DevFest Budapest - Sometimes you do need Kubernetes
Sometimes you do need Kubernetes by Tamas Kadlecsik, CEO of RisingStack
When it comes to container-based distributed systems, Kubernetes has become the go-to solution. As the leader of a professional services company, I have seen too many examples where teams decided to create a Microservice-based architecture instead of focusing on shipping features.
Even when a distributed system is technologically justified, Kubernetes might be an overkill initially, as it has a steep learning curve, and can be a huge overhead for the developers and the Ops team as well.
How can you determine if Kubernetes is the right choice, or if you should migrate to it later?
To make the decision easier I will talk about an online learning and streaming platform where the decision to use Kubernetes has been contested both internally and externally since the beginning of its development.
The application and its underlying infrastructure were designed to meet the needs of the regulations of several countries:
It can be run on-premises so students’ data never leaves the given country but it is available as a SaaS product as well.
It can be deployed as a single-tenant system where a business customer only hosts one instance serving a handful of users, but some schools could have hundreds of users.
Or it can be deployed as a multi-tenant system where the client is e.g. a government and needs to serve thousands of schools and millions of users.
The application itself is developed by multiple, geographically scattered teams, thus a Microservices architecture is justified, but both the distributed system and the underlying infrastructure seem to be overkill when we consider the fact that during the product's initial entry, most of its customers needed small instances.
So what gives? Is Kubernetes suited for the job, or is it overkill? Do you really need Kubernetes? Let’s figure it out.
Tamas is the CEO of RisingStack - a company specialized in building highly-scalable, cloud-based software solutions.
He has a strong development and ops background. In his pastime he is a system administrator, turning his flat into a smart home and automating all aspects of his life.