If you are a developer, you’re probably quite familiar with Kubernetes, the open-source platform designed to manage containerized workloads and services. With its fast-growing ecosystem and plethora of tools, support, and services, Kubernetes is becoming a valuable resource, especially as more and more enterprises migrate to the cloud.

Kubernetes gets its name from the Greek word for helmsman or pilot. It’s also called K8s, for the eight letters between the "K" and the "s". Open-sourced by Google in 2014, Kubernetes combines Google's years of experience running production workloads at scale with the top community ideas and practices.

How does Kubernetes work?

While Docker already makes it easy to separate apps from hardware, Kubernetes further streamlines this process. Using Kubernetes, you can run batches of Docker images on numerous virtual servers, as well as group, manage, and configure them to accommodate specific tasks. This allows for easy scaling to support growing services, without blowing the budget or costing excessive time or manpower.

Many cloud services already support Kubernetes, including Amazon WS, Google Cloud, Alibaba Cloud, Yandex Cloud, Microsoft Azure, Mail.ru Cloud, and Huawei Cloud. And Kubernetes offers superb performance both in the cloud and locally. 

Despite this, many developers are under the false impression that Kubernetes is too expensive or complicated and are hesitant to use it. We’re going to examine these misconceptions and explain why Kubernetes is so beneficial. We’ll also discuss the projected Kubernetes trends for 2022. 

Kubernetes tools to watch in 2022

First, let’s take a look at some of the top Kubernetes tools that will likely be highly relevant in 2022.

  1. Prometheus (40.4k stars) - an open-source monitoring framework for Kubernetes. Prometheus works well for complex workloads, as it is capable of collecting enormous amounts of data every second. Using predefined configurations, Prometheus sends HTTP requests or scrapes. The responses are then parsed and stored, along with the relevant metadata and metrics.
  2. Istio (29.1k stars) - an open-source service mesh that layers with existing distributed applications. When used with Kubernetes, Istio can improve security, help with traffic management, and boost observability.
  3. Trivy (10k stars) - an open-source scanner for container images that detects OS package vulnerabilities and application dependencies. While there are other tools like it, Trivy is easier to implement, integrate, and use in existing deployment pipelines.
  4. Argo CD (8k stars) - a declarative, open-source, continuous delivery tool. Argo CD provides automated, manageable application deployment and lifecycle management.
  5. Calico (3.1k stars) - an open-source container network interface (CNI). Operating over layer 3, Calico provides network policies and securely routes packets to pods. When integrated with a service mesh, Calico can also enforce workload policies within clusters.
  6. Kube Monkey (2.3k stars) - a Kubernetes version of Netflix's chaos monkey. Kube Monkey randomly deletes pods in the cluster, to continuously assess and validate failure-resilient services. 
  7. Devtron (1.6k stars) - a software delivery workflow tool. Devtron provides developer-friendly operationalization and application maintenance. Its zero code delivery minimizes manual scripting and permits deployment to multiple clusters in multiple clouds or local data centers from one setup.

Kubernetes security trends

According to Glen Kosaka, the head of product security at SUSE, Kubernetes security trends in 2022 will focus primarily on container security automation and continuous compliance. He believes that, as attacks continue to grow in frequency and scope, automated Kubernetes security will become the only reasonable way to stop threats in real-time.

Kosaka states that, for enterprises that are subject to strict regulatory requirements, such as HIPAA or PCI-DSS, automated security is the only feasible, reliable way to protect their containerized environments. Microservice infrastructures are highly dynamic, and manual tools and methods simply cannot keep up and provide effective security. 

Therefore, in 2022, more and more enterprises will adopt container and Kubernetes security automation. Kosaka believes that Kubernetes security best practices will include:

  1. Utilizing CRDs and security policy-as-code to automatically reject unauthorized processes, file activities, and network connections.
  2. Adopting zero-trust models to automatically block all but specifically approved run-time activities.
  3. Implementing automated scanning to search for and address misconfigurations that attackers can take advantage of.
  4. Employing ML-powered SIEM tools and next-gen solutions that provide continuous monitoring to identify threats and intervene when necessary.

Due to the dynamic nature of containerized environments, continuous compliance will become essential for enterprises to meet security requirements. Several regulatory bodies already require companies to use Data Loss Prevention (DLP) tools that provide real-time threat identification and neutralization.

However, Kubernetes already offers some built-in, robust security features that enterprises can take advantage of. Kubernetes auditing logs are vital for investigating non-compliant run-time activities and developing new security policies in response to identified threats.

While Kubernetes Admission Control can be used to ensure that the built-in and external security solutions work together seamlessly.  

Predictions by industry experts

DEVOPSdigest asked a wide range of industry experts for their Kubernetes predictions for 2022. Unsurprisingly, their responses greatly varied, so we’ve highlighted a few different projections below. 

According to Oleg Chunikhin, the co-founder and CTO of Kublr, 2022 will likely bring more industry consolidation and all-in-one Kubernetes stacks, making it more important than ever for enterprises to opt for flexible Kubernetes platforms that provide adequate security, customizability, and agility for future-proof support.

Danny Allan, the CTO of Veeam, believes that cloud service and containerization adoption will continue to rise in order to support the remote work trend. The demand for cloud-based solutions has never been higher, and utilizing containers helps enterprises streamline their transition into the cloud.

However, Opsani’s VP of product and marketing, Amir Sharif, feels that Kubernetes will be overtaken by function platforms as cloud-native architectures become the norm.

According to Sharif, platforms like AWS Lambda and Azure Functions offer increased ease of use, while Kubernetes demands expertise. While function platforms do lock users into specific clouds, he believes that their simplicity will win out over Kubernetes’s complexity.  

New distributions

Managed Kubernetes distributions offer secure infrastructures for deploying, scaling and managing containerized applications. There are already numerous managed Kubernetes offerings, including Platform9 Managed Kubernetes, Amazon Elastic Kubernetes Service, Oracle Container Engine for Kubernetes, Azure Kubernetes Service, IBM Kubernetes Service, and Google Kubernetes Engine.

However, in 2022, Google and Microsoft are expected to announce open-source Kubernetes distributions, in addition to their managed services. These environments will likely offer the same capabilities as their managed counterparts while simplifying the switch to cloud-based or hybrid services.

In addition, more distinct, optimized Kubernetes distributions may become available to accommodate specific use cases, such as IoT, edge, and AI workloads.

Is it worth learning Kubernetes basics?

Evrone had the opportunity to interview VMware’s principal engineer, Joe Beda, one of the creators of Kubernetes and the Google Compute Engine, as well as co-founder of the cloud-native leader, Heptio (now part of VMware).

As an experienced software engineer who has worked at both Microsoft and Google, Beda weighed in on whether developers should actually focus on learning Kubernetes basics or just leave that to the system admins and DevOps specialists and focus on writing good code.

According to Beda, it depends on what type of developer you are. While “developers” is an all-encompassing term, different types of developers have different concerns and needs.

Developers that focus on the runtime deployment systems and the interface between the app and its environment will need to know Kubernetes. But those developing simple games or web apps probably won’t.

Beda states that Kubernetes is essentially a cloud-like platform, and in cloud-native infrastructures, you have developers who are creating the platforms themselves, while others are simply building on top of the platforms.

In other words, those who are focused on the platforms themselves need to have a good understanding of Kubernetes, but the ones who are building on top of the platforms likely will not need to have in-depth knowledge of Kubernetes. 

Conclusion

In 2022, we will likely see a strong trend toward automated security and continuous compliance for container and Kubernetes environments, as well as the maturation of best practices. This will be especially vital for enterprises that are required to meet specific compliance standards.

Kubernetes is invaluable when it comes to managing complex VM clusters and deploying and scaling microservices. And there is an abundance of tools that can speed up development and create stable working environments for projects. The key focus now will be on securing these dynamic environments through automation, identifying and eliminating threats in real-time, before they cause harm.