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If you need large-scale container choreography, there is no doubt that Kubernetes is your first choice. This open source container choreography system launched by Google has developed rapidly in recent years and has been well received by the industry and users.

However, for most users, Kubernetes has the problem of steep learning curve and difficult to set up and configure, resulting in heavy management work for end users. Based on this, the best solution is not to learn alone and start Kubernetes directly, but to find a complete container technology solution, which usually takes Kubernetes as one of its supporting and maintenance components, and is usually more intuitive and simple to use, which greatly reduces the threshold for getting started with Kubernetes.

In this article, I list 10 of the most popular Kubernetes-related products in the industry, including Kubernetes distributions, container tools, Linux kernels from different vendors, and so on.

The list of this article does not include cloud services such as Amazon EKS or Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE), and only lists software distributions that can be run locally or hosted in the cloud.

Catalogue

Rancher 2.0

CoreOS Tectonic/Red Hat CoreOS

Canonical Distribution of Kubernetes (CDK)

Docker Community Edition / Docker Enterprise Edition

Heptio Kubernetes subscription

Kontena Pharos

Pivotal Container Service (PKS)

Red Hat OpenShift

SUSE CCS platform

Telekube

Top ten Kubernetes distributions

Rancher 2.0

Https://rancher.com/kubernetes/

Strictly speaking, Rancher 2.0 is not a simple Kubernetes distribution, but an open source Kubernetes management platform. Rancher 2.0 provides Kubernetes-as-a-Service (Kubernetes as a Service) for enterprise users and enables unified management of multiple Kubernetes clusters, regardless of where and how these Kubernetes clusters are deployed. This solves the different infrastructure dilemmas that enterprise users may face in a production environment. Rancher 2.0 unifies the platform of Kubernetes services hosted on public clouds such as Google (GKE), Amazon (EKS), and Azure (AKS).

Rancher Labs released a lightweight Kubernetes distribution, K3s, in 2019. This product is designed for R & D and operation personnel running Kubernetes in a resource-limited environment. Each of its server instances requires only the disk space of 512MB RAM and 200MB. It removes old, non-essential code, integrates running packaging processes, uses containerd instead of Docker as the runtime container engine, and introduces SQLite as an optional data store in addition to etcd, which greatly reduces the space and resources needed to run.

CoreOS Tectonic/Red Hat CoreOS

Https://coreos.com/tectonic/

CoreOS provides a container-centric Linux distribution, which is compatible with Docker, but has a fixed image format, its own runtime, and an "enterprise Kubernetes distribution". All of these together form the basis of the CoreOS Tectonic stack.

CoreOS operating system Container Linux is a popular product in the industry. one of its highlights is that it is like a set of containerized components that users can integrate automatic updates of the operating system into the production environment without shutting down the running applications. CoreOS can also make "one-click" updates to Kubernetes. In addition, CoreOS Tectonic can run on Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, and bare metal.

After Red Hat acquired CoreOS, it plans to integrate it into Red Hat OpenShift. Container Linux will be renamed Red Hat CoreOS. The move is expected to be completed by 2020, and Container Linux will continue to receive support until then. According to Red Hat, "almost all" CoreOS Tectonic functions will be available after the transition.

Canonical Distribution of Kubernetes (CDK)

Https://ubuntu.com/kubernetes

The manufacturer of Canonical,Ubuntu Linux also has its own Kubernetes distribution, Canonical Distribution of Kubernetes (CDK). One of the big selling points of this release is that it is a widely supported, easy to understand, and widely deployed Ubuntu Linux distribution. Canonical claims that its stack can be run on any cloud or deployed locally, and supports CPU and GPU-driven workloads. Paying customers can also enjoy the service of Canonical engineers remotely managing their Kubernetes clusters.

There is also a lightweight version of Canonical's Kubernetes distribution, called Microk8s. Developers and Kubernetes novices can install Microk8s on laptops or desktops for testing, experimentation, and even in production environments with low hardware configurations.

In addition, Canonical and Rancher Labs have jointly developed a product called "Cloud Native platform (CNP)", which matches Canonical's Kubernetes release with Rancher's container management platform. In this way, containers running on each cluster can be managed using Kubernetes and multi-Kubernetes clusters can be managed with Rancher. CNP is currently available in the version of Rancher 2.x.

Docker Community Edition / Docker Enterprise Edition

Https://www.docker.com/products/kubernetes

For many people, Docker is just a container. But in fact, after 2014, Docker also has its own clustering and orchestration system, Docker Swarm, which was once a competitor to Kubernetes. Until October 2017, Docker announced that it would add Kubernetes to its unmodified, permanent standard state as a standard packaging, an adjustment that covers Docker Community Edition and Docker Enterprise 2.0 and later.

Docker Enterprise 3.0 adds Docker Kubernetes services, a Kubernetes integration that keeps the Kubernetes version consistent between the developer desktop and the production deployment environment.

In short, Docker has realized that Kubernetes is better suited for managing large, complex container environments than Swarm. However, Docker still includes its original cluster system "swarm pattern", which is more suitable for less complex tasks, such as deploying a local, protected application that does not need to be extended too much or maintaining an existing swarm pattern cluster that does not need to be modified.

Heptio Kubernetes subscription version

Https://heptio.cloud.vmware.com/

Craig McLuckie and Joe Beda, two founders of Kubernetes, founded Heptio, which provides services and products around Kubernetes. Their first flagship product is a paid Kubernetes deployment service, Heptio Kubernetes Subscription (HKS). Heptio provides round-the-clock technical support for $2000 or more per month.

The main advantage of Heptio is that it is an enterprise-class Kubernetes and is not afraid of vendor locking. It can run deployments on public clouds or private hardware. All the tools provided by Heptio for managing Kubernetes configurations are open source, and fixes can be delivered directly to supported clusters.

VMware acquired Heptio in 2018, but the acquisition has not yet affected Heptio's product plans.

Kontena Pharos

Https://www.kontena.io/pharos/

Kontena Pharos is positioned as "Kubernetes that just works", which has roughly the same "script" as Red Hat's Linux product. The underlying architecture is a CNCF-certified Kubernetes distribution that can be used under the Apache 2 license (like Fedora or CentOS). Paying customers have access to professional-level features, technical advice, support services, and specific fixed-price products, such as migrating to cloud native infrastructure.

The core Pharos distribution is configured with basic features such as automatic security updates and multiple container runtimes by default. The paid version adds enterprise tools such as Kontena Lens panels, Kontena Storage distributed storage systems, backups, load balancing, and clusters deployed in an intranet isolated environment.

The professional version has a 30-day trial period and subscriptions start at nearly $3000 a month. On the other hand, the open source version has no time limit and no license fee.

Pivotal Container Service (PKS)

Https://pivotal.io/cn/platform/pivotal-container-service

Pivotal, known for its performance on Cloud Foundry, has an enterprise-class Kubernetes service, namely Pivotal Container Service (PKS). PKS draws inspiration from many other Pivotal projects; for example, it uses the Kubo project that was once used in Cloud Foundry for Pivotal to start and manage Kubernetes clusters.

One of the most prominent features of PKS is its tight integration with the VMware virtual machine stack. In fact, PKS is a joint project of VMware-Pivotal. Containers running on PKS can access services available to virtual machines running on vSphere, such as persistent storage in VMware VSAN. In addition, PKS can be managed through VMware Cloud Foundation for managing VMware infrastructure in both public and private cloud environments.

In short, any enterprise that uses VMware and is increasingly interested in Kubernetes may want to study PKS to take full advantage of their existing VMware settings.

Red Hat OpenShift

Https://www.redhat.com/en/technologies/cloud-computing/openshift

OpenShift, Red Hat's PaaS product, initially packaged the application with "cassette tapes" similar to Heroku buildpack, and then deployed it in a container called Gear. Then Docker came along, and OpenShift was redesigned to use the new container image and runtime standards. Inevitably, Red Hat uses Kubernetes as the choreography technology in OpenShift.

OpenShift also provides abstraction and automation for all components in PaaS. This abstraction and automation extends to Kubernetes, imposing a considerable administrative burden, so OpenShift can be used to ease this process as a more important part of deploying PaaS.

As mentioned above, CoreOS Tectonic is in the process of merging into Red Hat OpenShift, although the technology merger is not expected to be completed until 2020.

SUSE CCS platform

Https://www.suse.com/products/caas-platform/

SUSE, which is well known in Europe for its Linux distribution, also has a SUSE CaaS platform. Conceptually, the SUSE CaaS platform is reminiscent of CoreOS Tectonic, which combines a bare-metal "micro" operating system running containers, Kubernetes, a built-in image repository, and cluster configuration tools.

SUSE CaaS Platform3 was released in 2018 with the addition of multi-host capabilities to make the cluster more adaptable to master node crashes and kernel tuning capabilities to customize the included Linux kernel.

The SUSE CaaS platform can run on public clouds and local bare metal, but it is important to note that SUSE currently does not support any integration with the underlying cloud infrastructure. This means that the SUSE CaaS platform is not designed to complement Amazon EKS or Google Kubernetes Engine, but to circumvent them, allowing you to run containers across multiple clouds and data centers.

Telekube

Https://gravitational.com/gravity/

Gravitational, the owner of the Teleport SSH server, developed Gravity, an "enhanced production" Kubernetes distribution that runs on local or remote clusters. Gravity is positioned as a solution for a private SaaS platform or running Kubernetes-as-a-service in multiple regions and hosting providers.

Applications on Gravity must make some preparations in order to run in a container on Kubernetes. They must first be packaged as "Bundles", and these "Bundles" will then be published to the Kubernetes cluster for distribution. These "bindings" are extra work, and the usual preparations for deploying container applications still need to be done, but the Bundle manifest is the only extra work that Gravity needs.

Gravity includes the ability to take snapshots of the entire Kubernetes cluster, including all applications and configurations, and users can deploy snapshots to any other Kubernetes environment.

Conclusion

Kubernetes and containers are changing the way applications are created, deployed, and managed. The Kubernetes distributions listed in this article are leading this change.

Original link: https://www.infoworld.com/article/3265059/10-kubernetes-distributions-leading-the-container-revolution.html

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