Kubernetes Resource Orchestration Simplified Thanks to Kro

In a rare collaborative effort, the three major cloud service providers - Microsoft, AWS, and Google - have collaborated to work on an open-source project. Meant to simplify the management of Kubernetes workloads, this project is named Kubernetes Resource Orchestrator (Kro). Kro aims to offer an easy approach to managing complex K8s configurations, including deploying workloads.

Kubernetes - Too Big To Fail

Kubernetes has become so fundamental to developing modern software solutions and platforms that it is nearly impossible to imagine a project without engaging with it. Its contributions to containerization, cloud-native architecture, and even certain security aspects make it a vital element in any digital ecosystem. That is why three of the biggest competitors in the cloud world had to come together to ensure that our dependence on Kubernetes is not overwhelmed with complex challenges. Let us look at some of the major challenges that Kubernetes management faces today.

• Too Many Moving Parts: More than anything else, Kubernetes is starting to grow into an ouroboros - biting its tail. Even for running a comparatively simple application like WordPress, the platform needs various resources including ConfigMap, Secrets, Persistent Volumes, and more. As the applications become more complex, the Kubernetes workloads become more challenging. DevOps teams are often left with one kind of troubleshooting or another to keep the ship afloat - especially with all the Helms, pun intended!

• Complex Software Lifecycle: Kubernetes’ role does not end at mere deployment. The platform must manage the software lifecycle, offering features like secrets management, scaling containers, and updating controllers. All these tasks require efficient handling of multiple Kubernetes resources and are, therefore, susceptible to performance failures.

• Fragmentation: Kubernetes operators now juggle a variety of APIs, controllers, customized resources, and more. Such modularity has led to fragmentation in the Kubernetes environment, where each new resource adds an additional layer of complexity. Due to the platform’s increasing scope, DevOps teams are often left to manage more than they were trained for.

Kubernetes Management To ‘Kro’ About

The Kubernetes Resource Orchestrator is designed as a native K8s framework that will help against the abovementioned challenges. Although multiple attempts have been made regarding the same in the past, Kro offers some promising features this time.

• Managing deployment complexities: Using ResourceGraphDefinition (RGD) Kro lets you define the Kubernetes workloads as a single unit. This reusable unit ensures that multiple YAML files are not required to manage K8s workloads.

• Standardization: Kro offers parameterized templates to ensure standardized resource configurations. This helps reuse RGD templates across multiple environments to ensure consistent workload management and compliance.

• Dependency Management: Using a Directed Acrylic Graph (DAG), Kro ensures automation in managing creation orders, update sequences, and resource deletion as and when required. This simplifies Kubernetes resource management by eliminating failures due to dependency errors in manual management.

• Customization: Kro uses Common Expression Language (CEL) to ensure that values can be dynamically injected into RGD resources. This helps with customized Kubernetes configurations with the changing environments and inputs.

Conclusion

Kro brings the enterprise-level expertise of three of the biggest names in the cloud industry. This collaboration was necessary to simplify Kubernetes usage for businesses across industries and sizes. With the help of different features and resources, Kro can redefine Kubernetes management for more complex software solutions and platforms that cater to modern real-world use cases.

In this blog post, we will discuss the complexities that have emerged while managing Kubernetes recently and how Kro will offer the essential help required.