Prepare for the Second Wave of Container Management
There’s no doubt that containers bring big advantages to the enterprise IT departments, particularly when it comes to simplifying work for application developers. Unfortunately, that simplicity doesn’t always translate to the operations side of the house, at least not with the first generation of container runtime platforms. But the second wave of container management platforms is coming, and administrators and operators will finally gain these benefits, too.
The arrival of containerization and Kubernetes has been a blessing for developers, as it automates much of the nitty-gritty work that previously went into developing, testing, deploying and scaling applications. Instead of spending their time meticulously packaging an application with all of its dependencies (libraries, databases, APIs, etc.), developers can focus on writing good code that is segmented into individual microservices and essentially hand it over to Kubernetes, which automates testing, deployment and scaling.
This is the core reason why the DevOps movement has gained so much steam. Kubernetes, created by Google but open-sourced and adopted across the industry, has created a de facto standard for deploying containers in production. DevOps and Kubernetes made it possible for every developer to be as productive as a Google developer.
But that’s where the advantages of Kubernetes end. Once a containerized application is deployed, it must be managed, secured, and updated over time. Unfortunately, that’s where organizations find surprises lurking in this new abstraction layer.
If a customer is running Kubernetes in the public cloud, much of that day-to-day management is handled by the public cloud platform, whether it’s Amazon’s Elastic Kubernetes Service or Google Kubernetes Engine. Customers don’t have to worry as much about data connectivity, security configurations, or privacy or compliance issues, because the cloud provider is handling all that for them. But that simplicity comes at a cost, as the Kubernetes environments of these cloud providers are essentially proprietary. Even if they opt for a hybrid-cloud Kubernetes deployment, these container solutions are bespoke.
The reality is that not everyone can run in the cloud, or wants their data tied up in a cloud or a managed Kubernetes environment. Organizations often demand the independence and control of running Kubernetes on-premises or in a private cloud environment.
The good news is that these customers have a number of enterprise Kubernetes solutions they can choose from. The upshot is that customers should spend the time to carefully research on-premises and hybrid cloud Kubernetes platforms to find the one that best fits their needs, because they’re not all the same.
Kubernetes Platform Transition
First-generation Kubernetes platforms got the job done, but they left a lot to be desired. Just as the Palm Pilot and Blackberry in the early 2000s eventually gave way to the iPhone and Android smartphones, we’re in the midst of a transition from rudimentary, first-gen Kubernetes platforms to the second wave of intelligent container platforms.
The challenge with first-wave Kubernetes platforms is that individual DevOps teams ran them, which resulted in a cacophony of platforms, with different components and upgrade cycles. Ambitious first-gen platform adopters may have gladly jumped into the Kubernetes waters at first, but over time, the need for personnel with a particular set of skills became a burden. Security also became a concern, since every Kubernetes cluster was unique, which made it difficult to detect vulnerabilities.
The good news is that the second wave of Kubernetes platforms will provide a Virtual Machine (VM)-like experience that administrators are already used to. In fact, customers will be able to manage all the new container-based Kubernetes applications right alongside their existing VM-based applications, from the same pane of glass, if they want to. No PhD in Kubernetes required.
These second-wave Kubernetes platforms will provide centralized management of containers running on-premises, in the cloud, and at the edge. Retailers that want to adopt containers to run in-store applications, or manufacturers that want to deploy containerized apps in a new facility, for example, can count on a second-wave Kubernetes platform to help deploy those environments and manage them centrally using the tools and processes they’re already used to using.
The capability to deploy Kubernetes images out to the edge brings security challenges, which an enterprise Kubernetes platform can help mitigate. Kubernetes does a lot of things very well, but it doesn’t include its own security model. Helping to implement and enforce security and privacy policies is an area where third-party Kubernetes platforms can provide real-world benefits.
Finally, containerized applications running across hybrid cloud environments benefit from consistent data services, including snapshots, replication, and disaster recovery so that stateful containers can be consistently protected and restored as necessary.
Kubernetes Apps are Coming. Are You Ready?
Surveys indicate strong cross-industry adoption of DevOps techniques and technologies, including containers and Kubernetes. For example, IDC says that, by 2029, 95% of organizations that run on-prem will use containers. Clearly, the DevOps trend is not slowing down.
At the same time, platform engineers benefit when containers are managed centrally at the platform level rather than on a one-off basis by Dev or DevOps teams. Finding a way for Dev, DevOps, and enterprise professionals to coexist is critical.
For some companies, AI applications will be the seminal moment for container adoption since new AI apps are typically deployed in containers and managed with Kubernetes. For instance, NVIDIA is supporting Kubernetes with its NVIDIA Inference Microservices, which is a deployment methodology for a new generation of AI factories.
There’s no question that Kubernetes applications are coming; the question is what enterprises are going to do about it. Enterprises that don’t adequately research the latest development in Kubernetes platforms may be stuck with first-gen platforms that require specialized skills, where VMs are not ready for enterprise environments, and with security treated as a bolt-on afterthought.
On the other hand, enterprises that invest their time and energy in a second-wave Kubernetes platform will benefit from managing containers and VMs consistently using an integrated security model with built-in data services that can efficiently run containerized applications, now and in the future.
