Gaps in Kubernetes Are Really a Good Thing

Kubernetes allows users to choose from an open ecosystem of application management and infrastructure options and under the stewardship of the Cloud Native Computing Foundation (CNCF), Kubernetes has become the new Linux.

One of the reasons Kubernetes has become the de facto choice for container orchestration is because of what it does not offer.

Why?

In order to support a variety of use cases, early Kubernetes developers added intentional gaps to the platform in order to offer flexibility to its users. Rather than being a do-it-all platform, Kubernetes is designed to be an extensible platform that users and vendors can tailor their environments easily with custom resources definitions (CRDs), the Container Storage Interface (CSI) and the Container Networking Interface (CNI) based on their own requirements. The intentional gaps in Kubernetes offer flexibility in both infrastructure and application layers.

Building Blocks of the Cloud Native Environment

Kubernetes is clearly the best platform for container orchestration and is designed to run in any environment. However, the principles based on which Kubernetes is built also makes it challenging to get it up and running out-of-the-box. The resulting challenge is there are many intentionally added gaps in Kubernetes left for the community and vendors to solve.

When adopting Kubernetes in an organization, it is thus important to consider how to minimize the required time, effort and cost with infrastructure and application management that can meet a holistic set of requirements. An integrated approach is one way to deliver faster time-to-value while ensuring all these gaps are filled.

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