Kubernetes Patterns

Foreword

When Craig, Joe, and I started Kubernetes nearly five years ago, I think we all recognized its power to transform the way the world developed and delivered software. I don’t think we knew, or even hoped to believe, how quickly this transformation would come. Kubernetes is now the foundation for the development of portable, reliable systems spanning the major public clouds, private clouds, and bare-metal environments. However, even as Kubernetes has become ubiquitous to the point where you can spin up a cluster in the cloud in less than five minutes, it is still far less obvious to determine where to go once you have created that cluster. It is fantastic that we have seen such significant strides forward in the operationalization of Kubernetes itself, but it is only a part of the solution. It is the foundation on which applications will be built, and it provides a large library of APIs and tools for building these applications, but it does little to provide the application architect or developer with any hints or guidance for how these various pieces can be combined into a complete, reliable system that satisfies their business needs and goals.

Although the necessary perspective and experience for what to do with your Kubernetes cluster can be achieved through past experience with similar systems, or via trial and error, this is expensive both in terms of time and the quality of systems delivered to our end users. When you are starting to deliver mission-critical services ...