Simplifying the Decisions Behind DIY Kubernetes

As enterprises rapidly adopt Kubernetes as the common platform for modern applications, many are building Kubernetes environments in their own data centers. But they are faced with a countless number of decisions to make, including the infrastructure to run it on and the tools to integrate with it.

These decisions are part of the intentional gaps around Kubernetes which are necessary for it to be extremely flexible and available everywhere. In this blog post, we’ll share a few ways that the Diamanti platform can simplify these decisions with a purpose-built solution that comes included with the necessary components.

Key Hardware Decisions
Fundamental to any software platform is the hardware that it runs on, including the choice of compute, storage and networking. Traditional data center options were designed for a previous generation of monolithic and even virtualized applications, but new modern application architectures are more distributed and require new capabilities.

Storage
One key decision is around a Container Storage Interface (CSI) compatible storage solution. As containerized applications can be highly ephemeral and dynamic, it’s important to select a solution that can support persistent data and provide the performance required of modern applications. The Diamanti platform includes low-latency NVMe flash storage that can support storage volume mirroring across stretched cluster nodes. In addition to data persistence, the Diamanti platform provides data services like snapshots, data backup and restore and disaster recovery – all necessary for a highly available and resilient Kubernetes environment.

Networking
The nature of networking also changes with Kubernetes. Kubernetes supports networking solutions through Container Networking Interface (CNI). The Diamanti platform supports SR-IOV and CNI-based networking. The solution plugs into standard enterprise data center networking topologies, delivering both overlay and non-overlay network interfaces, static and dynamic IP assignment and support for multiple interfaces per pod.

Compute and I/O Processing
In traditional servers, the CPU handles both application compute and I/O processing which means that a significant portion of a server’s available processing power is consumed by I/O processing. The Diamanti platform integrates I/O offload cards to free up all the CPU computing power for the applications. The result is a significantly smaller data center footprint, reducing the overall Total Cost of Ownership (TCO). This unique architecture also enables QoS guarantees for I/O performance, preventing the problems of “noisy neighbors”.

Key Software Decisions
In addition to the hardware, a Kubernetes environment must include a fully-supported software stack that contains the following:
• Operating system
• Integrated Docker runtime
• Certified Kubernetes distribution, deployed in a highly available architecture
• Kubernetes dashboard and management UI
• LDAP and AD integration

The Diamanti platform comes with a fully integrated software stack including a fully supported CentOS base, taking just minutes to install and activate. All of the components are tested and validated to work together and patched and updated regularly to support enterprise applications.

Making “Do It Yourself” More “Use It Today”
The intentional gaps around Kubernetes have helped to make Kubernetes a common substrate for modern applications – both on-premises and in the cloud. But for organizations building their Kubernetes environments on-premises, you don’t need to build this from scratch on your own. By leveraging Diamanti’s fully integrated solution, the focus is rightfully on your applications and not on the wiring and plumbing to get an environment installed and operationalized. The Diamanti platform delivers a high-performance and enterprise-ready solution for your modern applications.

Jenny Fong is Vice President Marketing at Diamanti.