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There are lots of tools that give you "infrastructure as code". Why is Kubernetes special?

by cweagans 7y ago

honkycat 7y ago
What is the point of this question? Why are the other tools special?
- cweagans 7y ago
  My point is that if "infrastructure as code" is your sole requirement, Kubernetes doesn't seem like the first choice. Adopting Kubernetes is not a small task, but it seems to be the go-to answer for a lot of the HN crowd. Don't get me wrong: it's a great tool for some things. But IMO, for 80% of projects it's completely overkill.
  - dragonwriter 7y ago
    K8s is the only IaC platform with heavy buy in by all the major public clouds.
    - cweagans 7y ago
      I'm not particularly interested in limiting myself to using only the tools that large companies have deemed worthy. There are plenty of tools out there that can get the job done at the scale that the vast majority of businesses operate in with lower operational and cognitive overhead than Kubernetes.
  - auslander 7y ago
    +1. Infrastructure as code is exactly that, code. For AWS it is Cloudformation template code, Cloudformation service and some CI/CD on top, like jenkins or ansible. Or Terraform for unlucky ones. K8s is container orchestration, like AWS ECS, totally different beast.
    - StavrosK 7y ago
      CloudFormation is for the lucky ones and Terraform the unlucky ones? I'm thinking you've never used one of the two...
      - auslander 7y ago
        On AWS, Cloudformation is far more reliable and lean (less LOC) than TF. No corrupted state issues, all resource properties are supported, parallel (fast) resource creation just for starters. And TF sales pitch about "multi-cloud" is nonsence, resources are too different between different clouds.
dkarl 7y ago
It's also directly supported by multiple first-tier cloud providers.
- cweagans 7y ago
  I mean, so is Terraform (kinda).
  - dragonwriter 7y ago
    Terraform supports first-tier cloud providers, but the other way around?
    - dkarl 7y ago
      Perfect way to put it.

There are lots of tools that give you "infrastructure as code". Why is Kubernetes special?

honkycat 7y ago

What is the point of this question? Why are the other tools special?

cweagans 7y ago
My point is that if "infrastructure as code" is your sole requirement, Kubernetes doesn't seem like the first choice. Adopting Kubernetes is not a small task, but it seems to be the go-to answer for a lot of the HN crowd. Don't get me wrong: it's a great tool for some things. But IMO, for 80% of projects it's completely overkill.
- dragonwriter 7y ago
  K8s is the only IaC platform with heavy buy in by all the major public clouds.
  - cweagans 7y ago
    I'm not particularly interested in limiting myself to using only the tools that large companies have deemed worthy. There are plenty of tools out there that can get the job done at the scale that the vast majority of businesses operate in with lower operational and cognitive overhead than Kubernetes.
- auslander 7y ago
  +1. Infrastructure as code is exactly that, code. For AWS it is Cloudformation template code, Cloudformation service and some CI/CD on top, like jenkins or ansible. Or Terraform for unlucky ones. K8s is container orchestration, like AWS ECS, totally different beast.
  - StavrosK 7y ago
    CloudFormation is for the lucky ones and Terraform the unlucky ones? I'm thinking you've never used one of the two...
    - auslander 7y ago
      On AWS, Cloudformation is far more reliable and lean (less LOC) than TF. No corrupted state issues, all resource properties are supported, parallel (fast) resource creation just for starters. And TF sales pitch about "multi-cloud" is nonsence, resources are too different between different clouds.

dkarl 7y ago

It's also directly supported by multiple first-tier cloud providers.

cweagans 7y ago
I mean, so is Terraform (kinda).
- dragonwriter 7y ago
  Terraform supports first-tier cloud providers, but the other way around?
  - dkarl 7y ago
    Perfect way to put it.