Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS)

Kubernetes

Kubernetes is a portable, extensible, open-source platform for managing containerized workloads and services, that facilitates both declarative configuration and automation. It has a large, rapidly growing ecosystem. Kubernetes services, support, and tools are widely available.

Why you need Kubernetes and what it can do ?

Containers are a good way to bundle and run your applications. In a production environment, you need to manage the containers that run the applications and ensure that there is no downtime. For example, if a container goes down, another container needs to start. Wouldn’t it be easier if this behavior was handled by a system?

That’s how Kubernetes comes to the rescue! Kubernetes provides you with a framework to run distributed systems resiliently. It takes care of scaling and failover for your application, provides deployment patterns, and more. For example, Kubernetes can easily manage a canary deployment for your system.

Kubernetes provides you with:

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What is Azure Kubernetes Service(AKS)?

??Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) is a fully-managed service that allows you to run Kubernetes in Azure without having to manage your own Kubernetes clusters. Azure manages all the complex parts of running Kubernetes, and you can focus on your containers. Basic features include:

• Pay only for the nodes (VMs)
• Easier cluster upgrades
• Integrated with various Azure and OSS tools and services
• Kubernetes RBAC and Azure Active Directory Integration
• Enforce rules defined in Azure Policy across multiple clusters
• Kubernetes can scale your Nodes using cluster autoscale
• Expand your scale even greater by scheduling your containers on Azure Container Instances

Azure Kubernetes Service Use Cases:

• Migration of existing applications: You can easily migrate existing apps to containers and run them with Azure Kubernetes Service. You can also control access via Azure AD integration and SLA-based Azure Services like Azure Database using Open Service Broker for Azure (OSBA).
• Simplifying the configuration and management of microservices-based Apps: You can also simplify the development and management of microservices-based apps as well as streamline load balancing, horizontal scaling, self-healing, and secret management with AKS.
• Bringing DevOps and Kubernetes together: AKS is also a reliable resource to bring Kubernetes and DevOps together for securing DevOps implementation with Kubernetes. Bringing both together, it improves the security and speed of the development process with Continuous Integration and Continuous Delivery (CI/CD) with dynamic policy controls.
• Ease of scaling: AKS can also be applied in many other use cases such as ease of scaling by using Azure Container Instances (ACI) and AKS. By doing this, you can use AKS virtual node to provision pods inside Azure Container Instance (ACI) that start within a few seconds and enables AKS to run with required resources. If your AKS cluster is run out of resources, if will scale-out additional pods automatically without any additional servers to manage in the Kubernetes environment.
• Data streaming: AKS can also be used to ingest and process real-time data streams with data points via sensors and perform quick analysis.

Rebalancing supply and demand in healthcare :

Doctor link is a digital start-up focused on solving some of the biggest problems in healthcare through the innovative development and deployment of technologies. Amongst its innovations, it provides mobile apps to connect patients with healthcare providers for online and urgent triage, video consultation, and health risk assessments.

More than 12 million patients use the Doctorlink app around the globe, including the NHS and insurance providers.

Helping the world respond to the pandemic

During the coronavirus pandemic, many more healthcare providers have approached Doctorlink with a view to leveraging its technology.

Cordelia Chuku, Head of Product & Design at Doctorlink, explains, “We’ve seen a vast increase in the number of healthcare providers looking to get technology embedded into their healthcare pathways with their patients.”

The choice of Microsoft Azure has helped in meeting demand

Keith Nurcombe, Managing Director UK NHS at Doctorlink, says the technology platform choices the business made early on are now paying off.

He says, “We always knew that a cloud-based solution was the only way to go. We’ve had to roll out 150 to 200 surgeries in a matter of a week or two so that ability to instantly scale with the Azure platform and the system around that has been absolutely crucial to us as a business.”

Scaling up quickly while maintaining a secure and regulated environment is vital. Nurcombe continues, “All of those things are the things that the Microsoft Azure platform offers Doctorlink: it allows us to scale. The security and the safety and the solidity of that Azure platform have been crucial to us.”

Engaging remotely with clients

The decision by the Doctorlink team to choose Microsoft as a technology partner has paid off in other ways too. Remote engagement with customers has been facilitated throughout the pandemic by the use of Microsoft Teams.