Nov 05, 2019
Christine Beuhler
D2iQ
Using a container orchestration platform like Kubernetes isn’t as simple as it seems, and requires a deep technical understanding of the cloud native landscape. Without that understanding, it can be like moving your ship from land to sea without an experienced crew; smooth sailing for a little while, but eventually your ship will sink.
There are many reasons why enterprise companies that adopt Kubernetes sink their ship before it sails. If you feel like you’re floundering, we’re going to throw you a life preserver and walk you through the top three Kubernetes adoption challenges.
1. Intense Competitive and Market Pressures for Rapid Innovation
Regardless of your role, whether it’s CIO, VP of DevOps, Infrastructure Architect, or a Dev/Ops Engineer, it’s guaranteed you have felt the industry pressure to “always be innovating”, and adopt new technology in the process.
This pressure applies to Kubernetes as well. Since its introduction, Kubernetes adoption has grown rapidly and steadily, and shows no sign of stopping. In fact, 451 Research predicts more than 250% growth in the container-based technology market until 2020. With thought leaders extolling the advantages of Kubernetes, as well as witnessing your competitors experiencing its benefits firsthand, the siren call to adopt Kubernetes for your organization might be ringing even more strongly in your ears.
Unfortunately, the allure of this siren call can make many companies overlook the rocky operational challenges lying in wait. Remember, implementing a container-based platform like Kubernetes is a leviathan undertaking, and you don’t want to dive into it for the wrong reasons. Your “true North” for investing the time and energy that Kubernetes will take should align with your strategic business goals.
2. No Clear Best Practices or Architectural Standards
There are many supporting services you need, such as monitoring, logging, and storage, to name a few, in order to use Kubernetes effectively. But there are no clear best practices on how to use these services, or how they will integrate with your existing technology.
There’s a great deal of information and documentation online, but it’s not all current or collected, and it won’t be tailored to your organization’s stack. If you look internally or externally for additional support and resources, it’s unlikely they will have the right depth of expertise to architect and integrate these supporting technologies effectively into your unique stack.
3. The Complexity of Managing Day 2 Operations
In many cases, teams get so consumed with implementation and everything that happens before production, that the complexities of Day 2 operations become overwhelming and threaten to capsize you. In other words, once your crew has built the ship and you’re sailing, how do you keep your ship in top shape so you can keep sailing, day in and day out?
The reality is that you need a comprehensive game plan to ensure successful Day 2 operations. In other words, you need to think about how everything fits together from the supporting services to the implementation to the professional services and training. That way, by the time Day 2 rolls around, your infrastructure is ready to handle anything, from bugs to security breaches, and more.
Kubernetes can provide the agility, stability, and scalability your organization depends upon, but as we’ve noted above, successful usage is not a breeze without the right partner to navigate you to your destination. To learn more tips on how to set sail for Kubernetes success, download “The D2iQ Guide to Steering a Successful Kubernetes Ship.”
