Kubernetes is an open-source container orchestration platform that has gained a lot of popularity in recent years. It is designed to automate the deployment, scaling, and management of containerized applications. With Kubernetes, you can deploy a wide range of applications, including web applications, microservices, databases, and more. In this blog post, we will explore the various types of applications that can be deployed to Kubernetes.
Web Applications
Web applications are the most common type of applications deployed to Kubernetes. They are usually composed of multiple containers, including a web server, application server, and a database. Kubernetes can easily manage these containers and ensure that they are running smoothly. Kubernetes also allows you to scale your web applications easily, both horizontally and vertically, based on the demand.
Web applications are also a great fit because of their ability to be deployed quickly and in a rolling fashion. While applications with long running states can be hosted on kubernetes, web applications generally have a very short lifecycle for their request processing. This means they can quickly be rolled over to a new version without impacting end users.
Microservices
Microservices are a software architecture style that is gaining popularity due to their ability to provide greater flexibility and scalability than traditional monolithic applications. Kubernetes is a great platform for deploying microservices as it allows you to deploy each microservice as a separate container. This makes it easy to scale individual microservices independently, and also enables you to update and deploy new versions of a microservice without affecting the rest of the application.
Databases
Databases are critical components of many applications, and Kubernetes can also be used to deploy and manage them. There are various types of databases that can be deployed to Kubernetes, including SQL, NoSQL, and key-value stores. Kubernetes provides features such as stateful sets and persistent volumes that enable you to deploy databases and ensure that their data is persisted even if the containers are restarted or moved to another node.
One of the primary caveats you will want to be careful when architecting your kubernetes based database solution is storage. Databases are sensitive to storage speed and availability. When in the cloud, you can utilize EC2 (or your cloud providers equivalent solution) to mount persistent and fast storage directly to your containers. Moving that storage to a new container is also trivial. Your solutions on-prem are much more varied and complex to manage. Tread carefully in this space because storage issues can quickly bring an end to your kubernetes based database adventures.
Big Data
Kubernetes can also be used to deploy big data applications such as Apache Spark and Hadoop. These applications require a large number of resources to run, and Kubernetes can manage these resources efficiently. Kubernetes can also be used to orchestrate the deployment of different big data components, such as data ingestion, processing, and storage.
Big data does not share the same considerations as a database does for storage. Your storage is generally in some kind of large data warehouse solution utilizing S3, Athena, and Glue on AWS. Your Kubernetes cluster is then focused holistically on horsepower in CPU and Memory.
Machine Learning
Machine learning is an area of computer science that has gained a lot of attention in recent years. Kubernetes can be used to deploy machine learning models and manage the resources required to train and run these models. Kubernetes provides features such as resource quotas and resource limits that can be used to ensure that the machine learning models are running smoothly.
IoT
The Internet of Things (IoT) is a rapidly growing field that involves connecting physical devices to the internet. Kubernetes can be used to deploy and manage IoT applications, including edge computing applications. Kubernetes can also be used to manage the deployment of containers to IoT devices such as Raspberry Pis and other single-board computers.
Conclusion
Kubernetes is a powerful platform that can be used to deploy and manage a wide range of applications, from web applications to big data and machine learning applications. Kubernetes provides features such as scaling, orchestration, and resource management that make it easy to deploy and manage complex applications.
If you are planning to deploy an application to Kubernetes, it is important to understand the requirements of your application and the features provided by Kubernetes to ensure that your application is deployed and managed efficiently.
