applications. K8s is used to automate and scale Linux containers. In addition, it offers support for many popular technologies and frameworks, such as Docker or Apache Mesos.

Kubernetes allows the grouping of virtual machines running Linux containers and then managing and scaling them. It eliminates the problems that were associated with the lack of automation of Linux container operations. Kubernetes makes it easy to manage clusters regardless of the type of infrastructure they are hosted on. It works perfectly in on-premises environments, public, private, and hybrid clouds. It enables the deployment of applications in cloud environments based on the microservices architecture.

Kubernetes vs. Docker

What is the difference between Docker and Kubernetes? Sometimes the distinctions between these solutions are not clear. The Docker platform is used to save applications in the form of an image and “packing” applications into containers. At the same time, it allows the creation of a relatively simple, small runtime environment, e.g. for testing purposes. Kubernetes, on the other hand, is a platform for launching and managing ready-made containers. It provides a runtime environment for them on a much larger scale and is usually based on a number of physical or virtual nodes (servers). Both solutions can be used independently. Docker offers its own orchestration tool, Docker Swarm.

Kubernetes genesis

Kubernetes is software that was created in 2014 and was developed by Google. Even then, this global giant used and supported Linux container technology. According to some sources, Google deploys over 2 billion containers per week using the internal Borg platform.

In 2015, the Kubernetes project was handed over to the Cloud Native Computing Foundation. The CNCF was created to promote container technology. Its launch was announced with the launch of Kubernetes 1.0, and the CNCF program was announced a year later, during Cloud Native Day 2016. The founders of CNFC include Google, CoreOs, Red Hat, Mesosphere, Twitter, Huawei, Intel, Cisco, IBM, Docker, Univa, and VMware.

How does Kubernetes work?

The operation of the Kubernetes platform is based on an API that provides the control of individual containers. This is a way that solves the problem of the complexity of handling containers — managing ever-larger containers on multiple servers is simply difficult and inefficient, often leading to blocking the infrastructure or cloud provider. Thanks to Kubernetes, all processes are organized and we gain control over them.

One of the functionalities of Kubernetes is also the ability to schedule the launch of containers on a pre-organized cluster of virtual machines. The platform takes into account the available computing resources and ensures the scalability of containers at different levels.

Kubernetes discovers services and balances loads and automates most processes, e.g. rollouts and rollbacks. Kubernetes provides reliability with features that keep your application running even in the event of a failure. Monitors containers for better resource allocation and restart them when they fail.

Read: Why is it worth using containers?

Benefits of using Kubernetes

Kubernetes is used not only by global giants but also by startups and enterprises that have just learned about computing systems. Of course, the argument that “everyone” uses Kubernetes to orchestrate containers is not a reason that will convince the conscious entrepreneur. What plays a decisive role are business benefits. Here are the most important of them:

• Supported software

Although there are many solutions to facilitate the orchestration of containers, Kubernetes enjoys the greatest support from both the industry and the wider community. The already mentioned list of founders of the CNCF, which includes the largest global enterprises, is impressive. With so much support, you can count on Kubernetes to maintain its leadership position for a long time, and new technologies will continue to be implemented the fastest to K8s.

• Unique know-how

Kubernetes architecture is based on years of operational experience of Google engineers. It is over 10 years old, making it a proven platform with developed standards.

• Wide functionality

Kubernetes consists of many features that are not found in other container management systems or are found in individual software. In K8s, the choice of software languages, structures, or workloads is so large that it meets the needs of various types of users and ensures flexibility.

• Constant development

Strong support from global enterprises and a community that includes numerous developers and engineers means that new features are constantly being added to Kubernetes. It is a system whose pace of development is constantly increasing.

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