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What are the five reasons for not using Kubernetes distribution? I believe many inexperienced people don't know what to do about it. Therefore, this article summarizes the causes and solutions of the problem. Through this article, I hope you can solve this problem.

At present, many companies have packaged their own commercial Kubernetes distributions based on Kubernetes, which enriches the development ecology and provides developers with more choices.

It has recently been suggested that choosing a distribution generally requires less effort and expertise, but organizations should actually consider using native Kubernetes for a variety of reasons.

To help you understand, let's first introduce a noun "Vanilla Kubernetes" in the article. Vanilla Kubernetes refers to pure, native Kubernetes, and generally uses such as Vanilla JavaScript / Vanilla Linux, which refers to native JavaScript or Linux, rather than their dialect version or distribution version.

Kubernetes distributions may not save them time and money as organizations think.

There are two main ways to deploy Kubernetes. One is to choose one of dozens of Kubernetes distributions developed by software companies; the other is to install Vanilla Kubernetes, or native Kubernetes, on your own through the official source code of Kubernetes.

The conventional wisdom is that, in many cases, using native Kubernetes is not a good idea. Most people will say that unless you are a Kubernertse developer and want to use the core code, it is best to use a distribution, which provides complete installation and deployment services. This may have been a good suggestion in the past, but now we have a stronger reason to use native Kubernetes rather than a distribution.

What is native Kubernetes?

Native Kubernetes refers to the original unmodified version of Kubernetes, which provides source code downloads.

It is called the original version because there is a decades-old tradition in the software world that when software with the native label "Vanilla" is deployed on any application or platform, it indicates that it is an official version that has not been modified. Similarly, we will also hear "native Linux", which means that the Linux kernel is built with pure, official Linux kernel source code, unlike in Linux distributions, where Linux kernel programs are modified.

As opposed to native Kubernetes is the Kubernetes distribution, such as Rancher,Red Hat OpenShift; or cloud-based Kubernetes services, such as Amazon EKS. These distributions take core open source Kubernets code and integrate it into a wider range of platforms that typically include management, monitoring, and security tools that are not part of Kubernetes itself. Many of these platforms also provide installers to simplify the Kubernetes installer.

When the Kubernetes distribution doesn't make sense

Kubernetes distributions certainly have advantages, but I just want to overturn the traditional view that in 95% of the usage scenarios, the distributed Kubernetes is more appropriate than the native Kubernetes.

Here are five reasons why native versions are more appropriate than distributions:

1. Kubernetes is not Linux, and its complexity is relatively low.

For beginners, a lot of controversy about native Kubernetes is that it is a complex platform that is too difficult to install and build from scratch.

In fact, Linux is much more complex than Kubernetes. To build a usable, Linux-based operating system from scratch, dozens or even hundreds of individual components must be built and installed.

Kubernetes contains about a dozen components, some of which are optional, which you can install once a day in your spare time. However, this is not the case for all utilities and applications in the Linux distribution.

Part of the reason for choosing the Linux distribution is that it is easier to keep the software up-to-date through the package manager. Similarly, one advantage of the Kubernetes distribution over the original is that it is easier to update, but this advantage is less obvious because there are fewer components in Kubernetes that need to be updated.

2. Kubernetes distributions will lock in the ecosystem

If you use a Kubernetes distribution, you will get caught up in the ecosystem around that distribution.

Although it is sometimes possible to use third-party open source software during deployment with Kubernetes distributions, some of the components of most Kubernetes distributions themselves are open source.

In most cases, however, distributions are more likely to lead to dependencies on certain core tools or dependencies than the native version. For example, if you use OpenShift, you are bound by various components. If you run a cloud-based Kubernetes distribution based on AWS EK or Azure AKS, you will fall into the ecosystem of the cloud provider.

If native Kubernetes is installed, you will have more freedom to choose the components you need to build your deployment.

3. There is a price for using a Kubernetes distribution

The cost factor is also worth considering. Most Kubernetes distributions are developed by commercial companies and cost money to run on a large scale, although some do offer free packages for small deployments.

Of course, native Kubernetes also has to pay a certain monetary cost. The source code may be free, but your engineer needs to take the time to manage maintenance. This statement has long been used as a reason to use a distribution version of Kubernetes.

However, when it comes to Kubernetes, I'm not sure whether the labor cost of the native Kubernetes is necessarily higher than the labor cost of the release. Because no matter how deployed, even if you use a release, you have to pay a lot of money to engineers to maintain and monitor the effectiveness of the deployment.

In addition, given that Kubernetes has only about a dozen components mentioned above, installation and setup does not waste much time on the team. In this sense, a release that simplifies the installation process does not reduce much cost.

4. Kubernetes distribution may die

Kubernetes is still a very young platform. Most of the major Kubernetes distributions available today have been around for only a few years, and some distributions, such as OpenShift, were not even built around Kubernetes at first.

Some Kubernetes distributions, such as Kontena Pharos, have failed. Several other companies, such as Kublr and Rancher, are maintained by startups that have been established for 5-10 years. Even large enterprises, such as IBM distributions (Red Hat OpenShift) or AWS distributions, can be killed unwittingly.

It is safe to say that the open source Kubernetes project will last for a long time, and there is a high risk that the hairstyle version will disappear or be forced to move to a new release.

5. Native Kubernetes becomes easier to install and maintain

Finally, Kubernetes has come a long way and is becoming more user-friendly.

Like most open source projects, Kubernetes was rough at the beginning, made a long list of mistakes, was not fully documented, and the integration was often only half done. As a result, many teams choose distributions to avoid problems.

But today, these errors have been more or less fixed, and Kubernetes documents are exemplary in terms of organization, navigation, and clarity.

To be sure, there are many reasons for organizations to choose distributions, which generally require less energy and expertise. But distributions also have shortcomings, such as higher costs, less flexibility, and guarantees of long-term availability.

Before you start installing the Kubernetes distribution, keep in mind that Kubernetes is not Linux, and remember to consider giving native Kubernetes a chance.

After reading the above, do you know what the five reasons for not using Kubernetes distribution are? If you want to learn more skills or want to know more about it, you are welcome to follow the industry information channel, thank you for reading!

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