Azure DevOps vs Kubernetes

Overview

Kubernetes

Stacks61.2K

Followers52.8K

Votes685

Azure DevOps

Stacks2.7K

Followers2.9K

Votes249

Azure DevOps vs Kubernetes: What are the differences?

Introduction:

In the world of software development and deployment, Azure DevOps and Kubernetes are two popular platforms. While Azure DevOps is a comprehensive set of development tools provided by Microsoft, Kubernetes is an open-source container orchestration platform. Despite having some similarities, there are several key differences between these two platforms. This article aims to highlight those differences in a clear and concise manner.

Deployment and Management: Azure DevOps is primarily focused on providing tools and services for the complete development lifecycle, including coding, testing, and release management. It offers features like source control, build automation, continuous integration, and deployment pipelines. On the other hand, Kubernetes focuses on container orchestration and management. It provides a platform for deploying and scaling containerized applications, managing their lifecycle, and ensuring high availability.
Scalability and Portability: Azure DevOps offers scalability options through its cloud-based services, allowing teams to dynamically increase or decrease their resources based on demand. However, it is primarily tied to the Microsoft Azure cloud platform, which may limit its portability to other cloud providers. On the contrary, Kubernetes is designed to be cloud-agnostic and can run on various cloud platforms or even on-premises infrastructure. It provides a higher level of portability, which enables workload migration across different environments with minimal effort.
Containerization and Orchestration: While both Azure DevOps and Kubernetes support containerization of applications, their approach differs. Azure DevOps relies on technologies like Docker to create containers, but it does not offer native orchestration capabilities. In contrast, Kubernetes is specifically built for container orchestration. It allows users to deploy, manage, and scale containers effectively, using advanced features like automated load balancing, rolling deployments, and self-healing mechanisms.
Ecosystem and Integration: Azure DevOps has a rich ecosystem of integrated tools and services within the Microsoft ecosystem, including Azure, Visual Studio, and various development frameworks. It provides seamless integration with these tools and allows for end-to-end development workflows. Kubernetes, being an open-source platform, has a broader ecosystem with support from major cloud providers and independent software vendors. It integrates with multiple tools and services, allowing users to leverage a wide range of functionalities.
Focus and Complexity: Azure DevOps aims to provide a holistic platform for development teams, covering various aspects of the software development lifecycle. It is geared towards simplifying the development process and reducing complexities through automation and integration. On the other hand, Kubernetes is more focused on managing containerized applications at scale, and it requires a deeper understanding of container concepts, networking, and cluster management. It offers more advanced features and requires a certain level of expertise to operate effectively.
Cost Structure and Pricing: Azure DevOps follows a subscription-based pricing model, where users pay for the specific services they require and the resources they consume. The pricing structure takes into account factors like the number of users, build minutes, and storage usage. Kubernetes, being an open-source platform, is free to use and does not have any direct licensing costs. However, users need to consider the cost of infrastructure, cloud resources, and additional tools or services used in conjunction with Kubernetes.

In summary, Azure DevOps focuses on providing a comprehensive set of development tools with a stronger integration within the Microsoft ecosystem, while Kubernetes is designed specifically for container orchestration and management with a more cloud-agnostic and portable approach.

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Advice on Kubernetes, Azure DevOps

Simon

Senior Fullstack Developer at QUANTUSflow Software GmbH

Apr 27, 2020

Decidedon

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Markdown

Our whole DevOps stack consists of the following tools:

@{GitHub}|tool:27| (incl. @{GitHub Pages}|tool:683|/@{Markdown}|tool:1147| for Documentation, GettingStarted and HowTo's) for collaborative review and code management tool
Respectively @{Git}|tool:1046| as revision control system
@{SourceTree}|tool:1599| as @{Git}|tool:1046| GUI
@{Visual Studio Code}|tool:4202| as IDE
@{CircleCI}|tool:190| for continuous integration (automatize development process)
@{Prettier}|tool:7035| / @{TSLint}|tool:5561| / @{ESLint}|tool:3337| as code linter
@{SonarQube}|tool:2638| as quality gate
@{Docker}|tool:586| as container management (incl. @{Docker Compose}|tool:3136| for multi-container application management)
@{VirtualBox}|tool:774| for operating system simulation tests
@{Kubernetes}|tool:1885| as cluster management for docker containers
@{Heroku}|tool:133| for deploying in test environments
@{nginx}|tool:1052| as web server (preferably used as facade server in production environment)
@{SSLMate}|tool:2752| (using @{OpenSSL}|tool:3091|) for certificate management
@{Amazon EC2}|tool:18| (incl. @{Amazon S3}|tool:25|) for deploying in stage (production-like) and production environments
@{PostgreSQL}|tool:1028| as preferred database system
@{Redis}|tool:1031| as preferred in-memory database/store (great for caching)

The main reason we have chosen Kubernetes over Docker Swarm is related to the following artifacts:

Key features: Easy and flexible installation, Clear dashboard, Great scaling operations, Monitoring is an integral part, Great load balancing concepts, Monitors the condition and ensures compensation in the event of failure.
Applications: An application can be deployed using a combination of pods, deployments, and services (or micro-services).
Functionality: Kubernetes as a complex installation and setup process, but it not as limited as Docker Swarm.
Monitoring: It supports multiple versions of logging and monitoring when the services are deployed within the cluster (Elasticsearch/Kibana (ELK), Heapster/Grafana, Sysdig cloud integration).
Scalability: All-in-one framework for distributed systems.
Other Benefits: Kubernetes is backed by the Cloud Native Computing Foundation (CNCF), huge community among container orchestration tools, it is an open source and modular tool that works with any OS.

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Detailed Comparison

Kubernetes	Azure DevOps
Kubernetes is an open source orchestration system for Docker containers. It handles scheduling onto nodes in a compute cluster and actively manages workloads to ensure that their state matches the users declared intentions.	Azure DevOps provides unlimited private Git hosting, cloud build for continuous integration, agile planning, and release management for continuous delivery to the cloud and on-premises. Includes broad IDE support.
Lightweight, simple and accessible;Built for a multi-cloud world, public, private or hybrid;Highly modular, designed so that all of its components are easily swappable	Agile Tools: kanban boards, backlogs, scrum boards; Reporting: dashboards, widgets, Power BI; Git: free private repositories, pull requests; Continuous Integration: automated builds and diagnostics; Cloud build agents: cross-platform agents for Windows, Mac and Linux; Testing Tools: unit testing, load testing, manual, exploratory and user acceptance testing; Release Management: automate deployments, gated approval workflows, audit trails; Marketplace: extensions for the Visual Studio family of products; Package Management: host npm and NuGet packages; IDE Support: Eclipse, IntelliJ, Xcode and Visual Studio; Integration: link code and releases to work items, builds, and test results
Statistics
Stacks 61.2K	Stacks 2.7K
Followers 52.8K	Followers 2.9K
Votes 685	Votes 249
Pros & Cons
Pros 166 Leading docker container management solution 130 Simple and powerful 108 Open source 76 Backed by google 58 The right abstractions Cons 16 Steep learning curve 15 Poor workflow for development 8 Orchestrates only infrastructure 4 High resource requirements for on-prem clusters 2 Too heavy for simple systems	Pros 56 Complete and powerful 32 Huge extension ecosystem 27 Azure integration 26 One Stop Shop For Build server, Project Mgt, CDCI 26 Flexible and powerful Cons 8 Still dependant on C# for agents 5 Half Baked 5 Many in devops disregard MS altogether 4 Jack of all trades, master of none 4 Capacity across cross functional teams not visibile
Integrations
Vagrant Docker Rackspace Cloud Servers Microsoft Azure Google Compute Engine Ansible Google Kubernetes Engine	GitHub Visual Studio Docker Slack Trello Git IntelliJ IDEA Jenkins Octopus Deploy Eclipse

What are some alternatives to Kubernetes, Azure DevOps?

Trello

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Asana

Asana is the easiest way for teams to track their work. From tasks and projects to conversations and dashboards, Asana enables teams to move work from start to finish--and get results. Available at asana.com and on iOS & Android.

Rancher

Rancher is an open source container management platform that includes full distributions of Kubernetes, Apache Mesos and Docker Swarm, and makes it simple to operate container clusters on any cloud or infrastructure platform.

Docker Compose

With Compose, you define a multi-container application in a single file, then spin your application up in a single command which does everything that needs to be done to get it running.

Docker Swarm

Swarm serves the standard Docker API, so any tool which already communicates with a Docker daemon can use Swarm to transparently scale to multiple hosts: Dokku, Compose, Krane, Deis, DockerUI, Shipyard, Drone, Jenkins... and, of course, the Docker client itself.

Tutum

Tutum lets developers easily manage and run lightweight, portable, self-sufficient containers from any application. AWS-like control, Heroku-like ease. The same container that a developer builds and tests on a laptop can run at scale in Tutum.

Basecamp

Basecamp is a project management and group collaboration tool. The tool includes features for schedules, tasks, files, and messages.

Confluence

Capture the knowledge that's too often lost in email inboxes and shared network drives in Confluence instead – where it's easy to find, use, and update.

Portainer

It is a universal container management tool. It works with Kubernetes, Docker, Docker Swarm and Azure ACI. It allows you to manage containers without needing to know platform-specific code.

Redmine

Redmine is a flexible project management web application. Written using the Ruby on Rails framework, it is cross-platform and cross-database.

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