I believe Container Engine does a little more than you are giving credit for. Its main feature is that it hosts the Kubernetes master - you don't have to worry

I believe Container Engine does a little more than you are giving credit for. Its main feature is that it hosts the Kubernetes master - you don't have to worry about setting up etcd, high availability, or anything else in regards to the master or connecting the nodes. Kubernetes also comes with a UI preinstalled on the master, allowing you to launch services and see info regarding pods, replication controllers, and more, as well as basic system resource usage: http://kubernetes.io/docs/user-guide/ui/ http://kubernetes.io/docs/user-guide/ui/