Docker will pack Kubernetes in the box

Docker announced they will integrate a version of Google’s Kubernetes container-orchestration tool as a native part of Docker. The Kubernetes integration will be available as a beta release.

The integration will be available to all Docker’s versionsll the operating systems they currently support.

One reason of including Kubernetes is to spare developers the effort of standing up a Kubernetes instance, whether for simple dev/test or for actual production use. Historically it’s been a chore to get Kubernetes running, and so a slew of Kubernetes tools and third-party Kubernetes projects have emerged to simplify the process. Most of the time, it’s easier to use a Kubernetes distribution, becayse the distribution’s packaging deals with these problems at a high level.

Docker’s inclusion of Kubernetes makes Docker itself a Kubernetes distribution.To integrate the two, Docker is using a Kubernetes feature called custom resources, a native way to customize particular installations of Kubernetes.

Previous repackagings of Kubernetes sometimes made changes that subtly broke compatibility, and custom resources was devised as a way to avoid that. Any changes Docker makes to Kubernetes can be kept separate from the Kubernetes code base, and done entirely on the Docker side.

Another reason is integrating Kubernetes to provide an easy alternative to its own orchestration tool, Swarm.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *