Kubernetes in Today’s World

If you’re reading this book, chances are you’ve been, or still are, in the tech/IT world in some capacity, whether it’s from the operations side, the development side, or both – perhaps even technical leadership or product management. In any case, you’ve most likely heard about a platform/technology called Kubernetes. From how every company, both small and large, is talking about Kubernetes, a lot of engineers and leadership personnel think it’s going to solve many problems. Although that’s true, there’s a twist, and with everything that makes our lives easier, there are caveats.

This chapter is primarily theoretical and will answer a lot of the questions you most likely have about moving to the cloud, hybrid environments, cloud-native/specific applications, and how Kubernetes is taking over the microservice ecosystem.

By the end of this chapter, you’ll be able to answer some of the questions about the pros and cons of implementing Kubernetes. You’ll have a solid understanding of why engineers and leadership teams alike are moving to Kubernetes. The gears will also start moving in your head concerning what your current application(s) look like and whether Kubernetes would be a good fit.

In this chapter, we’re going to cover the following topics:

• The shift to the cloud
• Kubernetes, the new cloud OS and data center
• Cloud-native applications and why they’re important
• Abstraction is easier, but with a twist
• Start slow and go fast