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Kubernetes vs Rancher vs Weave: What are the differences?
<Write Introduction here>
1. **Scalability**: Kubernetes is a container orchestration platform that provides automated scaling of applications based on resource usage, while Rancher is a management platform that integrates with Kubernetes to provide additional capabilities like monitoring and logging. Weave, on the other hand, is a networking tool that offers features for connecting containers across multiple hosts.
2. **Ease of Use**: Rancher focuses on providing a user-friendly interface for managing Kubernetes clusters, making it easier for users to deploy, monitor, and scale applications. Weave, on the other hand, offers features like service discovery and load balancing to simplify the networking aspect of containerized applications.
3. **Customization**: Kubernetes allows for deep customization and configuration of resources through its powerful API and extensive documentation, enabling users to tailor their deployments to specific requirements. Rancher streamlines the process of managing Kubernetes clusters by offering pre-configured settings and integrated tools for common tasks, while Weave focuses on providing a simple yet flexible networking solution for container environments.
4. **Community Support**: Kubernetes has a large and active community that contributes to its development, provides support through forums and documentation, and regularly releases updates with new features and enhancements. Rancher has a dedicated community that focuses on enhancing the platform's usability and expanding its ecosystem, while Weave enjoys support from its creators and users for networking needs.
5. **Security Features**: Kubernetes offers robust security features such as role-based access control (RBAC), network policies, and pod security policies to ensure the protection of applications and data within the cluster. Rancher provides additional security layers like centralized authentication and encryption mechanisms to secure the management of Kubernetes clusters, while Weave offers encryption and authentication options for securing container communication.
6. **Integration Capabilities**: Kubernetes supports a wide range of integrations with third-party tools and services through its extensible architecture, allowing users to enhance the platform with additional functionalities. Rancher integrates with various cloud providers and monitoring tools to streamline the deployment and management of containerized applications, while Weave focuses on seamless integration with container orchestration platforms for networking enhancements.
In Summary, Kubernetes, Rancher, and Weave offer distinct features and capabilities in the realm of container orchestration, management, and networking, catering to diverse needs and preferences within the container ecosystem.
Advice on Kubernetes, Rancher, and Weave
Pavel Amialiushka
Hello, we have a bunch of local hosts (Linux and Windows) where Docker containers are running with bamboo agents on them. Currently, each container is installed as a system service. Each host is set up manually. I want to improve the system by adding some sort of orchestration software that should install, update and check for consistency in my docker containers. I don't need any clouds, all hosts are local. I'd prefer simple solutions. What orchestration system should I choose?
Replies (1)
Mortie Torabi
DevOps Architect · | 7 upvotes · 165.4K views
If you just want the basic orchestration between a set of defined hosts, go with Docker Swarm. If you want more advanced orchestration + flexibility in terms of resource management and load balancing go with Kubernetes. In both cases, you can make it even more complex while making the whole architecture more understandable and replicable by using Terraform.
Decisions about Kubernetes, Rancher, and Weave
Michael Roberts
CEO at asencis · | 4 upvotes · 254.4K views
We develop rapidly with docker-compose orchestrated services, however, for production - we utilise the very best ideas that Kubernetes has to offer: SCALE! We can scale when needed, setting a maximum and minimum level of nodes for each application layer - scaling only when the load balancer needs it. This allowed us to reduce our devops costs by 40% whilst also maintaining an SLA of 99.87%.
Simon Reymann
Senior Fullstack Developer at QUANTUSflow Software GmbH · | 30 upvotes · 11.1M views
Our whole DevOps stack consists of the following tools:
- GitHub (incl. GitHub Pages/Markdown for Documentation, GettingStarted and HowTo's) for collaborative review and code management tool
- Respectively Git as revision control system
- SourceTree as Git GUI
- Visual Studio Code as IDE
- CircleCI for continuous integration (automatize development process)
- Prettier / TSLint / ESLint as code linter
- SonarQube as quality gate
- Docker as container management (incl. Docker Compose for multi-container application management)
- VirtualBox for operating system simulation tests
- Kubernetes as cluster management for docker containers
- Heroku for deploying in test environments
- nginx as web server (preferably used as facade server in production environment)
- SSLMate (using OpenSSL) for certificate management
- Amazon EC2 (incl. Amazon S3) for deploying in stage (production-like) and production environments
- PostgreSQL as preferred database system
- Redis 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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Learn MorePros of Kubernetes
Pros of Rancher
Pros of Weave
Pros of Kubernetes
- Leading docker container management solution166
- Simple and powerful129
- Open source107
- Backed by google76
- The right abstractions58
- Scale services25
- Replication controller20
- Permission managment11
- Supports autoscaling9
- Simple8
- Cheap8
- Self-healing6
- Open, powerful, stable5
- Reliable5
- No cloud platform lock-in5
- Promotes modern/good infrascture practice5
- Scalable4
- Quick cloud setup4
- Custom and extensibility3
- Captain of Container Ship3
- Cloud Agnostic3
- Backed by Red Hat3
- Runs on azure3
- A self healing environment with rich metadata3
- Everything of CaaS2
- Gke2
- Golang2
- Easy setup2
- Expandable2
- Sfg2
Pros of Rancher
- Easy to use103
- Open source and totally free79
- Multi-host docker-compose support63
- Load balancing and health check included58
- Simple58
- Rolling upgrades, green/blue upgrades feature44
- Dns and service discovery out-of-the-box42
- Only requires docker37
- Multitenant and permission management34
- Easy to use and feature rich29
- Cross cloud compatible11
- Does everything needed for a docker infrastructure11
- Simple and powerful8
- Next-gen platform8
- Very Docker-friendly7
- Support Kubernetes and Swarm6
- Application catalogs with stack templates (wizards)6
- Supports Apache Mesos, Docker Swarm, and Kubernetes6
- Rolling and blue/green upgrades deployments6
- High Availability service: keeps your app up 24/76
- Easy to use service catalog5
- Very intuitive UI4
- IaaS-vendor independent, supports hybrid/multi-cloud4
- Awesome support4
- Scalable3
- Requires less infrastructure requirements2
Pros of Weave
- Easy setup3
- Seamlessly with mesos/marathon3
- Seamless integration with application layer1
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Cons of Kubernetes
Cons of Rancher
Cons of Weave
Cons of Kubernetes
- Steep learning curve16
- Poor workflow for development15
- Orchestrates only infrastructure8
- High resource requirements for on-prem clusters4
- Too heavy for simple systems2
- Additional vendor lock-in (Docker)1
- More moving parts to secure1
- Additional Technology Overhead1
Cons of Rancher
- Hosting Rancher can be complicated10
Cons of Weave
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What is Kubernetes?
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.
What is 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.
What is Weave?
Weave can traverse firewalls and operate in partially connected networks. Traffic can be encrypted, allowing hosts to be connected across an untrusted network. With weave you can easily construct applications consisting of multiple containers, running anywhere.
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What tools integrate with Kubernetes?
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What are some alternatives to Kubernetes, Rancher, and Weave?
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.
Nomad
Nomad is a cluster manager, designed for both long lived services and short lived batch processing workloads. Developers use a declarative job specification to submit work, and Nomad ensures constraints are satisfied and resource utilization is optimized by efficient task packing. Nomad supports all major operating systems and virtualized, containerized, or standalone applications.
OpenStack
OpenStack is a cloud operating system that controls large pools of compute, storage, and networking resources throughout a datacenter, all managed through a dashboard that gives administrators control while empowering their users to provision resources through a web interface.
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.
DC/OS
Unlike traditional operating systems, DC/OS spans multiple machines within a network, aggregating their resources to maximize utilization by distributed applications.