Content area
Full text
Kubernetes has become the project to turn to if you need container orchestration at scale. The open source container orchestration system out of Google is well-regarded, well-supported, and evolving fast.
Kubernetes is also sprawling, complex, and difficult to set up and configure. Not only that, but much of the heavy lifting is left to the end user. The best approach, therefore, isn’t to grab the bits and try to go it alone, but to seek out a complete container solution that includes Kubernetes as a supported, maintained component.
Here I’ve listed the 12 most prominent Kubernetes offerings—what amount to distributions that incorporate Kubernetes plus container tools, in the same sense that various vendors offer distributions of the Linux kernel and its userland.
Note that this list does not include dedicated cloud services, such as Amazon EKS or Google Kubernetes Engine, but focuses on software distributions that can be run locally or as a cloud-hosted option.
CoreOS Tectonic
CoreOS is the provider of a container-focused Linux distribution, compatible with Docker but with an opinionated image format and runtime of its own, and an “enterprise-grade Kubernetes” distribution. Together they form the foundation of the CoreOS Tectonic stack.
The CoreOS operating system, Container Linux, stands apart chiefly by being delivered as a set of containerized components. This way, automated updates to the OS can be slipstreamed into production without taking down running applications. CoreOS also touts “one-click” updates to Kubernetes. CoreOS Tectonic runs on Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, and bare metal.
See InfoWorld’s review of CoreOS Container Linux for more details.
Canonical Distribution of Kubernetes
Canonical, makers of Ubuntu Linux, provides its own Kubernetes distribution. One of the big selling points for the Canonical Distribution of Kubernetes is the widely respected, well-understood, and commonly deployed Ubuntu Linux distribution underneath. Canonical claims that its stack will work in any cloud or on-prem deployment, with support included for both CPU- and GPU-powered workloads. Paying customers can have their Kubernetes cluster remotely managed by Canonical engineers.
Canonical and Rancher Labs (see below) co-produce a product, Cloud Native Platform, that pairs Canonical’s Kubernetes distro with Rancher’s container management platform. The idea is to use Kubernetes to manage the containers running in each cluster, and use Rancher to manage multiple Kubernetes clusters....