Latest Innovations in Containers and Kubernetes

Containers and Kubernetes have transformed the way we manage and orchestrate cloud environments, and they are a hot topic in the industry. They had their own conference track in the recent DeveloperWeek 2020 and also featured heavily in other tracks. In this article, we’ll explore what was discussed at the conference to give you an insight into the latest innovations and trends.

Here are some key points from popular sessions: 

· The Serverless Application Development movement is growing fast, and the number of serverless-related services aimed at developers is ever increasing. The architecture has the potential to simplify IT management of applications, reduce running costs and disrupt today's cloud consumption models. The Serverless 101 session highlighted the advantages and disadvantages of the approach, and the current move beyond containers and VMs.

· Another sold-out session focused on Deploying Docker for Database DevOps Dominance. It outlined how Docker can be used to automate the testing of your database, and also techniques for deploying database changes to development, QA and production. Fully integrating your database into your existing DevOps pipeline is becoming increasingly feasible.

· Improving front-end and back-end developer productivity was the theme of the Supercharge Your Dev Experience with K8s session. It looked at using Kubernetes in conjunction with Gitlab, Docker, Istio, Jenkins, Varnish and Cypress. The speakers presented a case study where they built a developer platform for continuous deployment of apps.

· Using Kubernetes in conjunction with Istio (and Knative) was also covered in the Kubernetes: Shipping Containers session. It pointed out that while the Kubernetes workloads API was designed to support declarative application management, using it in practice is complicated. The session included a look at advanced deployment techniques (such as Blue-Green Deployments, Canaries and Rollbacks) using the Kubernetes API.

· Best practices for immutable and secure containerised microservices were discussed in the Microservices + Databases at Scale with Kubernetes

presentation. This included deployment strategies for microservices using Recreate, Rolling, Blue-Green and A/B testing with Canaries. Managing databases, external services and database migrations in a CI/CD pipeline were also presented.

· The Istio service mesh – a joint collaboration between IBM, Google and Lyft – featured in a number of sessions including (obviously enough) Managing Kubernetes with Istio. The session looked at how service mesh architecture helps with microservices challenges such as service discovery, routing, failure handing and security. In addition, a demo application running microservices showed how Istio can be used to manage traffic, gather metrics and enforce policies.

In summary then, the use of Kubernetes for automating the deployment and management of containerised applications continues to grow in popularity. Topics covered in February’s DeveloperWeek 2020 conference included advanced deployment techniques such as Blue-Green and Canaries, database deployments using Docker, and the advantages of service meshes such as Istio.

Here at JBI Training, we provide a range of cutting-edge Kubernetes and Microservices training courses including:

· Kubernetes training course (2 days) where you learn to use Kubernetes for automating the deployment, scaling and management of containerised applications – See our Kubernetes training course outline

· Microservices Architecture training course (2 days) where you learn the principles of microservices architecture to build modern, scalable, highly available and easily maintainable applications – See our Microservices Architecture training course outline

· Docker training course (2 days) where you learn how to build, ship and run distributed applications on an open platform – See our Docker training course outline.